Articles

How to size queues, concurrency, and proxy fleets so browser automation runs hundreds of Steel sessions without flaking.

Show how Steel's sessions, credential injection, approvals, and evidence capture limit prompt injections without killing browser agent state or audits.

How to move files in and out of cloud browser sessions — session files for a single run, global files for assets reused across every session.

Self-host Steel Browser when infrastructure control is the requirement; use Steel Cloud when managed browser operations are the requirement.

Create a Steel session, attach Playwright over CDP, reuse the existing page, and release the session when the run ends.

When a vendor API is enough vs when you need full browser automation — a decision guide grounded in auth, rate limits, and UI-only flows.

Keep your Browser Use agents exactly as they are. Point their `BrowserSession` at a Steel session over CDP and you get sub-second startup, 24 hour browser lifetimes, live viewer links, and reliable cleanup without changing a single task prompt or tool definition.

Show RAG teams how Steel sessions, Files, and observability keep browser data collection repeatable, auditable, and ready for knowledge base ingestion.

Chrome extensions belong in browser-agent workflows when you need repeatable in-browser logic that Playwright or prompts cannot keep stable; Steel's Extensions API lets you upload once, inject per session, and keep the lifecycle sane.

Separate session, navigation, authentication, action, and evidence failures before changing the model or prompt.

Stagehand already plans the run: prompts, schemas, and `.page.act()` instructions stay exactly as they are. Point its `cdpUrl` at the Steel session you created and Stagehand keeps steering the browser while Steel provides the isolated runtime, evidence, and guardrails the agent loop was missing.

Track startup p95, first-action success, completion without retries, manual interventions, and evidence coverage to judge browser agent reliability with Steel.

Replayable traces are the difference between fixing an agent in minutes and guessing for hours. Steel streams every session live and stores durable HLS recordings so you can prove what the browser saw before you edit a single line of code.

Persistent profiles keep retries honest because every session starts from the same user data directory: cookies, local storage, extensions, and browser settings. Instead of scripting a login before every action, create one profile with `persistProfile: true`, reuse it by passing `profileId`, and refresh it when state changes.

Steel CLI keeps browser workflows fast by handling session lifecycle, passthrough commands, and agent skills so you debug less code and ship reliable runs.

Where browser-automation spend really spikes at scale — sessions, proxies, CAPTCHAs — and a playbook to keep costs predictable.

Show healthcare teams how to automate payer and EHR portals with Steel sessions, credentials, files, and replay evidence without breaking auth or audit rules.

How Skyvern, Steel, and traditional RPA suites differ on ownership of judgment, exit paths, evidence, and cost — plus when each one is the right pick for an ops workflow.

A practical Browserless vs Steel comparison — what each product was built for, BrowserQL and portability, state and identity, observability, and how the pricing units differ.

Keep the Selenium tests, page objects, and reporting stack you trust. Swap the grid underneath with Steel sessions that start on demand, run up to 24 hours, and record every run so failures come with evidence. You still call `webdriver.Remote`; Steel just hosts the browser, manages lifecycle, and gives you replay URLs tied to each `sessionId`.

Handle credentials, approvals, and stored browser state for AI agents without exposing secrets to models or operators.

Steel Stealth Browser is a Chromium fork that does fingerprint evasion inside the browser source, reading GPU, WebGL, media-device, and OS-level signals that injected JavaScript and vanilla headless cannot reach.

Legitimate automation gets flagged when network, fingerprint, behavior, or challenge handling looks synthetic. Fix those layers first with Steel sessions, proxies, and CAPTCHA handling.

Show GRC teams to run security questionnaires inside Steel sessions with approvals, credential injection, and Files archives so evidence ships with responses.

Define session ownership, authentication, action policy, evidence, retries, cleanup, and data retention before a browser agent handles production work.

Point your existing `puppeteer.launch()` call at `wss://connect.steel.dev?apiKey=...` and the same scripts run inside Steel's managed browsers. You keep your code, selectors, and reporters while Steel supplies sub-second session startup, 24-hour lifespan, and automatic capture of live view plus replays.

Steel vs Browserbase vs Kernel vs Browserless vs Smooth: portability, transparency, state and evidence primitives, and pricing models, side by side.

Keep Claude Computer Use prompts untouched; Steel supplies reliable sessions, viewer links, replay evidence, CAPTCHA helpers, and disciplined cleanup.

A cloud browser gives an agent an isolated browser session with remote control, persisted state, and evidence from each run.

Embed Steel live sessions with debugUrl iframes and stream past sessions via HLS so teammates can watch, take over, or audit every run.

Connect Gemini Computer Use to Steel sessions for managed browsers, replay-grade observability, and anti-bot help without rebuilding your agent loop today.

Run browser agents that clear enterprise security bars: secret custody, human approvals, and audit-ready evidence trails, with examples.

When to self-host Steel Browser vs pay for cloud — ops checklist, real cost math, and deployment paths to weigh before running agents.

Diagnose why a Playwright script that passes locally fails in Steel Cloud by aligning runtimes, anti-bot posture, and evidence loops.

A practical Browserbase vs Steel comparison — managed agent platform versus neutral browser infrastructure, lock-in and transparency, and pricing — plus when each is the right choice.

Route OpenAI computer-use actions through Steel's Computer API while Steel manages the browser session, viewer, and replay.

Show legal and compliance teams how Steel sessions keep court dockets, FOIA pulls, and filings automated with stateful profiles and audit-ready evidence.

Store credentials by origin and namespace, then let Steel inject them into a browser session without placing raw values in the agent prompt.

Run Steel browser sessions in the right region first, then layer proxies only when you need a different IP footprint, so latency, residency, and debugging stay predictable.

Mobile mode in Steel swaps the entire session identity: viewport, touch stack, Chrome build, and fingerprint. It is not just the `User-Agent` header. Use it when the mobile site is cleaner or when traffic must look like a real phone; skip it when the desktop surface is already reliable.

Use Steel profiles to carry cookies, storage, extensions, credentials, and browser settings from one released session into the next.

Pause the agent, give an authorized reviewer the live Steel viewer, record the decision, and resume the same browser session.

Design browser automation audit trails with Steel embeds, HLS replays, agent logs, and retention deadlines so every run keeps evidence you can prove later.