chore(release): 0.27.0-fork.38 — silent operation (no foreground tab stealing)

Driving the user's real Chrome should not yank their view around. Now the agent
operates entirely in the background:
- New tabs are created with `background: true` (CreateTargetParams) so opening
  one never foregrounds it (the ab-connect extension already used active:false;
  this covers the raw-CDP path too).
- Dropped the two AUTO `Page.bringToFront` calls (auto-connect fresh tab, and the
  internal active-page switch). The explicit `bringToFront` command is untouched —
  surfacing a tab stays opt-in.
- enable_domains now sets `Emulation.setFocusEmulationEnabled(true)` so a
  backgrounded agent tab still renders (screenshots work), isn't render-throttled,
  and reports document.hasFocus()/visibilityState='visible' — which also removes
  the "tab is hidden the whole session" bot tell.

Verified headless: hasFocus=true/visible while backgrounded; click + screenshot
still work. Default behaviour, no flag.

cli/Cargo.lock

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "agent-browser-stealth"
-version = "0.27.0-fork.37"
+version = "0.27.0-fork.38"
 dependencies = [
  "aes-gcm",
  "async-trait",

cli/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "agent-browser-stealth"
-version = "0.27.0-fork.37"
+version = "0.27.0-fork.38"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "Fast browser automation CLI for AI agents"
 license = "Apache-2.0"

cli/src/native/actions.rs

@@ -1511,12 +1511,11 @@ pub async fn execute_command(cmd: &Value, state: &mut DaemonState) -> Value {
 /// subsequent navigations don't hijack the user's existing tabs.
 async fn connect_auto_with_fresh_tab() -> Result<BrowserManager, String> {
     let mut mgr = BrowserManager::connect_auto().await?;
+    // tab_new creates the tab in the background (CreateTargetParams.background),
+    // so attaching to the user's Chrome never steals their foreground tab. We
+    // deliberately do NOT bring it to front — silent operation.
     mgr.tab_new(None, None).await?;
     let session_id = mgr.active_session_id()?.to_string();
-    let _ = mgr
-        .client
-        .send_command("Page.bringToFront", None, Some(&session_id))
-        .await;
 
     // Liveness probe: confirm the CDP session can actually round-trip
     // before returning success. Without this, a zombie CDP socket (process

cli/src/native/browser.rs

@@ -581,6 +581,7 @@ impl BrowserManager {
                     &CreateTargetParams {
                         url: "about:blank".to_string(),
                         agent_group,
+                        background: None,
                     },
                     None,
                 )
@@ -687,6 +688,20 @@ impl BrowserManager {
                 Some(session_id),
             )
             .await;
+        // Silent operation: agent tabs are driven in the background (we never
+        // force them to the foreground), so emulate focus. Without this a
+        // backgrounded tab is render-throttled and reports `document.hidden` /
+        // `!document.hasFocus()` — which both breaks timing-sensitive pages and
+        // is itself a bot signal (a real user looks at the page). Best-effort;
+        // ignored on engines without Emulation support.
+        let _ = self
+            .client
+            .send_command(
+                "Emulation.setFocusEmulationEnabled",
+                Some(json!({ "enabled": true })),
+                Some(session_id),
+            )
+            .await;
         Ok(())
     }
 
@@ -973,6 +988,7 @@ impl BrowserManager {
                 &CreateTargetParams {
                     url: "about:blank".to_string(),
                     agent_group,
+                    background: None,
                 },
                 None,
             )
@@ -1137,6 +1153,7 @@ impl BrowserManager {
                 &CreateTargetParams {
                     url: target_url.to_string(),
                     agent_group,
+                    background: Some(true),
                 },
                 None,
             )
@@ -1192,11 +1209,10 @@ impl BrowserManager {
         let session_id = self.pages[index].session_id.clone();
         self.enable_domains(&session_id).await?;
 
-        // Bring tab to front
+        // Silent: switching the agent's *internal* active page must not yank the
-        let _ = self
+        // user's foreground tab. The page is driven in the background (focus is
-            .client
+        // emulated in enable_domains); the explicit `bringToFront` command is the
-            .send_command("Page.bringToFront", None, Some(&session_id))
+        // only way a tab is deliberately surfaced.
-            .await;
 
         let url = self.get_url().await.unwrap_or_default();
         let title = self.get_title().await.unwrap_or_default();

cli/src/native/cdp/types.rs

@@ -153,6 +153,12 @@ pub struct CreateTargetParams {
     /// endpoint never receives an unknown parameter.
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
     pub agent_group: Option<String>,
+    /// Create the tab in the background so opening it never steals the user's
+    /// foreground tab (silent operation). Standard CDP param; the ab-connect
+    /// extension creates its tabs `active: false` regardless, so this only
+    /// affects the raw-CDP (no extension) path.
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub background: Option<bool>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]

cli/src/native/state.rs

@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ async fn collect_storage_via_temp_target(
                 url: "about:blank".to_string(),
                 // Transient internal target (storage collection) — never grouped.
                 agent_group: None,
+                background: None,
             },
             None,
         )

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "agent-browser-stealth",
-  "version": "0.27.0-fork.37",
+  "version": "0.27.0-fork.38",
   "description": "Browser automation CLI for AI agents — stealth fork with anti-detection",
   "type": "module",
   "packageManager": "pnpm@11.1.3",