DOMShell

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The browser is your filesystem. A Chrome Extension that lets AI agents (and humans) browse the web using standard Linux commands — ls, cd, cat, grep, click — via a terminal in the Chrome Side Panel.

Install from Chrome Web Store | npm package | Read the blog post | Project home

DOMShell maps the browser into a virtual filesystem. Windows and tabs become top-level directories (~). Each tab's Accessibility Tree becomes a nested filesystem where container elements are directories and buttons, links, and inputs are files. Navigate Chrome the same way you'd navigate /usr/local/bin.

Why

AI agents that interact with websites typically rely on screenshots, pixel coordinates, or brittle CSS selectors. DOMShell takes a different approach: it exposes the browser's own Accessibility Tree as a familiar filesystem metaphor.

This means an agent can:

• Browse tabs with ls ~/tabs/ and switch with cd ~/tabs/123 instead of guessing which tab is active
• Explore a page with ls and tree instead of parsing screenshots
• Navigate into sections with cd navigation/ instead of guessing coordinates
• Act on elements with click submit_btn instead of fragile DOM queries
• Read content with cat or bulk-extract with text instead of scraping innerHTML
• Search for elements with find --type combobox instead of writing selectors

The filesystem abstraction is deterministic, semantic, and works on any website — no site-specific adapters needed.

Installation

Chrome Web Store (Recommended)

Install DOMShell directly from the Chrome Web Store. No build step required.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/apireno/DOMShell.git
cd DOMShell
npm install
npm run build

Load into Chrome

1. Open chrome://extensions/
2. Enable Developer mode (toggle in top right)
3. Click Load unpacked
4. Select the dist/ folder
5. Click the DOMShell icon in your toolbar — the side panel opens

Usage

Getting Started

Open any webpage, then open the DOMShell side panel. You'll see a terminal:

╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║   DOMShell v1.1.0                    ║
║   The browser is your filesystem.    ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝

Type 'help' to see available commands.
Type 'tabs' to see open browser tabs, then 'cd tabs/<id>' to enter one.

dom@shell:~$

You start at ~ (the browser root). Jump straight to the active tab with here, or explore:

dom@shell:~$ ls
  windows/       (2 windows)
  tabs/          (5 tabs)

dom@shell:~$ here
✓ Entered tab 123
  Title: Google
  URL:   https://google.com
  AX Nodes: 247

Browsing Tabs and Windows

# List all open tabs
dom@shell:~$ tabs
  ID     TITLE                       URL                        WIN
  123    Google                       google.com                 1
  124    GitHub - apireno             github.com/apireno         1
  125    Wikipedia                    e

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/apireno/DOMShell#readme)