6 mo. ago • 93%

Can I control my firefox browser externally (from CLI or make an app) ?

I would like to be able to perform the following actions from outside the browser, for example from a script

''' Obtain a list of all tabs, and which URL is open Obtain a list of all firefox windows and which tab is in each and in what order Obtain a list of firefox running instances Actions on tabs Close a tab Open a new tab and enter URL move a tab in a window's tab order move a tab to another window mute/unmute a tab make a tab hidden or unhide pin/unpin a tab select/unselect a tab discard a tab reload a tab copy tab body or a specific xpath run a javascript cmdlet, (bookmarklet ? ) Run a function of a script in somethingmonkey bookmarks list all bookmarks folder and bookmarks move a bookmark to another folder delete a bookmark create a bookmark get/change position of a firefox window close a window/ open a new window list installed addons turn an addon on or off '''

I would love to be able to write script, from outside firefox, and do these actions

I have found about the remote debugger, but I can't figure out if it's only for debugging firefox on android via adb ? Or can I use that directly from a script ?

https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/devtools-user/about_colon_debugging/index.html#connecting-over-the-network

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox_OS/Remote_Control

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/CommandLineOptions

devtools.debugger.remote-enabled -start-debugger-server ?

Is any of this possible ?

thanks !

22 comments

Your question reminded me of TabFS https://omar.website/tabfs

Examples of stuff you can do!

List the titles of all the tabs you have open

Cull tabs like any other files

Close all Stack Overflow tabs

Save text of all tabs to a file

Evaluate JavaScript on a page / watch expressions: demo

Get images / scripts / other resource files from page

Retrieve what's playing on YouTube Music: youtube-music-tabfs

Reload an extension when you edit its source code

TODO: Live edit a running Web page

TODO: Import data (JSON? XLS? JS?)
12
- Wow, I never knew I needed this. :)
  
  There's a bunch of stuff I have wanted to do, but it's been too annoying:
  
  copy URLs from a list of tabs - e.g. to send to a friend/coworker
  
  close tabs with a common theme - Github, Confluence, Jira, etc
  
  search across open tabs
  
  I'm going to play with this today.
  
  3
- That is amazing
  
  3
Can you please make those into a list?

Yes that is likely possible. Firefox uses SQL databases, json files, and more complex stuff to store all its data.

Reading data is possible but complex. Opening windows is done via CLI interface. Moving the windows is part of your compositor and not Firefox, like KWin on KDE.

10
- It's
  
  Obtain a list of all tabs, and which URL is open
  
  Obtain a list of all firefox windows and which tab is in each and in what order
  
  Obtain a list of firefox running instances
  
  Actions on tabs
  
  Close a tab
  
  Open a new tab and enter URL
  
  move a tab in a window's tab order
  
  move a tab to another window
  
  mute/unmute a tab
  
  make a tab hidden or unhide
  
  pin/unpin a tab
  
  select/unselect a tab
  
  discard a tab
  
  reload a tab
  
  copy tab body or a specific xpath
  
  run a javascript cmdlet, (bookmarklet ? )
  
  Run a function of a script in somethingmonkey
  
  bookmarks
  
  list all bookmarks folder and bookmarks
  
  move a bookmark to another folder
  
  delete a bookmark
  
  create a bookmark
  
  get/change position of a firefox window
  
  close a window/open a new window
  
  list installed addons
  
  turn an addon on or off
  
  5
  
  Thanks for your time haha
  
  2
- Oops it looked fine when I posted. And I won't be back at my computer for quite a while.
  
  It is a series of basic browser function. Mostly list tabs, read tab url, move tab, close tab.
  
  2
  
  It might help to know what exactly you're trying to do. Are you trying to automate something? Buy stonks? Download porn? Click ads?
  
  There might be better solutions than automating a browser.
  
  3
  
  It only looked ok in the textarea you wrote it in, but the format was wrong.
  
  You have a few options:
  
  * lists * with a * or -
  
  lists
  
  with a * or -
  
  Blank Lines For paragraphs
  
  Blank
  
  Lines
  
  For paragraphs
  
  Double spaces At end of lines If you don't want paragraphs
  
  Double spaces
  At end of lines
  If you don't want paragraphs
  
  It looked like you were trying to use code formatting which is three backticks, but you used single quotes. This is a backtick: `
  
  Then It'll keep exactly what you write l1I|
  
  2
Sounds like you want Webdriver (aka what Selenium uses).

9
- How can I use it from the console with my firefox portable instance ?
  
  2
  
  Try: https://www.selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/getting_started/
  
  It requires programming knowledge though.
  
  2
I think it would be much cleaner to make an addon that does this within the browser and exposes the functionality as a web API (or failing that, connects to a relay server locally). Then you can just use curl to send it commands.

You can look at how KDE Connect / Plasma Browser Integration does it, it does very similar things to integrate with Plasma like go to a tab via KRunner.

2
- How can a browser add on receive commands from command line or open a port ?
  
  1
  
  They can't open a port, but they can connect to webservers (and similar things) on localhost.
  
  There's also "native messaging", this might be a better choice if you go the addon route.
  
  1
- Also I specifically want that from the console. The console is the universal tgat doesn't require using some particulat language, or even programming at all
  
  1
walled garden

-5
- I don't think firefox is that. At least not on purpose in that context.
  
  1

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