chrome-use/docs/src/app/configuration/page.mdx

# Configuration

Create an `agent-browser.json` file to set persistent defaults instead of repeating flags on every command.

## Config File Locations

agent-browser checks two locations, merged in priority order:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Priority</th><th>Location</th><th>Scope</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td>1 (lowest)</td><td><code>~/.agent-browser/config.json</code></td><td>User-level defaults</td></tr>
    <tr><td>2</td><td><code>./agent-browser.json</code></td><td>Project-level overrides</td></tr>
    <tr><td>3</td><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_*</code> env vars</td><td>Override config values</td></tr>
    <tr><td>4 (highest)</td><td>CLI flags</td><td>Override everything</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Project-level values override user-level values. Environment variables override both. CLI flags always win.

Use `--config <path>` or the `AGENT_BROWSER_CONFIG` environment variable to load a specific config file instead of the default locations:

```bash
agent-browser --config ./ci-config.json open example.com
AGENT_BROWSER_CONFIG=./ci-config.json agent-browser open example.com
```

## Example Config

```json
{
  "headed": true,
  "proxy": "http://localhost:8080",
  "profile": "./browser-data",
  "userAgent": "my-agent/1.0",
  "ignoreHttpsErrors": true
}
```

## All Options

Every CLI flag can be set in the config file using its camelCase equivalent:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Config Key</th><th>CLI Flag</th><th>Type</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td><code>headed</code></td><td><code>--headed</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>json</code></td><td><code>--json</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>full</code></td><td><code>--full, -f</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>debug</code></td><td><code>--debug</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>session</code></td><td><code>--session</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>sessionName</code></td><td><code>--session-name</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>executablePath</code></td><td><code>--executable-path</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>extensions</code></td><td><code>--extension</code></td><td>string[]</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>profile</code></td><td><code>--profile</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>state</code></td><td><code>--state</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>proxy</code></td><td><code>--proxy</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>proxyBypass</code></td><td><code>--proxy-bypass</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>args</code></td><td><code>--args</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>userAgent</code></td><td><code>--user-agent</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>provider</code></td><td><code>-p, --provider</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>device</code></td><td><code>--device</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>ignoreHttpsErrors</code></td><td><code>--ignore-https-errors</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>allowFileAccess</code></td><td><code>--allow-file-access</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>cdp</code></td><td><code>--cdp</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>autoConnect</code></td><td><code>--auto-connect</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>colorScheme</code></td><td><code>--color-scheme</code></td><td>string (<code>dark</code>, <code>light</code>, <code>no-preference</code>)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>downloadPath</code></td><td><code>--download-path</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>contentBoundaries</code></td><td><code>--content-boundaries</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>maxOutput</code></td><td><code>--max-output</code></td><td>number</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>allowedDomains</code></td><td><code>--allowed-domains</code></td><td>string[]</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>actionPolicy</code></td><td><code>--action-policy</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>confirmActions</code></td><td><code>--confirm-actions</code></td><td>string</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>confirmInteractive</code></td><td><code>--confirm-interactive</code></td><td>boolean</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>engine</code></td><td><code>--engine</code></td><td>string (<code>chrome</code>, <code>lightpanda</code>)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>headers</code></td><td><code>--headers</code></td><td>string (JSON)</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

## Common Configurations

### Local Development

```json
{
  "headed": true,
  "profile": "./browser-data"
}
```

### Behind a Proxy

```json
{
  "proxy": "http://proxy.corp.example.com:8080",
  "proxyBypass": "localhost,*.internal.com",
  "ignoreHttpsErrors": true
}
```

### CI / Devcontainer

```json
{
  "args": "--no-sandbox,--disable-gpu",
  "ignoreHttpsErrors": true
}
```

### iOS Testing

```json
{
  "provider": "ios",
  "device": "iPhone 16 Pro"
}
```

### AI Agent Security

```json
{
  "contentBoundaries": true,
  "maxOutput": 50000,
  "allowedDomains": ["your-app.com", "*.your-app.com"],
  "actionPolicy": "./policy.json"
}
```

## Overriding Boolean Options

Boolean flags accept an optional `true`/`false` value to override config settings:

```bash
agent-browser --headed false open example.com
```

A bare flag is equivalent to passing `true`:

```bash
agent-browser --headed open example.com       # same as --headed true
agent-browser --headed true open example.com  # explicit
```

This applies to all boolean flags: `--headed`, `--debug`, `--json`, `--ignore-https-errors`, `--allow-file-access`, `--auto-connect`, `--content-boundaries`, `--confirm-interactive`.

## Extensions Merging

Extensions from user-level and project-level configs are **concatenated**, not replaced. For example, if `~/.agent-browser/config.json` specifies `["/ext1"]` and `./agent-browser.json` specifies `["/ext2"]`, the result is `["/ext1", "/ext2"]`.

The `AGENT_BROWSER_EXTENSIONS` environment variable and CLI `--extension` flags follow the standard priority rules (env replaces config, CLI appends).

## Environment Variables

These environment variables configure additional daemon and runtime behavior:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Variable</th><th>Description</th><th>Default</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_AUTO_CONNECT</code></td><td>Auto-discover and connect to a running Chrome instance.</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_ALLOW_FILE_ACCESS</code></td><td>Allow <code>file://</code> URLs to access local files.</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_COLOR_SCHEME</code></td><td>Color scheme preference (<code>dark</code>, <code>light</code>, <code>no-preference</code>).</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD_PATH</code></td><td>Default directory for browser downloads.</td><td>(temp directory)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT</code></td><td>Default timeout in ms. Keep below 30000 to avoid IPC timeouts.</td><td><code>25000</code></td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_SESSION_NAME</code></td><td>Auto-save/load state persistence name.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_STATE_EXPIRE_DAYS</code></td><td>Auto-delete saved session states older than N days.</td><td><code>30</code></td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY</code></td><td>64-char hex key for AES-256-GCM session encryption.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_EXTENSIONS</code></td><td>Comma-separated browser extension paths. Extensions work in both headed and headless mode.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_HEADED</code></td><td>Show browser window instead of running headless (<code>1</code> to enable).</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_STREAM_PORT</code></td><td>Override the WebSocket streaming port. By default, an OS-assigned port is used. Set this to bind to a specific port (e.g., <code>9223</code>).</td><td>OS-assigned</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS</code></td><td>Auto-shutdown the daemon after N ms of inactivity (no commands received). Useful for ephemeral environments.</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_IOS_DEVICE</code></td><td>Default iOS device name for the <code>ios</code> provider.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_IOS_UDID</code></td><td>Default iOS device UDID for the <code>ios</code> provider.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_DEBUG</code></td><td>Enable debug output (<code>1</code> to enable).</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_CONTENT_BOUNDARIES</code></td><td>Wrap page output in boundary markers for LLM safety.</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_MAX_OUTPUT</code></td><td>Max characters for page output (truncates beyond limit).</td><td>(unlimited)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_ALLOWED_DOMAINS</code></td><td>Comma-separated allowed domain patterns (e.g., <code>example.com,*.example.com</code>).</td><td>(unrestricted)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_ACTION_POLICY</code></td><td>Path to action policy JSON file.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_CONFIRM_ACTIONS</code></td><td>Comma-separated action categories requiring confirmation.</td><td>(none)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_CONFIRM_INTERACTIVE</code></td><td>Enable interactive confirmation prompts (auto-denies if stdin is not a TTY).</td><td>(disabled)</td></tr>
    <tr><td><code>AGENT_BROWSER_ENGINE</code></td><td>Browser engine to use: <code>chrome</code> (default), <code>lightpanda</code>.</td><td><code>chrome</code></td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

## Error Handling

- **Auto-discovered config files** (`~/.agent-browser/config.json`, `./agent-browser.json`) that are missing are silently ignored.
- **`--config <path>`** with a missing or malformed file exits with an error.
- **Malformed JSON** in auto-discovered files prints a warning to stderr and continues without that file.
- **Unknown keys** are silently ignored for forward compatibility.

> **Tip:** If your project-level `agent-browser.json` contains environment-specific values (paths, proxies), consider adding it to `.gitignore`.