A containerized headless browser tool using Podman and Playwright to scrape text and HTML from JavaScript-heavy websites.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install podman-browser
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install podman-browser using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Podman Browser Skill?
The Podman Browser Skill is a robust utility designed for developers who need to extract data from modern web applications that rely heavily on JavaScript. By wrapping Microsoft Playwright within a Podman container, this skill provides a clean and isolated environment for every scraping task, ensuring that local system dependencies do not interfere with the browser's execution. It is a vital addition to any suite of Openclaw Skills, offering a reliable way to handle dynamic content that standard HTTP clients cannot process.
This skill prioritizes stability and ease of use, providing a simple CLI interface to trigger complex browser behaviors. Whether you are building a research agent or a data mining pipeline, the Podman Browser Skill ensures that your automated workflows can access the full, rendered state of any webpage, including those built with React, Vue, or Angular.
Podman Browser Skill Use Cases
- Extracting text content from JavaScript-rendered news sites and social feeds.
- Scrapping raw HTML from single-page applications (SPAs) for data analysis.
- Waiting for specific UI elements to load before capturing data to ensure complete page states.
- Running headless browser tasks in a secure, containerized environment within Openclaw Skills workflows.
How Podman Browser Skill Works
- The user executes the podman-browse command with a target URL and optional flags.
- The Node.js wrapper initializes a Podman container using the official Playwright Chromium image.
- The containerized browser navigates to the specified URL and executes the JavaScript logic.
- The system waits for the network to reach an idle state or for a specific CSS selector to appear.
- The rendered text or HTML content is captured and returned to the host terminal.
- The container is automatically terminated to ensure a clean state for the next request.
Podman Browser Skill Setup
Ensure you have Podman 5.x+ and Node.js 18+ installed on your system. To set up the skill, create a symlink for the execution script:
chmod +x browse.js
ln -sf "$(pwd)/browse.js" ~/.local/bin/podman-browse
Note that the first run will pull approximately 1.5GB of container images to support the Playwright environment.
Podman Browser Skill Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill returns output directly to stdout, which can be redirected to files or piped into other Openclaw Skills. The behavior is controlled via the following parameters:
| Option | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
url |
String | The target URL to be processed (Required). |
--html |
Boolean | If set, returns the full raw HTML instead of plain text. |
--wait <ms> |
Integer | Milliseconds to wait after the page has loaded (Default: 2000). |
--selector <css> |
String | A CSS selector that must be present before the skill captures content. |
Podman Browser Skill Advanced Features
- Isolation through Podman containers prevents local environment contamination.
- Built-in zombie process management using the --init flag for long-running automation tasks.
- High-stability Chromium execution using host IPC sharing (--ipc=host).
- Support for custom selectors and network-idle triggers to handle slow-loading dynamic content.
- Flexible output formats (Text vs HTML) to suit different data processing needs within Openclaw Skills.
SKILL.md
Loading
Related Openclaw Skills
Answer Overflow
Search and retrieve indexed Discord community discussions to find real-world solutions to coding problems and library issues.
LI.FI Orchestrator
A powerful cross-chain bridge and DEX aggregator that routes assets across 30+ protocols for optimal rates and speed.
LIFI Cross-Chain Bridge & Swap
A powerful DeFi integration for executing seamless cross-chain swaps and bridge operations across 35+ blockchain ecosystems.
Amazon Data Retrieval Skill
A Python-based integration to fetch comprehensive Amazon product details, sales estimates, and market data via the Canopy API.
Terminal Screenshots & Recordings with VHS
A specialized tool for programmatically generating high-quality terminal screenshots, animated GIFs, and videos using simple script files.
Excalidraw Diagram Generator
An automated diagramming tool that converts text descriptions into hand-drawn Excalidraw visuals for Obsidian and web platforms.
Featured*
