Quickstart

Get started in three steps

Step 1: Start Rusty Browser

Run the server

Follow the Self-Hosting guide to start rusty-server, Redis, Flux, and the browser agent on your machine or infrastructure.

Set the API URL

Point examples and tools at your local server:

export RUSTY_BROWSER_URL="http://localhost:8080"

Or in your .env file:

RUSTY_BROWSER_URL=http://localhost:8080

Step 2: Create a browser

All browser activity starts with a browser. Create one with a single request:

Using cURL

curl -X PUT "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/"

Using JavaScript

const apiUrl = process.env.RUSTY_BROWSER_URL || 'http://localhost:8080';
const response = await fetch(`${apiUrl}/browsers/`, { method: 'PUT' });

const { execution_id: browserId } = await response.json();
console.log('browser ID:', browserId);

Using Python

import requests

response = requests.put('http://localhost:8080/browsers/')

browser_id = response.json()['execution_id']
print('Browser ID:', browser_id)

Use the returned execution_id wherever the examples below show {id}.

Step 3: Control the browser

With a browser ID, you can navigate, interact, and extract data:

Navigate to a URL

curl -X POST "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/{id}/navigate/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "url": "https://example.com" }'

Fetch page text

curl -X POST "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/{id}/fetch-text/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "node_id": 1 }'

Take a screenshot

curl -X POST "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/{id}/screenshot/"

Use AI to instruct the browser

curl -X POST "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/{id}/instruct/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "instruction": "Click the sign in button and fill in the login form" }'

Step 4: Close the browser

Always close browsers when you’re done so the agent process and browser resources are released:

curl -X DELETE "$RUSTY_BROWSER_URL/browsers/{id}/"

Idle browsers still consume CPU, memory, and browser agent capacity. Close them when finished.

Next steps

Self-Hosting

Configure Rusty Browser for local or production use

Browsers

Browser lifecycle and best practices

All Commands

Navigate, click, type, scroll, screenshot, and more

AI Instructions

Drive the browser with natural language

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Self-Hosting

Get started in three steps

Step 1: Start Rusty Browser

Step 2: Create a browser

Step 3: Control the browser

Step 4: Close the browser

Next steps

Self-Hosting

Browsers

All Commands

AI Instructions

​Get started in three steps

​Step 1: Start Rusty Browser

​Step 2: Create a browser

​Step 3: Control the browser

​Step 4: Close the browser

​Next steps

Self-Hosting

Browsers

All Commands

AI Instructions

Get started in three steps

Step 1: Start Rusty Browser

Step 2: Create a browser

Step 3: Control the browser

Step 4: Close the browser

Next steps