Let the Agent Use Web Pages

The AI can read and work on websites in Cowork's tabs, signed in as you: open pages, click, fill in forms and collect what it finds.

What it is

Cowork's tabs are a full browser. When a job needs a website, the AI opens the page in a tab of its own, reads it, and acts on it step by step, the way you would. It uses the sign-in you already have in that tab, so it sees what you can see and nothing more.

For data, the AI first looks for the website's own functions (see API Doc); it is faster and steadier than clicking. It works through the page itself when there is no such function, or when the job is the page: filling in a form, pressing a button, checking what shows.

When to use it

Good fit	Better another way
A website you use every day that has no export or report for what you need	One-off reading of a public page: paste the address or the text into the chat
Repeating the same steps across many records	Very large amounts of data: ask for a crawl script
Checking or updating records in a system you sign in to	A system that blocks automated use, or needs a code from your phone at every step

How to use it

1. Open the website in a tab and sign in as usual. Or click Let the agent operate a website in a new chat; the AI asks which website and what to do.
2. Say the result you want, and what it must not change. For example: "On the orders page, list this week's unpaid orders. Do not change anything."
3. The AI opens its own tab in the background, so your current tab stays in front. A tab it works in shows The agent is controlling this tab.
4. Follow the steps in the chat. Type to correct it, or click Stop to take over.

Example

Open our order system, go to yesterday's orders and give me a table:
order number, customer, total, and whether it has been paid. Read only.

The AI opens the order system in its own tab, goes to yesterday's list, reads every page of results and returns the table in the chat. Your own tab stays where it was.

Limits and permissions

• It only opens web addresses (http and https). Files on your computer are read with file tools, not tabs.
• It works with the sign-in in the tab. It does not have accounts of its own.
• Clicks and typing on web pages run without an approval card. Before anything it cannot undo, such as submitting, paying, deleting or sending a message, it stops and asks you unless your request already settles it. To be asked every time, say "ask me before you submit anything". See When the AI asks you.
• When it runs a script inside a page, for example to close a pop-up that covers a button, the chat shows afterwards what ran and why.
• It does not close tabs on its own. Ask it to close the ones you name; it will not close a pinned tab or the last one.

If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
It stopped at a sign-in, verification or payment page	Do that step yourself in the tab, then tell it to continue
It says a button is covered or does not respond	Tell it what you see on the page, or do the click yourself and tell it to continue
It is working in the wrong place	Type a correction while it works, or click Stop
The page does not load at all	See Network and Proxy

Related

• Workspaces, Rules and Approvals When the AI asks you, and how to set rules for a workspace
• API Doc How the AI uses a website's own functions
• Tabs Opening, pinning and naming tabs
• Import Chrome Sign-ins Use the sign-ins you already have in Chrome (macOS)