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Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

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Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#1

Post by jonasnelle »

Autotab is a Chrome extension that writes Selenium code to mirror your actions as you navigate the browser. See it in action: https://youtu.be/UypAcozIaoo

Autotab lets you create browser automations that actually work. We designed it around two principles:

    1. Show, don’t tell: In a domain like web automation, it's often easier to *show* the model what you want rather than to explain it in sentences.

    2. Code is the best output: Code is easy to inspect and enables manual tweaking of the model’s suggested actions. On top of that, code output avoids lock in and is straightforward to extend and integrate with larger projects.
Autotab runs as a Chrome extension. As you navigate in the browser, autotab generates the Selenium code to reproduce your actions. You can copy that code into your own project or use our starter GitHub repo to get your automation up and running in https://github.com/Planetary-Computers/autotab-starter.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts
autotab.com

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#3

Post by HanClinto »

Thanks for sharing this! I'm interested in seeing what you've built and understanding it better. I think that your goals and philosophical guideposts make a lot of sense. I see the search application on your homepage, but I'd like to see other examples to spark imagination for how I might practically use this myself.

-However, I'm getting a 404 on your Github link -- is that `autotab-starter` repo private?- (n/m -- looks like it's working now!)

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#4

Post by alexirobbins »

HanClinto wrote: post #3

Thanks for sharing this! I'm interested in seeing what you've built and understanding it better. I think that your goals and philosophical guideposts make a lot of sense. I see the search application on your homepage, but I'd like to see other examples to spark imagination for how I might practically use this myself. -However, I'm getting a 404 on your Github link -- is that `autotab-starter` repo private?- (n/m -- l…

fixed! thanks for the heads up

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#5

Post by mherrmann »

I don't get why people still use XPaths, CSS selectors or HTML IDs to identify elements, even when they are "recorded". Please please please just use my https://github.com/mherrmann/selenium-python-helium instead. It makes so much more sense.

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#6

Post by potamic »

mherrmann wrote: post #5

I don't get why people still use XPaths, CSS selectors or HTML IDs to identify elements, even when they are "recorded". Please please please just use my https://github.com/mherrmann/selenium-python-helium instead. It makes so much more sense.

Why wouldn't you use CSS selectors? They are unambiguous, concise and most importantly, a standard. They should be the conventional way to refer to elements.

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#8

Post by pedrolins »

This is amazing!! I've found myself writing selenium scripts to automate tasks for my dad's job (things such as getting a name from a spreadsheet, putting that name in a website's search box and from there repeating the same actions for 100s of names) and saved him a ton of time. Making browser automation more accessible by just showing the machine how to do it will definitely make lots of people's lives easier. Can't wait to mess around with it.

Re: Show HN: Autotab – An AI-powered Chrome extension to create Selenium scripts

#10

Post by abdusco »

mherrmann wrote: post #5

I don't get why people still use XPaths, CSS selectors or HTML IDs to identify elements, even when they are "recorded". Please please please just use my https://github.com/mherrmann/selenium-python-helium instead. It makes so much more sense.

Playwright is another, really good alternative
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