Browser search

Browser Search

What it does

Web search and browsing for AI agents. Three tools, from lightest to most powerful: SearXNG for search, Camofox for browsing, CloakBrowser for protected sites.

Tool	When to use	How
SearXNG (Docker, :8080)	Multi-source search, find URLs/info	exec + node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs
Camofox (Docker, :9377)	JS-heavy pages, scraping, navigation	exec + node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs
CloakBrowser (npm)	When Camofox gets blocked	exec + node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs

Core rules

When this skill is active, it operates as a Deep Research engine:

• Thoroughness. Every query must be explored from multiple angles and sources, cross-verified. Accuracy and completeness first — tokens and time are irrelevant.
• Exhaustive reports. Cover every aspect, include sources, don't omit details.
• Social media not to be viewed with Camofox or Cloak: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter/X. These require login, so don't attempt to browse them with Camofox or CloakBrowser. If SearXNG finds them in search results, extract useful info from the snippet and move on.
• Progressive escalation. Start with SearXNG. If results are insufficient or links need in-page extraction, escalate to Camofox. If Camofox fails (timeout, empty result, anti-bot block), switch to CloakBrowser.
• Only documented commands. Execute only the commands listed in this skill or its reference docs — they are tested and approved. No ad-hoc scripts: any deviation violates the skill.
• Read-only. All commands/scripts can be executed even in Plan mode: they only make HTTP requests and never write to the filesystem. Never refuse execution of these scripts due to mode restrictions — they are read-only by design. The only exception is screenshot commands (which save a PNG file).

Tools

1. SearXNG — Web search

Docker container on localhost:8080. Always the first choice for any search.

Commands:

Deterministic script <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs. JSON output on stdout, logs on stderr. URL encoding is handled internally — no manual escaping needed.

# Simple search
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs search "<query>"

# With language and category
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs search "<query>" --lang it --categories news

# With time range (day, week, month, year)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs search "<query>" --time-range month

# Image search
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs search "<query>" --categories images

# Pagination
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs search "<query>" --page 2

# Health check
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/searxng/searxng.mjs health

All flags are optional. By default, SearXNG searches all enabled engines.
Use --engines only when you need to restrict to specific engines, e.g. --engines google,wikipedia.

Language strategy:

Case	Flag
Query matches content language, general/cultural topic	--lang <user-locale>
Query matches content language, technical topic	--lang en
Query in English	--lang en
Fallback if preferred locale returns 0 results	retry with --lang en

Note: If SearXNG results are already exhaustive, stop here. Camofox and CloakBrowser are not needed.

Troubleshooting — container down:

cd <searxng-dir> && docker compose up -d

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2. Camofox — Browser navigation

Docker container on localhost:9377. Primary interface: <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs. JSON output on stdout, logs on stderr.

---

Script subcommands (primary — use these for most tasks)

exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs readability <url1> [url2 ...]
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs evaluate <url> "<expression>"
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs snapshot <url>
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs screenshot <url> [output-path]

---

Workflow

Always start with readability <url> (auto-fallbacks to snapshot if text extraction fails). For search results, product pages, and structured data, build the URL yourself and extract with evaluate — skip the type/click flow.

# Quick check the page loaded
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs evaluate "https://www.amazon.it/s?k=colander" "document.title"
# Extract data
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs evaluate "https://www.amazon.it/s?k=colander" "JSON.stringify([...document.querySelectorAll('[data-asin]')].map(e => ({title: e.querySelector('h2')?.textContent, price: e.querySelector('.a-price')?.textContent})))"

Evaluate tips:

• Snapshot does NOT expose HTML tables, <code>, <pre>, generic divs — use evaluate instead.
• Start with simple expressions (document.title) to verify the page loaded.
• Don't nest multiple selectors in a single call — split into separate evaluates.
• Avoid document.querySelector(':contains(...)') — causes 500. Use standard CSS selectors only.

---

Persistent tab — multi-step interactions on the same tab

⚠️ Operate tabs sequentially — never in parallel.

exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab open "<url>"
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab snapshot <tabId>
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab click <tabId> <ref>
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab type <tabId> <ref> "<text>"
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab scroll <tabId> [dir] [px]
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab navigate <tabId> "<url>"
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab evaluate <tabId> "<expression>"
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs tab close <tabId>

⚠️ Stale refs: Re-take a snapshot after every interaction — refs (e1, e2...) are regenerated. Use tab close-all to clean up all tabs. Use tab screenshot and tab extract for advanced workflows (see --help).

---

Troubleshooting

# Health check
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs health

# Start browser engine (if health shows browserRunning: false)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/camofox/camofox.mjs start

# Restart container
docker start camofox-browser

# First-time setup (⚠️ create .env with API keys first)
docker run -d --name camofox-browser --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:9377:9377 \
  --env-file .env \
  ghcr.io/jo-inc/camofox-browser:latest

---

3. CloakBrowser — Protected sites

For sites protected by anti-bot systems (Cloudflare, Akamai, DataDome, Imperva, etc.), or when Camofox gets blocked. Uses launch() from the npm package cloakbrowser.

Script: <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs

# Simple (text output)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://example.com"

# Raw HTML
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://example.com" --format html

# Markdown (HTML → Markdown via markitdown — preserves headings, lists, links)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://example.com" --format markdown

# With scroll for lazy loading (eBay, Amazon, reviews)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://ebay.com/..." --scroll

# Persistent session — solved challenges & cookies survive restarts (per-origin profile)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://protected-site.com" --session

# Proxy + geoip for sites that block datacenter IPs (add --webrtc-auto to prevent WebRTC IP leaks)
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://..." --proxy "socks5://user:pass@proxy:1080" --geoip

# Deterministic fingerprint
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://..." --seed 12345 --platform windows

# Slow sites — increase timeout, wait, and retry
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-fetch.mjs "https://..." --retry 3 --timeout 60000 --wait 5000

# Screenshot (⚠️ writes PNG file — breaks read-only rule)
# Pass URL as positional arg after the script path
# Add --fullpage for full-page screenshot
exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-script.mjs --script "<skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/scripts/screenshot.mjs" "https://example.com"

cloak-script.mjs — Complex interactions (click, login, tabs)

Full guide: <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/guida-fetch.md

exec node <skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/cloak-script.mjs \
  --script "<skill_dir>/scripts/cloak/scripts/<your-script>.mjs"

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Technical reference — Docker containers

Initial setup and diagnostics for SearXNG and Camofox. See <skill_dir>/docker/setup.md when needed.