Quick Start

Up and running in seconds

One command to install. Chrome opens. You log into your sites. Agents drive the rest.

terminal

        # Install

        go install github.com/luigi-agosti/pinchtab@latest

        # Run — Chrome opens with persistent profile

        pinchtab

        # Read a page — ~800 tokens instead of 10,000

        curl localhost:9867/text

        # Click a button by ref

        curl -X POST localhost:9867/action -d '{"kind":"click","ref":"e5"}'

The Problem

Browser tools shouldn't have lock-in

Playwright MCP, Browser Use, OpenClaw — all tightly coupled to their own frameworks. Switch agents and you start over. Pinchtab is a standalone HTTP server. No SDK required.

	Pinchtab	OpenClaw Browser	Playwright MCP
Tokens/page	~800 (/text)	~10,000+	~10,000+
Interface	HTTP — any language	Internal only	MCP protocol
Stealth mode	✅	—	—
Sessions persist	✅	—	—
Binary size	12MB	—	Node.js
Lock-in	None	OpenClaw	MCP clients

Token Efficiency

5-13x cheaper than alternatives

Measured on a live search results page. Use /text when you only need content.

10,500

Full
snapshot

3,600

Interactive
filter

~2,000

Screenshot
(vision)

~800

Pinchtab
/text

What It Does

Everything your agent needs

Accessibility-first. Token-efficient. Framework-agnostic.

🌲

Accessibility Tree

Structured tree with stable refs (e0, e1...) for click, type, read. Deterministic — no coordinate guessing.

🎯

Smart Filters

?filter=interactive returns only buttons, links, inputs. 75% fewer tokens per snapshot.

🕵️

Stealth Mode

Patches navigator.webdriver, spoofs UA, hides automation flags. Passes bot detection on major sites.

💾

Persistent Sessions

Cookies, auth, tabs survive restarts. Log in once via the Chrome window, stay logged in forever.

📝

Text Extraction

Readability mode strips nav/ads. Raw mode for full text. ~800 tokens per page read.

🔄

Smart Diff

?diff=true returns only what changed since the last snapshot. Built for monitoring.

🖱️

Direct Actions

Click, type, fill, press, focus, hover, select, scroll — by ref or CSS selector. 15s timeouts.

⚡

JS Evaluation

Escape hatch for anything the API doesn't cover. Run arbitrary JavaScript in any tab.

📸

Screenshots

JPEG with quality control for visual verification. Base64 encoded or raw bytes.

Architecture

Simple by design

One binary. One Chrome. HTTP in, CDP out.

┌─────────────┐ HTTP :9867 ┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────┐ │ Any Agent │ ──────────────► │ Pinchtab │ ── CDP ──► │ Chrome │ │ (OpenClaw, │ snapshot, act, │ │ │ │ │ PicoClaw, │ navigate, eval │ stealth + │ │ your │ │ curl, │ │ sessions + │ │ tabs │ │ scripts) │ │ a11y tree │ │ │ └─────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └─────────┘

Full API

9 endpoints. That's it.

Read-only GETs for data, POSTs for mutations. All JSON.

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	`/health`	Connection status
GET	`/tabs`	List open tabs
GET	`/snapshot`	Accessibility tree — primary interface
GET	`/screenshot`	JPEG screenshot
GET	`/text`	Readable text — readability or raw
POST	`/navigate`	Go to URL
POST	`/action`	Click, type, fill, press, hover, select, scroll
POST	`/evaluate`	Execute JavaScript
POST	`/tab`	Open / close tabs

Security

Your browser, your responsibility

Pinchtab gives AI agents full control of a real browser with your real accounts. That's what makes it useful. It also means you need to think about what you're doing.

⚠️

When you log into sites through Pinchtab's Chrome window, those sessions persist. Any agent with HTTP access can then act as you — read your email, post on your behalf, access sensitive data.

You are responsible for what agents do with your accounts. Pinchtab is a tool, not a guardrail.
Set BRIDGE_TOKEN — without it, anyone on your network can control your browser.
Treat ~/.pinchtab/ as sensitive — it holds your Chrome profile with all saved sessions.
Start with low-risk accounts. Test with throwaway accounts before pointing agents at anything important.
No data leaves your machine — but the agents you connect might send data wherever they want.

Think of it like giving someone your unlocked laptop. Powerful if you trust them. Dangerous if you don't.

Configuration

All env vars. Zero files.

📦 Go Install

go install github.com/luigi-agosti/pinchtab@latest

🔧 Build from Source

            git clone https://github.com/luigi-agosti/pinchtab.git

            cd pinchtab && go build -o pinchtab .

            ./pinchtab

⚙️ Environment

            BRIDGE_PORT=9867

            BRIDGE_TOKEN=your-secret

            BRIDGE_HEADLESS=true

            BRIDGE_NO_RESTORE=true

🤖 With Your AI Agent

            # Just ask your agent:

            "Install Pinchtab and set it up

            for browser automation."