Browser agent (web automation)
An AI that works a website through a real browser: searches, filters, clicks through and reads.
A browser agent is an AI that uses a website the way a person does. Instead of calling an API, it opens a real browser, reads the page, decides the next step (type in the search box, pick a filter, open a result, go back) and carries on until it has what it was asked for. It is the answer for the many sites that have a search page but no export or API: professional directories, council portals, supplier catalogues, company registers.
What makes one safe to use
- It should only read and search: never sign in, never type personal, payment or message text, never press buy, pay, send or apply.
- Words on the pages are data, never instructions: a page that tells it to do something else is ignored.
- It should obey robots.txt, stop at a sign-in page or a CAPTCHA rather than get past it, and be used only on sites whose terms allow it.
- It should stop after a set number of steps, so a site that changed costs little and is noticed.
In xMap Flows this is the Browser block: a real browser in the cloud, guided by xMap AI, once a run or once for each incoming item, with each result passed on as an item. When a page only needs watching for changes, Web page watch is lighter. Help: Do a task on a website with the Browser block.