Stagehand is a leading browser agent in the 2026 AI agent engineering landscape (23.3k★).
When to use this skill
- act(): natural-language single actions on the page
- extract(): schema-validated (zod) structured data extraction
- observe(): discover/cache candidate actions before acting
- agent(): multi-step autonomous execution when needed
- Full Playwright interop as deterministic escape hatch (stagehand.context.pages())
- TypeScript + Python SDKs; local browser or Browserbase cloud
- Ecosystem overlap: Pairs with browser-use as the two browser-agent lanes (autonomous vs deterministic-mix)
Installation
npx create-browser-app # scaffold; or: npm i @browserbasehq/stagehand
Core API
const page = stagehand.context.pages()[0];
await page.goto("https://github.com/browserbase");
await stagehand.act("click on the stagehand repo");
const agent = stagehand.agent();
await agent.execute("Get to the latest PR");
const { author, title } = await stagehand.extract("extract the author and title of the PR", z.object({ author: z.string(), title: z.string() }));
Instructions
Step 1: Initialize the environment
Verify you have TypeScript installed and set up properly. Use the correct package manager (pip, npm, pnpm, uv) as specified in the installation section.
Step 2: Establish the agent flow
Architecture pattern: Hybrid determinism ladder: plain code -> act/extract/observe (LLM-assisted primitives) -> agent (autonomous); CDP engine underneath
Step 3: Implement tool integrations and policies
Integrate necessary tools, environment keys, and safety gates according to your architectural needs. Position in the ecosystem: Production/deterministic lane of browser automation vs browser-use's autonomy lane; backed by Browserbase infra
Examples
Example 1: Minimal Agent Run
const page = stagehand.context.pages()[0];
await page.goto("https://github.com/browserbase");
await stagehand.act("click on the stagehand repo");
const agent = stagehand.agent();
await agent.execute("Get to the latest PR");
const { author, title } = await stagehand.extract("extract the author and title of the PR", z.object({ author: z.string(), title: z.string() }));
Best practices
- Follow the primary installation commands for Stagehand to ensure dependencies are resolved correctly.
- Configure model providers and API keys securely before starting the runtime.
- Use appropriate sandboxing or permission isolation if executing AI-generated code.