feat(skills): add browser-use version compatibility check to sniff gate (#74)

89ca2ffdf315a14f9dcc5ff8faabc3f226068e05 · 2026-03-30 13:10:55 -0700 · Trevin Chow

The sniff process uses browser-use CLI 2.0 commands (open, eval, scroll,
close) that all shipped in v0.12.3. Users with older versions would pass
detection but fail during capture. This adds Step 1c to verify the
installed version meets the minimum before proceeding, and offers to
upgrade (with permission) if it doesn't.

Also fixes the Step 1 detection check from `uvx browser-use --version`
(which errors — browser-use has no --version flag) to `--help`.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Files touched

M skills/printing-press/SKILL.md

Diff

commit 89ca2ffdf315a14f9dcc5ff8faabc3f226068e05
Author: Trevin Chow <trevin@trevinchow.com>
Date:   Mon Mar 30 13:10:55 2026 -0700

    feat(skills): add browser-use version compatibility check to sniff gate (#74)
    
    The sniff process uses browser-use CLI 2.0 commands (open, eval, scroll,
    close) that all shipped in v0.12.3. Users with older versions would pass
    detection but fail during capture. This adds Step 1c to verify the
    installed version meets the minimum before proceeding, and offers to
    upgrade (with permission) if it doesn't.
    
    Also fixes the Step 1 detection check from `uvx browser-use --version`
    (which errors — browser-use has no --version flag) to `--help`.
    
    Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 skills/printing-press/SKILL.md | 58 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 54 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/skills/printing-press/SKILL.md b/skills/printing-press/SKILL.md
index 12620200..4289f7c9 100644
--- a/skills/printing-press/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/printing-press/SKILL.md
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ Check which browser automation tools are available:
 
 ```bash
 # Prefer browser-use (CLI-driven, Performance API collection)
-if command -v browser-use >/dev/null 2>&1 || uvx browser-use --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+if command -v browser-use >/dev/null 2>&1 || uvx browser-use --help >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   SNIFF_BACKEND="browser-use"
 # Fall back to agent-browser (CLI-driven, Claude drives the loop)
 elif command -v agent-browser >/dev/null 2>&1; then
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ if [ -n "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" ] || [ -n "$OPENAI_API_KEY" ] || [ -n "$BROWSER_USE
 fi
 ```
 
-If a tool is found, report: "Using **<tool>** for traffic capture (CLI-driven mode — no LLM key needed)." and proceed to Step 2.
+If a tool is found, report: "Using **<tool>** for traffic capture (CLI-driven mode — no LLM key needed)." and proceed to Step 1c to verify compatibility.
 
 **Important:** browser-use has two modes: autonomous Agent mode (requires an LLM API key like ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) and CLI mode (open/eval/scroll — no key needed). **Always use CLI mode for sniff.** It is more reliable, version-stable, and does not require the user to provide an additional API key. Do NOT attempt to use browser-use's Python `Agent` class — it requires an LLM key that may not be available.
 
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ else
 fi
 ```
 
-After install, re-run detection. If `browser-use` is now available, set `SNIFF_BACKEND="browser-use"` and proceed to Step 2a. If install failed, show the error and offer agent-browser as alternative or fall back to manual HAR.
+After install, re-run detection. If `browser-use` is now available, set `SNIFF_BACKEND="browser-use"` and proceed to Step 1c. If install failed, show the error and offer agent-browser as alternative or fall back to manual HAR.
 
 **If user picks agent-browser:**
 
@@ -569,10 +569,60 @@ else
 fi
 ```
 
-After install, re-run detection. If `agent-browser` is now available, set `SNIFF_BACKEND="agent-browser"` and proceed to Step 2b. If install failed, show the error and fall back to manual HAR.
+After install, re-run detection. If `agent-browser` is now available, set `SNIFF_BACKEND="agent-browser"` and proceed to Step 1c. If install failed, show the error and fall back to manual HAR.
 
 **If user picks manual HAR**, ask the user for a HAR file path and skip to Step 3.
 
+#### Step 1c: Verify capture tool compatibility
+
+After detection (Step 1) or installation (Step 1b), verify the installed version supports the CLI commands the sniff process needs.
+
+**For browser-use** — The CLI 2.0 commands (`open`, `eval`, `scroll`, `close`) all shipped in **v0.12.3**. Versions before that have an incomplete or experimental CLI that won't work for sniff.
+
+```bash
+# browser-use has no --version flag; get version from pip metadata
+BROWSER_USE_VERSION=$(pip show browser-use 2>/dev/null | grep -i '^Version:' | awk '{print $2}')
+MIN_BROWSER_USE="0.12.3"
+
+# Compare versions (lexicographic sort works for dotted semver)
+if printf '%s\n' "$MIN_BROWSER_USE" "$BROWSER_USE_VERSION" | sort -V | head -1 | grep -qx "$MIN_BROWSER_USE"; then
+  BROWSER_USE_COMPAT=true
+else
+  BROWSER_USE_COMPAT=false
+fi
+```
+
+**For agent-browser** — check that the `network` subcommand exists (needed for HAR capture):
+
+```bash
+AGENT_BROWSER_VERSION=$(agent-browser --version 2>&1 | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -1)
+if agent-browser network --help >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  AGENT_BROWSER_COMPAT=true
+else
+  AGENT_BROWSER_COMPAT=false
+fi
+```
+
+**If the selected tool fails the compatibility check**, offer to upgrade via `AskUserQuestion`:
+
+> "Found **<tool>** v<version>, but sniff requires v<min-version>+ for CLI capture commands. Would you like to upgrade?"
+>
+> Options:
+> 1. **Yes — upgrade <tool>** — runs the appropriate upgrade command (see below)
+> 2. **Try <other-tool> instead** — switch to the other backend (install it if needed)
+> 3. **Skip — I'll provide a HAR manually**
+
+**Upgrade commands:**
+
+- **browser-use**: `uv pip install --upgrade browser-use` (if `uv` available) or `pip install --upgrade browser-use`
+- **agent-browser**: `brew upgrade agent-browser` (if brew-installed) or `npm update -g agent-browser`
+
+After upgrade, re-check the version. If the upgrade resolves the issue, proceed to Step 2. If it doesn't, offer the next fallback (other tool or manual HAR).
+
+**Do NOT upgrade automatically.** Always ask permission first — upgrading packages can have side effects on the user's environment.
+
+If the tool passes the version check, proceed to Step 2a (browser-use) or Step 2b (agent-browser).
+
 #### Step 2a: browser-use CLI capture (preferred)
 
 Claude drives browser-use directly via CLI commands — no LLM key needed, no Python API versioning issues. Uses the browser's native Performance API to collect API endpoint URLs from each page.

← cac7eac2 feat(skills): add URL detection and disambiguation to printi · back to Cli Printing Press · docs(cli): comprehensive README rewrite reflecting current p cc28b36f →