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Ask HN: Any local agents to help repetitive browser tasks?

18 points by pcdoodle 1y ago

Been spending a lot of time just buying and printing labels through an e-commerce platform and it got me wondering: is there anything to run on a local PC that could automate this?

satvikpendem 1y ago
You might be able to use AutoHotKey rather than looking for an AI agent. https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://github.com/raeleus/AHK-Macro-Recorder https://github.com/raeleus/AHK-Macro-Recorder
- pcdoodle 1y ago
  Good recommendation. I see there’s others using this as well for this type of task, but it’s not fully automated. They got it to the point where it detects PDFs of shipping labels and automatically prints, but not the purchasing part.
nicbou 1y ago
Playwright is a great tool for this. There is a helper for writing automations. It's commonly used for automated testing but it's good for controlling a browser with Python scripts in general.
- darkvertex 1y ago
  Playwright is great. Take a look at Stagehand, it's an AI layer built on top of Playwright: https://www.stagehand.dev https://www.stagehand.dev (It can run locally.)
- busymom0 1y ago
  If one owns a Mac and knows swift or objective c, they can just use WKWebView with user scripts too.
leakycap 1y ago
> spending a lot of time just buying and printing labels through an e-commerce platform Why can't you just connect the platforms? If there is no default way to do this, try Zapier. IFTTT is a very low cost option if Zapier doesn't support your vendors. Between those two you can connect almost anything.
miguelspizza 1y ago
Hey I wrote MCP-B and am about to do another launch here in a week or so. The product is a browser agent which does browser automation sudo-deterministically over WebMCP. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44515403 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44515403 I’d love to give your beta access and get your thoughts if you are up to give it a run on the task you want automated. Shoot me an email if you are interested alex(at)mcp-b.ai
bofadeez 1y ago
https://github.com/tebelorg/RPA-Python https://github.com/tebelorg/RPA-Python
decide1000 1y ago
I use Comet since today and I believe that can do exactly what you need. I ordered stuff on Amazon autonomous.
suchintan 1y ago
Have you given Skyvern a try? Integrating it with n8n might do the trick
suchintan 1y ago
We can do it remotely with Skyvern if you're interested

18 points by pcdoodle 1y ago

Been spending a lot of time just buying and printing labels through an e-commerce platform and it got me wondering: is there anything to run on a local PC that could automate this?

satvikpendem 1y ago

You might be able to use AutoHotKey rather than looking for an AI agent. https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://www.autohotkey.com/ https://github.com/raeleus/AHK-Macro-Recorder https://github.com/raeleus/AHK-Macro-Recorder

pcdoodle 1y ago
Good recommendation. I see there’s others using this as well for this type of task, but it’s not fully automated. They got it to the point where it detects PDFs of shipping labels and automatically prints, but not the purchasing part.

nicbou 1y ago

Playwright is a great tool for this. There is a helper for writing automations. It's commonly used for automated testing but it's good for controlling a browser with Python scripts in general.

darkvertex 1y ago
Playwright is great. Take a look at Stagehand, it's an AI layer built on top of Playwright: https://www.stagehand.dev https://www.stagehand.dev (It can run locally.)
busymom0 1y ago
If one owns a Mac and knows swift or objective c, they can just use WKWebView with user scripts too.

leakycap 1y ago

> spending a lot of time just buying and printing labels through an e-commerce platform Why can't you just connect the platforms? If there is no default way to do this, try Zapier. IFTTT is a very low cost option if Zapier doesn't support your vendors. Between those two you can connect almost anything.

miguelspizza 1y ago

Hey I wrote MCP-B and am about to do another launch here in a week or so. The product is a browser agent which does browser automation sudo-deterministically over WebMCP. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44515403 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44515403 I’d love to give your beta access and get your thoughts if you are up to give it a run on the task you want automated. Shoot me an email if you are interested alex(at)mcp-b.ai

bofadeez 1y ago

https://github.com/tebelorg/RPA-Python https://github.com/tebelorg/RPA-Python

decide1000 1y ago

I use Comet since today and I believe that can do exactly what you need. I ordered stuff on Amazon autonomous.

suchintan 1y ago

Have you given Skyvern a try? Integrating it with n8n might do the trick

suchintan 1y ago

We can do it remotely with Skyvern if you're interested