gomoufox is a Go driver for Camoufox.
It gives Go programs, shell scripts, and MCP agents a typed way to launch and control the pinned Camoufox browser stack without writing Python glue.
Use it only on sites you own, test, or have permission to automate.
Install the bundled skills and MCP server config in one step:
gomoufox setup --dry-run
gomoufox setup --target all --features skills,mcp --yes
gomoufox agents install --target all --features skills,mcp --dry-run --json
gomoufox agents install --target all --features skills,mcpUse --target codex, claude, cursor, or gemini to install for one
agent. Use --scope project when you want repo-local MCP config. The default
writes skill files plus a stdio MCP entry that runs
gomoufox mcp --toolset core.
Run the dry run first. It prints the exact files gomoufox would write.
Reruns are safe: MCP config files are merged, and existing skill files are left
alone unless you pass --force.
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| Go browser automation | github.com/ehmo/gomoufox |
| Shell automation | gomoufox get, gomoufox screenshot, gomoufox fetch |
| Agent browser tools | gomoufox mcp |
| Guided setup | gomoufox setup, gomoufox agents install |
| Release evidence | docs/BENCHMARKS.md |
flowchart LR
GoApp["Go app"] --> GoAPI["Go API"]
Shell["Shell script"] --> CLI["gomoufox CLI"]
Agent["Agent"] --> Skills["SKILL.md"]
Skills --> MCP["gomoufox mcp"]
GoAPI --> Sidecar["gomoufox sidecar"]
CLI --> Sidecar
MCP --> Sidecar
Sidecar --> Camoufox["Pinned Camoufox"]
Camoufox --> Web["Permitted sites"]
classDef api fill:#00ADD8,color:#ffffff,stroke:#00758f;
classDef agent fill:#7c3aed,color:#ffffff,stroke:#5b21b6;
classDef browser fill:#f97316,color:#ffffff,stroke:#c2410c;
classDef web fill:#16a34a,color:#ffffff,stroke:#15803d;
class GoAPI,CLI api;
class Agent,Skills,MCP agent;
class Sidecar,Camoufox browser;
class Web web;
Library:
go get github.com/ehmo/gomoufoxCLI:
go install github.com/ehmo/gomoufox/cmd/gomoufox@latest
gomoufox -h
gomoufox install
gomoufox doctorHomebrew:
brew tap ehmo/gomoufox https://github.com/ehmo/gomoufox
if brew commands | grep -qx trust; then
brew trust --formula ehmo/gomoufox/gomoufox
fi
brew install gomoufox
gomoufox install
gomoufox doctorInstall through the tap. The release gomoufox.rb file is there for audit and
tap metadata; Homebrew wants formulae inside taps. Run brew trust only if your
Homebrew build still has that command.
Default Go, CLI, and MCP flows use the Go-managed node-direct runtime. The default install fetches Playwright's Node driver, gomoufox's launch server, and the pinned Camoufox browser archive. Profile, locale, and humanize flows still use the Python sidecar because they require Camoufox launch options.
Use gomoufox install --runtime python only for the explicit legacy
Python-sidecar path. That path uses hash-locked wheels and fails closed on a
missing wheel or hash mismatch.
Homebrew installs on macOS Apple Silicon and Linux amd64, because those are the hosts where the pinned browser has an upstream binary. Other Go archives still ship for library and CLI users.
Use GOMOUFOX_TRUST_UNVERIFIED_CAMOUFOX_PATH=1 only for a trusted local browser
build that does not match the release manifest. gomoufox doctor reports that
as a warning.
package main
import (
"context"
"fmt"
gomoufox "github.com/ehmo/gomoufox"
)
func main() {
ctx := context.Background()
browser, err := gomoufox.New(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
defer browser.Close()
page, err := browser.NewPage(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
if _, err := page.Goto(ctx, "https://example.com"); err != nil {
panic(err)
}
text, err := page.Content(ctx)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
fmt.Println(text)
}Use the library when your program owns the browser lifecycle. Use the CLI when a shell script needs a page snapshot, screenshot, or browser-context fetch. Use MCP when an agent needs browser tools over stdio or HTTP.
gomoufox get https://example.com --markdown
gomoufox screenshot https://example.com --out page.png --full-page
gomoufox fetch https://api.example.com/me --navigate-first https://example.com
gomoufox open https://app.example.com --save-session state.json --wait
gomoufox fetch https://app.example.com/api/me --cookies-file state.jsonFetch responses are read through a bounded browser stream. gomoufox fetch
defaults to 512 KiB, reports truncation in JSON output, and cancels the reader
when the cap is reached.
Agent-friendly discovery:
gomoufox -h
gomoufox -v
gomoufox version
gomoufox help
gomoufox help --json --fields commands
gomoufox help skills --json
gomoufox help mcp --json
gomoufox skills list --json
gomoufox skills show core
gomoufox mcp --helpAutomation tips:
- Use
--jsonfor machine-readable output and keep status logs on stderr. - Use
--timeout <dur>for bounded shell jobs. - Use
open --save-sessionfor human login, then reuse the state with--cookies-file. - Use
--profile <dir>when a workflow needs full persistent browser state. - Keep the default URL policy for normal work. Use
--allow-private-ipsonly when you need local or private network targets.
gomoufox ships versioned agent skills in the binary and as checked SKILL.md
files. Skills give agents a compact operating guide for the Go API, CLI, and MCP
tools. They do not install npm packages, run npx, or call the network.
| Skill | Path | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
core |
skills/gomoufox/SKILL.md |
An agent needs the Go library or CLI workflow. |
mcp |
skills/gomoufox-mcp/SKILL.md |
An agent needs MCP setup, tool choice, and browser safety rules. |
Inspect the embedded skills:
gomoufox skills list --json
gomoufox skills show core
gomoufox skills show mcpExport installable copies:
gomoufox skills export --out ./skills
gomoufox skills export --out ./skills --forceInstall skill files only for Codex:
gomoufox skills install --target codex --dry-run --json
gomoufox skills install --target codexBy default, the Codex target writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills or
~/.codex/skills. Use --dir <path> to choose another skill directory. The
installer writes:
gomoufox/SKILL.mdgomoufox/agents/openai.yamlgomoufox-mcp/SKILL.mdgomoufox-mcp/agents/openai.yaml
list and show read from the embedded skill bodies, so agents can discover
the right instructions even when no skill directory exists yet. export and
install write the same checked bodies that ship in the repo. Existing files are
left alone unless you pass --force.
Install skills plus MCP configuration for a specific agent or project:
gomoufox agents install --target all --dry-run --json
gomoufox agents install --target cursor --scope project --features skills,mcpagents install supports codex, claude, cursor, gemini, or all, with
--scope user|project and --features skills,mcp. MCP entries use stdio and
default to gomoufox mcp --toolset core. Use --toolset full for the full MCP
surface. Reserve repeated --mcp-arg <arg> for extra MCP server flags. Use
--force only when you want to replace existing skill files or rewrite merged
MCP config.
| Target | User-scope MCP file | Project-scope MCP file | Skill root |
|---|---|---|---|
codex |
~/.codex/config.toml |
.codex/config.toml |
~/.agents/skills or .agents/skills |
claude |
~/.claude/mcp.json |
.mcp.json |
~/.claude/skills or .claude/skills |
cursor |
~/.cursor/mcp.json |
.cursor/mcp.json |
~/.agents/skills or .agents/skills |
gemini |
~/.gemini/settings.json |
.gemini/settings.json |
~/.agents/skills or .agents/skills |
Dry-run output shows the exact absolute paths that would be written.
Run browser tools over stdio:
gomoufox mcpClaude Code example:
claude mcp add gomoufox -- gomoufox mcpHTTP transport requires a bearer token:
gomoufox mcp --transport http --auth-token "$TOKEN"MCP defaults:
- Use
gomoufox mcp --toolset corefor a smaller agent tool surface. It keeps navigation, snapshots/content, common form actions, sessions, and skill tools. The defaultfulltoolset keeps diagnostics, eval, fetch, cookies, storage, upload, and other gated tools available. file://, private IP ranges, link-local addresses, and metadata hosts are blocked.- JavaScript evaluation is disabled unless you start MCP with
--enable-eval. - Response sizes are capped.
- MCP-owned helper scripts use a startup-probed internal helper evaluation path and do not install a page-visible helper object.
- Browser-derived MCP responses include
provenance.trust: "untrusted"so agents can separate website content from trusted instructions. This label helps agent policy. It is not a sandbox. - Console, page-error, network, and performance diagnosis tools are bounded, redacted, and clearable where they keep event buffers. Network summaries do not include request or response bodies.
- Ref-based interaction tools cover click, type, key press, hover, scroll, select option, checkbox/radio state, dialog policy, and bounded form batches.
browser_snapshotform values stay redacted unless you start MCP with--allow-snapshot-valuesand the tool call setsinclude_values: true.- Browser-context fetches, cookie values, cookie mutation, session export, session import, session proxy use, and file upload stay disabled unless you enable their matching operator flags.
- To reuse a CLI login in MCP, save state with
gomoufox open --save-session, place the file under--session-dir, start MCP with--allow-session-import, then callsession_createwithstorage_state_pathorsession_loadwithpath. browser_upload_filerequires--allow-file-upload; paths must resolve under--session-dir, and responses do not echo file paths.browser_fetchrequires--allow-browser-fetchplus at least one--allowed-originsor--allowed-hostsentry. It still uses gomoufox network policy, so private and metadata destinations stay blocked.
The benchmark answers one question: did the Go path stay close to Python Camoufox without producing Go-only failures?
Latest checked evidence: docs/BENCHMARKS.md, Python-sidecar artifact, and node-direct artifact.
| Runtime | Passed | Blocked | Failed | Wall ms | Peak RSS MiB | Peak CPU % | Report tokens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python Camoufox | 95 | 5 | 0 | 357,093 | 3,256.4 | 482.1 | 81,801 |
| gomoufox, Python sidecar | 95 | 5 | 0 | 366,338 | 2,765.3 | 569.9 | 13,059 |
| gomoufox, node-direct Go | 96 | 4 | 0 | 359,088 | 3,041.3 | 399.0 | 12,824 |
Bold means best in that column. The sidecar row comes from the previous extended release-gate artifact; node-direct comes from the readiness artifact. Use the table for direction, not single-run timing claims.
Latest extended validation: 100 targets, 60s timeout, commit wait, 3s settle,
no screenshots, reused browser, compact Go report, 0s extra load-state wait, and
250,000-byte classification cap.
gomoufox passed 96, blocked 4, failed 0. Python Camoufox passed 95, blocked 5,
failed 0. The run had 0 Go-only regressions and 1 Python-only outcome
difference. See
docs/benchmarks/2026-06-09-node-direct-readiness.json.
| Ratio | node-direct Go / Python Camoufox |
|---|---|
| Wall time | 1.006 |
| Peak RSS | 0.934 |
| Peak CPU | 0.828 |
| Report tokens | 0.157 |
Wall time stayed at parity. Node-direct used less RSS, less CPU, and produced a
much smaller agent report. Treat a report-token ratio above 0.50 as a regression.
Release gates use --unsafe-direct-network, block reproducible outcome mismatch,
and give a new shared block, failure, or performance outlier one focused retry.
scripts/benchmark-realpass.py --mode smoke
scripts/benchmark-realpass.py --mode smoke --loops 2 --run-order alternate
scripts/benchmark-realpass.py --mode extended --list-targets
scripts/fingerprint-audit.pyUse --run-order alternate for timing work. Run scripts/fingerprint-audit.py
after browser pin, launch option, WebGL, locale, timezone, font, canvas, or
runtime changes. It compares Python Camoufox, gomoufox with the Python sidecar,
and gomoufox node-direct on a local fingerprint page.
The no-Python canary checks the consumer path:
scripts/no-python-consumer-canary.sh --gomoufox ./gomoufox --json-out dist/node-direct-consumer-readiness.json
python3 scripts/check-python-removal-readiness.py --artifact dist/node-direct-consumer-readiness.jsonMore detail:
Each public release ships deterministic archives, checksums.txt,
checksums.json, a Homebrew formula, release-provenance.json, and
sbom.spdx.json. The public workflow also creates GitHub artifact attestations.
gh release download vX.Y.Z --repo ehmo/gomoufox --dir /tmp/gomoufox-vX.Y.Z
cd /tmp/gomoufox-vX.Y.Z
shasum -a 256 -c checksums.txt
gh attestation verify gomoufox_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64.tar.gz -R ehmo/gomoufoxRun the public consumer canary when you want one command that checks the release asset layout, checksums, host archive extraction, CLI help, MCP core handshake, skills listing, and skills install dry-run:
bash scripts/public-consumer-canary.sh --version vX.Y.Z --repo ehmo/gomoufox --brew-mode inspectAdd --verify-attestations, --go-install, or --brew-mode install when you
need those slower paths. The default canary avoids browser launch work. Add
--browser-smoke-url https://example.com/ when you also want to prove the
managed runtime is installed and usable on that machine.
Maintainers also run the bundled public audit after publication:
python3 scripts/audit-public-release.py \
--version vX.Y.Z \
--repo ehmo/gomoufox \
--verify-attestations \
--brew-mode inspectDefault install and ordinary node-direct flows do not need Python at runtime.
Python remains for explicit legacy Python-sidecar mode, profile/locale/humanize
launch-option flows, upstream Python Camoufox comparison benchmarks, and
maintainer release/dev scripts listed in scripts/python-tooling-policy.json.
The audit path still exists for upstream parity work:
go run ./cmd/gomoufox-launchplan --scenario all --out dist/launch-plan/latestThat command dumps gomoufox's Go launch input beside the Python Camoufox launch
payload. It can also compare an optional candidate payload with
--candidate <json> and fails on drift.
Use gomoufox when you need a typed Go API, a scriptable CLI, MCP tools for agents, release-gated Go/Python parity checks, and local URL guardrails. Use Python Camoufox directly when your project is already Python-first and does not need those surfaces.
No. gomoufox tests against Python Camoufox on the same target set. A Go-only block or failure is a gomoufox regression. A shared block means both stacks saw the same site behavior during that run. Site policy, traffic reputation, browser changes, and upstream Camoufox changes can still affect results.
Temporary sessions use temporary profile data. Persistent sessions use the
directory you pass with --profile. MCP session import, export, proxy use, and
file upload stay disabled until you start MCP with the matching operator flags.
Portable storage_state files from open --save-session contain cookies and
localStorage only; reuse them with CLI --cookies-file or MCP session import.
No. Browser-derived MCP responses carry provenance.trust: "untrusted". Agents
should treat page text as data from the site, not instructions from the operator.
Yes, if a display exists. Set GOMOUFOX_AUTO_DISPLAY=1 when you want gomoufox to
use an automatic display helper.
Run:
gomoufox doctor
gomoufox doctor --json
gomoufox --verbose doctorCheck GOMOUFOX_CAMOUFOX_PATH only when you intentionally bypass the managed
runtime. Offline browser paths are manifest-verified unless
GOMOUFOX_TRUST_UNVERIFIED_CAMOUFOX_PATH=1 is set for a trusted local build.
gomoufox pins the browser stack. Upgrade these pieces together.
| gomoufox | playwright-go | Playwright package | Camoufox package | Camoufox browser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| v0.1.x | v0.5700.1 | 1.57.0 | 0.4.11 | v135.0.1-beta.24 |
Auto-fetch support is verified for macOS arm64. Other platforms may work with a
pre-provisioned browser directory through GOMOUFOX_CAMOUFOX_PATH.
Headful Linux runs need an existing display or GOMOUFOX_AUTO_DISPLAY=1.
These Python commands are development tooling, not runtime prerequisites:
go test -count=1 ./...
go test -race -count=1 ./...
go vet ./...
python3 scripts/check-agent-contracts.py
python3 scripts/format-doc-numbers.py
go run golang.org/x/vuln/cmd/govulncheck@v1.3.0 ./...Normal CI keeps to cheap deterministic checks: public export consistency,
docs-number formatting, unit tests, agent contracts, go vet, and the public
consumer canary in dry-run mode. Public tag releases run the heavier coverage,
vulnerability, package, attestation, and post-release audit checks.
Agent-facing CLI and MCP discovery snapshots live in docs/agent-contracts/.
When CLI help or MCP tool schemas change, run
python3 scripts/check-agent-contracts.py --update and review the diff.
Run python3 scripts/format-doc-numbers.py --write after editing docs with
large displayed numbers.
The public repo is generated. Do not edit generated public files by hand.
gomoufox is MIT licensed.
Camoufox is MPL-2.0. gomoufox starts Camoufox as a subprocess and downloads its browser binary at runtime. gomoufox does not vendor or modify Camoufox.