Web Navigation Fundamentals

Browser automation is one of the most powerful use cases for Computer Use. Claude can navigate websites, fill forms, and extract data from any web page.

task = """
Open Firefox and:
1. Go to news.ycombinator.com
2. Find the top story
3. Click on it to read more
4. Report the headline and first paragraph
"""

Claude handles navigation by:

Clicking the URL bar
Typing the address
Pressing Enter
Waiting for page load

Page Understanding

Claude's vision capabilities enable:

Capability	Example
Text reading	Headlines, articles, labels
Button identification	"Submit", "Login", icons
Form detection	Input fields, dropdowns
Layout understanding	Sidebars, navigation, content

Waiting for Content

Web pages load dynamically. Handle this with waits:

task = """
Go to a weather site and:
1. Wait for the page to fully load
2. Find the current temperature
3. If there's a loading spinner, wait for it to disappear
4. Report the weather conditions
"""

Handling Page Elements

Links and Buttons

task = """
On the product page:
1. Click 'Add to Cart' button
2. Wait for cart update
3. Click the cart icon
4. Verify item is in cart
"""

Scrolling

Claude can scroll to find content:

task = """
Go to the documentation page and:
1. Scroll down to the 'API Reference' section
2. Find the authentication endpoint
3. Extract the example code
"""

Tab Management

task = """
1. Open google.com in a new tab (Ctrl+T)
2. Search for 'Claude AI'
3. Open the first result in a new tab
4. Switch back to the first tab
5. Report what you found
"""

Common Challenges

Challenge	Solution
Slow loading	Add wait actions
Pop-ups	Click close or accept
Cookie banners	Dismiss or accept
Infinite scroll	Scroll incrementally
Dynamic content	Wait for stability

Tip: Use Ctrl+L to quickly focus the URL bar in most browsers.

Next, we'll learn how to fill forms and handle authentication. :::

Basic Navigation