DEPRECATED — This project is no longer maintained. The browser automation landscape has evolved significantly since CLiTS was last actively developed, and several mature alternatives now exist that cover CLiTS's functionality and more.
| Tool | Best For | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Playwright MCP | AI agent browser control via accessibility snapshots | github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp |
| Chrome DevTools MCP | Browser debugging and performance insights for AI | developer.chrome.com/blog/chrome-devtools-mcp |
| Stagehand (Browserbase) | AI-driven element interaction with CDP | github.com/browserbase/stagehand |
| agent-browser (Vercel) | Token-efficient CLI browser automation for AI agents | github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser |
| browser-use | Full autonomous AI browsing agent | github.com/browser-use/browser-use |
| AgentQL | AI-powered natural language element selection | agentql.com |
CLiTS was a Node.js CLI and library for AI-controlled Chrome browser automation, debugging, and inspection. It connected directly to Chrome via the DevTools Protocol (CDP) and provided:
- Console log and network request extraction
- React hook, Redux state, and GraphQL monitoring
- Element discovery and interaction (CSS, XPath, text, color, region)
- Screenshot capture with annotations and visual diffing
- JSON automation scripts for repeatable workflows
- AI-friendly structured output with recovery suggestions
The browser automation ecosystem moved fast between 2025-2026:
- MCP became the standard for connecting AI agents to browsers. CLiTS predates MCP and never adopted it.
- AI-driven selectors (Stagehand, AgentQL) replaced CSS/XPath discovery with more resilient approaches.
- Accessibility snapshots (Playwright MCP) proved more reliable than DOM-based element finding.
- Token efficiency became a first-class concern that CLiTS never optimized for.
- Major players (Microsoft, Google, Vercel, Browserbase) invested heavily in this space with dedicated teams.
CLiTS solved a real problem when it was built. The ecosystem caught up and surpassed it.
The documentation below is preserved for reference but is no longer maintained.
Original README (click to expand)
- Chrome Integration: Connect to Chrome DevTools protocol for real-time debugging
- Log Extraction: Capture console logs, network requests, and errors
- Visual Debugging: Screenshot capture with element highlighting
- Element Detection: Advanced CSS selector and visual element finding
- Automation Framework: JSON-based automation scripts
- Network Monitoring: Request/response tracking and analysis
- Advanced Logging: Structured logging with metadata, log rotation and size management
- Component Monitoring: React hooks, lifecycle tracking, prop changes
- Network Analysis: Request/response correlation, WebSocket tracking, JWT token monitoring, GraphQL support
- State Management: Redux state visualization, state change tracking, middleware debugging
- Performance Monitoring: React render metrics, memory usage tracking, event loop monitoring
- UI Interaction: User interaction recording, DOM mutation tracking, CSS change monitoring
- Interactive login handling
- AI-friendly output format
- Node.js >= 20
- Google Chrome (latest recommended)
npm install -g clitsclits extract— Extract logs and debugging data from Chrome or local filesclits navigate— Navigate to URLs, switch tabs, wait for elementsclits interact— Click, type, toggle elements with screenshot captureclits discover— Find CSS selectors, clickable elements, XPath expressionsclits inspect— Inspect page elements and browser tabsclits automate— Run JSON automation scriptsclits vision— Advanced screenshot and visual diff toolsclits-inspect— Interactive website inspector
MIT