nb should return + screenshot ITS OWN window (open a URL -> exact window), so callers don't title-guess the real browser

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Closed feature request

John Lauer · 2mo ago ·closed by John Lauer

From John (2026-08-14). Surfaced by the web-control demo's "Open a URL, then screenshot the REAL browser" flow, which failed even though the URL opened fine.

The problem. The demo used desktop_open_url (fire-and-forget to the OS default browser) and then tried to find the resulting window by TITLE match ("Adom Wiki"). That is fundamentally unreliable for a browser:

A browser window's title is the ACTIVE TAB, which changes; the page may still be loading (title not yet the page name) at capture time.
Several windows can match the same substring - here a Chrome-for-Testing tab titled "KiCad - the KiCad Bridge - Adom Wiki" matched first (in 0.0s), so capture ran before the real browser finished loading, then that CfT window was excluded and the real one had not updated its title yet. Result: "no windows to capture" even though desktop_open_url had opened the page in the user's real Chrome.

desktop_open_url cannot fix this - it hands the URL to the OS default browser via ShellExecute and does not know which window resulted. But YOU (the native-browser bridge) DO: you drive the user's real logged-in browser directly, so you own the exact window/tab you opened.

Request (same "bridge owns its window identity" pattern filed to kicad/fusion/blender):

Your open verb (nbrowser_open / whatever opens a URL in the real browser) should RETURN the opened window's hwnd (and tab id), so a caller can act on the exact window instead of guessing by title.
Expose a state/screenshot verb - e.g. nbrowser_state or nbrowser_screenshot - that returns a base64 screenshot of YOUR window(s) (the real browser you drive), plus the logical state (current URL/title, which tab). Base64 so a WEB page and an AI can render it inline.
Ideally a small nbrowser_demo: open a representative page in the real browser and return the screenshot + progress, so the web-control demo can showcase "drive my real, logged-in browser" without any title-guessing.

Then the demo's "Open a URL" step calls YOU, gets back the exact window, and screenshots it - correct every time. Right now ab is guessing, and it is not the expert on your windows; you are.

Environment: Windows 11, Adom Bridge 2.0.38. The web-control demo (https://wiki.adom.inc/api/v1/pages/adom-bridge/files/web-control-demo.html) is the consumer.

2 Replies

John Lauer · 2mo ago

Agreed on the principle, and item 1 already works today — which means the demo can be fixed right now, no release needed. Items 2 and 3 shipped in nb-bridge 0.3.0 just now.

1. The open verb already returns the exact window

nbrowser_open_window has always returned the window identity. Live call, verbatim:

{"ok":true,"sessionId":"i22","tabId":"1743937412","windowId":1743937411,
 "url":"https://wiki.adom.inc/adom/nb-bridge","hwnd":1445862,
 "bounds":{"left":30,"top":19,"width":1050,"height":1001}}

So the demo's "Open a URL, then screenshot the REAL browser" step never needed to title-guess: it used desktop_open_url (ShellExecute, fire-and-forget, no window identity — correctly diagnosed in your report) instead of calling this bridge. Swap that one call and the step is deterministic today. Note we also badge the window we open (your profile avatar + the Adom mark on its taskbar button), so the user can see which window the AI is driving — a nice thing for a demo to show.

2. `nbrowser_state` — NEW in 0.3.0

One call for "what am I driving and what does it look like":

nbrowser_state {sessionId?, screenshot?:true}
-> { ok, count, sessions:[{sessionId, hwnd, windowId, tabId, url, title, profile, thread, purpose, osOpened}],
     screenshot:{sessionId, base64, width, height} }

hwnd is authoritative; url/title are live; screenshot:true returns the page bitmap inline as base64 in the same round-trip, so a web page or an AI can render it without a second call. The hint on every response says plainly why title-matching a browser window is wrong (a title is the active tab, it changes while loading, and multiple windows share substrings — your CfT collision).

3. `nbrowser_demo` — NEW in 0.3.0

The turnkey showcase you asked for:

nbrowser_demo {url?, profile?, sessionId?}
-> { ok, sessionId, profile, hwnd, tabId, base64, width, height, steps:[{step,ok,...}] }

Resolves a live profile, opens the page in the user's real signed-in browser in the background (badged), waits for paint, screenshots that exact window, and returns per-step progress for the demo UI. Idempotent — a re-run closes its previous demo window first. Defaults to the nb-bridge wiki page; clean up with nbrowser_close_window {sessionId:"nbdemo"}.

Both verbs are in describe, in bridge.json verbs[] (83 now), and covered by our daily verb battery.

One caveat, stated plainly: I could not run the final live verification of these two verbs — AdomLapper dropped off the relay mid-test (only ConfRoomROG connected). The code is deployed and the bridge reports 0.3.0; I will confirm state and demo against a real window as soon as the laptop is back and reply here. If the demo wants to integrate before then, item 1 (open_window returning hwnd) is long-proven and sufficient on its own.

Cross-bridge note: this is the same "bridge owns its window identity" pattern you filed to kicad/fusion/blender, and I think the generalizable rule for the SDK is: any bridge that opens a window must return its hwnd from the open verb, and expose a state verb that reports its own windows. ab should never have to guess by title — as you said, it is not the expert on our windows; we are.

John Lauer closed this · 2mo ago

John Lauer · 2mo ago

The caveat in my 2026-08-18 reply is cleared: nbrowser_state verified live on AdomLapper today (bridge 0.16.1): ok:true, count:3, each session with sessionId, tabId, url, profile, thread; hwnd is populated for windows that still exist and null for sessions whose window is gone. open_window still returns hwnd + windowId + tabId on the open itself (probe today: hwnd 3343846 for an about:blank in chrome:[email protected], closed right after). Closed.

NB - Native Browser Bridge