--- name: browser-vps-setup-skill-38e53edc4b95 description: Set up a remote-controlled Chrome browser on a Linux VPS with noVNC visual access (via SSH tunnel) and optional authenticated HTTP proxy. Use when the user wants to run a browser on a VPS, control it remotely, view it via noVNC, or route browser traffic through a proxy. license: MIT compatibility: Requires apt package manager (Ubuntu/Debian), sudo/root access, internet access. Designed for OpenClaw agents. metadata: author: osipov-anton version: "1.0" --- # Browser on VPS — Setup Set up Chrome on a Linux VPS so: - The agent can control it (open pages, click, fill forms, take screenshots) via OpenClaw browser tool - The user can watch and interact via noVNC in their local browser (over SSH tunnel) - Optionally: all traffic routes through an authenticated HTTP proxy (for anti-captcha) --- ## Step 1: Install dependencies ```bash apt-get install -y xvfb x11vnc novnc # Install real Google Chrome (NOT snap — snap breaks automation) wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb -O /tmp/chrome.deb apt-get install -y /tmp/chrome.deb || apt --fix-broken install -y ``` --- ## Step 2: Start the browser stack ```bash # Clean stale locks rm -f /tmp/.X99-lock ~/.openclaw/browser/openclaw/user-data/SingletonLock 2>/dev/null # Virtual display Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1280x800x24 & sleep 2 # VNC server (localhost only, no password) x11vnc -display :99 -forever -nopw -localhost -quiet & sleep 1 # noVNC web UI on port 6080 (localhost only) websockify --web /usr/share/novnc 6080 localhost:5900 & sleep 1 # Chrome with CDP on port 18800 DISPLAY=:99 google-chrome-stable --no-sandbox --disable-gpu \ --remote-debugging-port=18800 \ --user-data-dir=~/.openclaw/browser/openclaw/user-data \ --window-size=1280,800 & ``` --- ## Step 3: Connect visually from your laptop ```bash ssh -L 6080:localhost:6080 root@YOUR_VPS_IP ``` Then open **http://localhost:6080/vnc.html** → click **Connect**. You'll see the Chrome window live. You and the agent control it simultaneously. --- ## Step 4: Configure OpenClaw In `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json` add: ```json { "browser": { "enabled": true, "executablePath": "/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable", "attachOnly": true, "headless": false, "noSandbox": true } } ``` Then restart: `openclaw gateway restart` The agent can now use the `browser` tool to navigate, click, type, screenshot, etc. --- ## Step 5 (Optional): Authenticated HTTP proxy If you need a proxy (e.g. mobile proxy for anti-captcha), Chrome can't pass username/password in `--proxy-server`. Solution: run a local Python bridge that forwards with auth injected automatically. ```bash python3 -c " import socket, threading, base64, select UPSTREAM_HOST = 'PROXY_IP' # e.g. 87.236.22.82 UPSTREAM_PORT = PROXY_PORT # e.g. 19423 USERNAME = 'PROXY_USER' PASSWORD = 'PROXY_PASS' LOCAL_PORT = 18801 auth = base64.b64encode(f'{USERNAME}:{PASSWORD}'.encode()).decode() def handle(client): try: data = b'' while b'\r\n\r\n' not in data: data += client.recv(4096) upstream = socket.create_connection((UPSTREAM_HOST, UPSTREAM_PORT)) if b'Proxy-Authorization' not in data: data = data.replace(b'\r\n\r\n', f'\r\nProxy-Authorization: Basic {auth}\r\n\r\n'.encode(), 1) upstream.sendall(data) while True: r, _, _ = select.select([client, upstream], [], [], 30) if not r: break for s in r: d = s.recv(65536) if not d: return (upstream if s is client else client).sendall(d) except: pass finally: try: client.close() except: pass try: upstream.close() except: pass srv = socket.socket() srv.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1) srv.bind(('127.0.0.1', LOCAL_PORT)) srv.listen(50) print('Local proxy on 127.0.0.1:18801') while True: c, _ = srv.accept() threading.Thread(target=handle, args=(c,), daemon=True).start() " & ``` Then restart Chrome with proxy: ```bash pkill -9 chrome rm -f ~/.openclaw/browser/openclaw/user-data/SingletonLock DISPLAY=:99 google-chrome-stable --no-sandbox --disable-gpu \ --remote-debugging-port=18800 \ --user-data-dir=~/.openclaw/browser/openclaw/user-data \ --window-size=1280,800 \ --proxy-server="http://127.0.0.1:18801" & ``` Verify: ask the agent to open `https://api.ipify.org` — it should show the proxy IP, not the VPS IP. --- ## Firewall (recommended) ```bash ufw default deny incoming ufw default allow outgoing ufw allow 22/tcp ufw allow 80/tcp ufw allow 443/tcp ufw --force enable ``` noVNC (6080), VNC (5900), and CDP (18800) are all localhost-only — never exposed publicly. --- ## After reboot All processes (Xvfb, x11vnc, websockify, Chrome) must be restarted. Ask the agent: > "Start the browser stack on the VPS" The agent should run Step 2 commands from this skill. --- Source attribution: osipov-anton Original project: https://github.com/meghal86/stacksignal/blob/54afe4b75ed2eb8f0feabb2f5b57dfa4bcbb3c44/.agents/skills/browser-vps-setup-skill/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Dave AI resource metadata Creator / publisher: osipov-anton Original project: https://github.com/meghal86/stacksignal/blob/54afe4b75ed2eb8f0feabb2f5b57dfa4bcbb3c44/.agents/skills/browser-vps-setup-skill/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Development & Engineering, Product Management Roles: DevOps / SRE, Backend Developer, Technical Product Manager Specialties: Backend Tools: Novnc, Openclaw Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source category, role and specialization labels Instruction SHA-256: 68ba352d601471af6ff5a7501fd054beae38c839f02aaedcc8b86a97dfe87a4a