Steel

Steel is a browser API for developers building AI agents that interact with websites. It runs Chrome sessions locally or on a self-hosted server through Docker, so you can keep browser infrastructure on hardware you control. The code uses the Apache 2.0 license. Steel also offers a hosted service where browser sessions run in its cloud.

The API handles browser sessions and their lifecycle, including cleanup. Agents can retain cookies and local storage across requests, then reuse that state to continue tasks that involve logins or several pages. Custom Chrome extensions and proxy support cover workflows that need more than a fresh browser for each request.

Steel works with Puppeteer, Playwright and Selenium, and provides Python and Node.js SDKs. Selenium compatibility has limits: it doesn't support every feature available through the other browser sessions. For teams with existing automation, these connections let them use Steel as the browser backend while keeping their chosen tools.

Page extraction is built in. Steel can return page content as HTML, Markdown or readable text, and capture screenshots and PDFs. Request logs and a session viewing interface help developers inspect what an agent did in the browser.

The hosted service includes automatic CAPTCHA solving, browser fingerprint controls and automatic sign-in for sites that require authentication. Its session viewer supports watching live sessions and reviewing recordings.