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TypeScript Adapter Guide

Use TypeScript adapters when you need browser-side logic, multi-step flows, DOM manipulation, or complex data extraction that goes beyond simple API fetching.

Basic Structure

import { cli, Strategy } from '@jackwener/opencli/registry';
import { CommandExecutionError, EmptyResultError } from '@jackwener/opencli/errors';

cli({
  site: 'mysite',
  name: 'search',
  description: 'Search MySite',
  access: 'read', // 'read' | 'write'
  example: 'opencli mysite search <query> -f yaml',
  domain: 'www.mysite.com',
  strategy: Strategy.COOKIE,      // PUBLIC | COOKIE | INTERCEPT | UI
  args: [
    { name: 'query', required: true, help: 'Search query' },
    { name: 'limit', type: 'int', default: 10, help: 'Max results' },
  ],
  columns: ['title', 'url', 'date'],

  func: async (page, kwargs) => {
    const { query, limit = 10 } = kwargs;

    // Navigate and extract data
    await page.goto('https://www.mysite.com');

    const data = await page.evaluate(async (q: string) => {
      const res = await fetch(`/api/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(q)}`, {
        credentials: 'include',
      });
      return (await res.json()).results;
    }, String(query));

    if (!Array.isArray(data)) throw new CommandExecutionError('MySite returned an unexpected response');
    if (!data.length) throw new EmptyResultError('mysite search', 'Try a different keyword');

    return data.slice(0, Number(limit)).map((item: any) => ({
      title: item.title,
      url: item.url,
      date: item.created_at,
    }));
  },
});

Access Metadata

Every adapter must declare access: 'read' | 'write'.

  • Use read when the command only retrieves data from the target product or account.
  • Use write when the command changes remote product/account state, such as sending messages, publishing, liking, following, buying, deleting, creating remote assets, or starting paid/credit-consuming generation.
  • download and export commands are read when they only read remote data and write local files; local filesystem writes are a separate permission dimension.

Adapters may also declare example to override the canonical invocation shown in agent-facing help. Prefer YAML examples, e.g. opencli mysite search <query> -f yaml.

Listing↔Detail ID Pairing (advisory)

If your site exposes both a listing-class command (search / hot / top / recent / ...) and a detail-class command (read / paper / article / post / view / ...), it's usually nicer for agents if listing rows surface an id-shaped column that round-trips into the detail command's positional arg. Without that, an agent can't follow up on a row without re-searching by title or scraping a URL out of band.

This is a soft convention, not a CI gate. Many legitimate listings genuinely don't pair (topic-string trending, profile-attribute rows, UI-only sessions). Use judgment per command, not a checklist.

Run npm run advise:listing-id-pairing to see candidate listings without an id column. See Listing↔Detail ID Pairing for context, the full pattern table, and how to add an id to a listing.

Strategy Types

Strategy Constant Use Case
Public Strategy.PUBLIC No auth needed
Cookie Strategy.COOKIE Browser session cookies
Intercept Strategy.INTERCEPT Capture browser requests/responses
UI Strategy.UI Drive authenticated browser UI

Browser Session Reuse

Browser-backed commands are one-shot by default: each execution gets a fresh tab lease and releases it when the command returns. For interactive sites where successive commands should continue in the same page, opt into a persistent site session:

cli({
  site: 'mysite',
  name: 'ask',
  strategy: Strategy.COOKIE,
  siteSession: 'persistent',
  // ...
});

siteSession: 'persistent' makes commands for the same site share a stable adapter site tab and keeps that tab open until it is explicitly closed. Users can override the adapter default with --site-session ephemeral or force persistence with --site-session persistent.

The page Object

The page parameter provides browser interaction methods:

  • page.goto(url) — Navigate to a URL
  • page.evaluate(fn, ...args) — Execute a serializable function in the page context. Pass Node-side values through JSON-serializable args; the function cannot close over local variables.
  • page.evaluate(script) — Execute a raw JavaScript string in the page context. Prefer function form for new adapter code.
  • page.waitForSelector(selector) — Wait for an element
  • page.click(selector) — Click an element
  • page.type(selector, text) — Type text into an input

The kwargs Object

Contains parsed CLI arguments as key-value pairs. Always destructure with defaults:

const { query, limit = 10, format = 'json' } = kwargs;

For most search/read/detail commands, the main subject should be positional (opencli mysite search "rust", opencli mysite article 123) instead of a named flag such as --query or --id. Keep named flags for optional modifiers.

Error Handling

Prefer throwing CliError subclasses from src/errors.ts for expected adapter failures:

  • AuthRequiredError for missing login / cookies
  • EmptyResultError for empty but valid responses
  • CommandExecutionError for unexpected API or browser failures
  • TimeoutError for site timeouts
  • ArgumentError for invalid user input

Avoid raw Error for normal adapter control flow. This keeps top-level CLI output consistent and preserves hints for users.

AI-Assisted Development

Use the opencli-adapter-author skill plus the opencli browser * primitives to scaffold and verify adapters end-to-end:

# Recon on the target site
opencli browser open https://example.com
opencli browser network
opencli browser state

# Scaffold + verify
opencli browser init mysite/trending
opencli browser verify mysite/trending

See AI Workflow for the full loop and the adapter-author skill for the step-by-step runbook.