scout README

The project's README from github.com/outcrawlai/scout. As one markdown file: README.md.

Scout by outcrawl. The open-source browser agent.

Quickstart  ·  Examples  ·  Models  ·  Cloud  ·  Docs

Licence: Apache-2.0 npm: @outcrawl/scout TypeScript, Node 22 or later

Tell it the task. It opens a browser and gets it done.

Scout is an open-source agent that uses a real browser to finish a task for you. Describe what you need in plain words. Scout reads the page, clicks, types and scrolls until the job is done, then hands back the answer. If it cannot finish, it tells you what is missing and returns what it found.

Scout runs best on Outcrawl's cloud. One line gives it a browser that sites treat like anyone at home, with captcha solving and a replay of every run. It also runs on your own machine.

A recorded Scout run on Outcrawl's cloud, at 6x speed. The task: Go to https://books.toscrape.com, open the first book in the Poetry category and report its title and price. Scout opens the shop, clicks Poetry, opens the first book and answers: title A Light in the Attic, price £51.77. Completed in 5 steps.

A recorded run on Outcrawl's cloud, 13 October 2026, shown at 6x speed with nothing cut.

Start in three steps

1. Install Scout. You need Node 22 or later. On the cloud there is no browser to install.

npm i @outcrawl/scout

2. Add your keys. An Outcrawl key for the browser (get one free at outcrawl.ai: 1,000 credits every month, no card needed) and a key for your model. Scout works with any AI model service that speaks the standard chat completions API, including a model running on your own computer:

export OUTCRAWL_API_KEY=your-outcrawl-key
export SCOUT_BASE_URL=https://your-endpoint/v1
export SCOUT_API_KEY=your-model-key
export SCOUT_HANDS_MODEL=your-model-id

3. Give it a task. Save this as task.ts and run npx tsx task.ts:

import { Scout } from '@outcrawl/scout';

const scout = new Scout({
  browser: 'outcrawl',
  models: {
    hands: {
      model: process.env.SCOUT_HANDS_MODEL!,
      baseURL: process.env.SCOUT_BASE_URL!,
      apiKey: process.env.SCOUT_API_KEY!,
    },
  },
});

const result = await scout.run('Find the top three stories on Hacker News right now');
console.log(result.data);
console.log(result.replayUrl); // watch the whole run, step by step

Scout opens a browser on Outcrawl's cloud, works through the page, and prints the answer with a link to the replay.

Rather use a browser on your own machine? Install one with npm i playwright-core && npx playwright install chromium, then change the one line to browser: { launch: {} }. Add headless: false inside launch to watch it work. Replays come with the cloud, so replayUrl stays empty on your own browser.

[!TIP] Not writing the code yourself? Give this page to your coding agent and ask it to set Scout up and run your task.

What you can ask it to do

Tasks you would do in a browser yourself, written the way you would ask a colleague. Each of these is a working example you can run:

Want the answer in a fixed shape, such as a list of names and prices? Pass a JSON Schema with the task and the answer comes back in exactly that shape.

Bring your own models

Scout has no built-in model and no default. You choose a model for each job, on any service that speaks the chat completions API: a hosted provider, a gateway, or a server on your own machine. Each job can use a different model and a different key.

Job Needed What it does
hands Yes Reads the page and takes each step: click, type, scroll, read. It runs on every step, so a fast model pays off here.
brain No Plans the run and decides each step. Helps long tasks that cross many pages.
eyes No Looks at a screenshot when the page has to be seen. Needs a model that accepts images.
extract No Reads a page into your answer or your schema. Without it, hands does this. 
models: {
  hands: { model: 'your-fast-model', baseURL: urlA, apiKey: keyA },
  brain: { model: 'your-strong-model', baseURL: urlB, apiKey: keyB },
  eyes: { model: 'your-vision-model', baseURL: urlA, apiKey: keyA },
  extract: { model: 'your-local-model', baseURL: localUrl, apiKey: '' },
}

If a service refuses Scout's request for a structured reply, the run's error says which job it was and what to change: set structuredOutput on that job to 'json_object' or 'strict'.

The best way to run it: Outcrawl's cloud

Your agent on the left reaches a browser on your own laptop, or a browser on Outcrawl's cloud on the right.

Many sites stop a browser that runs from a data center or behaves like a script, and a task that stops halfway is no answer at all. On Outcrawl's cloud, Scout gets a browser built to get through:

Measured: runs on Outcrawl's cloud reached 92.5% of pages on Browser Use's 80-site benchmark, scored with their own code; the next best reached 81.4%. Three full runs, 7 October 2026. Method and every run.

A cloud run is billed as an ordinary Outcrawl browser session, and your model calls still go to your own services. Every account gets 1,000 free credits a month, no card needed. Get a key at outcrawl.ai.

Other browsers

Scout drives any Chrome or Chromium, so moving between them is one line; your models and your task stay the same.

// On Outcrawl's cloud (recommended)
browser: 'outcrawl'

// On your machine, started for you
browser: { launch: {} }

// A browser you already run, over CDP
browser: { cdpUrl: 'http://127.0.0.1:9222' }

What you get back

Every run returns a result, even one that falls short:

Limit a run with caps: { steps, duration, budget }. Reaching a limit is a normal ending, with everything found so far. The full API is in the package reference.

Inside this repository

Package What it is
packages/scout The front door: new Scout({ browser, models }).run(task).
packages/runtime The agent loop: look at the page, pick an action, act, check, repeat.
packages/model The model side of the loop: prompts, the job split, structured replies, provider-neutral clients.
packages/scout-core Shared types and helpers.
packages/scout-cdp Drives a real browser over the DevTools protocol: navigation, clicks, typing, scrolling, tabs, snapshots.
packages/agenthands Pointer and keyboard input planning for local browsers (MIT, its own licence).

To work on Scout itself:

bun install
cd packages/runtime && bun test ./test

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome: bug reports, fixes and new examples alike. Sign off each commit (git commit -s, the Developer Certificate of Origin).

This repository is an automatic mirror. Every change lands first in the repository Outcrawl runs in production, ships with its tests, and then arrives here in a sync commit, so a merged pull request comes back to you as part of the next sync. CONTRIBUTING.md has the details.

Licence

Apache-2.0, see LICENSE. packages/agenthands keeps its MIT licence. Copyright 2026 Aeonmind LLC.


outcrawl
Scout is made by Outcrawl, web infrastructure for AI agents.

scout (outcrawlai/scout)

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936 ·GitHub
Scout
Что это такое?Scout — это браузерный агент с открытым исходным кодом от Outcrawl: вы описываете задачу обычными словами, а он открывает настоящий браузер, читает страницу, кликает, вводит текст и прокручивает её, пока работа не будет сделана, после чего возвращает готовый ответ.
Это библиотека, которую я подключаю, или отдельное приложение?Это библиотека для TypeScript/Node, которую вы добавляете в свой проект: создаёте экземпляр Scout с браузером и моделями, а затем вызываете run(task) в собственном скрипте.
Как его запустить?Установите его на Node 22 или новее, добавьте ключ Outcrawl для облачного браузера плюс ключ для выбранной модели ИИ, затем сохраните свою задачу в файл task.ts и запустите командой npx tsx task.ts.
Нужен ли мне собственный ключ для модели ИИ?Да. В Scout нет встроенной модели, поэтому нужно принести свой ключ от любого сервиса, который поддерживает стандартный chat completions API, — включая модель, запущенную на вашем собственном компьютере.
Могу ли я обойтись без облака Outcrawl?Да, если установить playwright-core и Chromium локально и поменять одну строку в конфигурации, но тогда пропадут решение капч, резидентные подключения и записи запусков — всё это доступно только в облаке.
Что Scout возвращает по завершении запуска?Объект результата со статусом (completed, partial, capped или failed), данными ответа в форме вашей схемы, прилагающейся ошибкой, списком выполненных шагов, стоимостью вызовов модели в долларах США, а в облаке — ещё и replayUrl, чтобы посмотреть запись запуска.
Сколько стоит облако Outcrawl?Каждому аккаунту ежемесячно дают 1 000 бесплатных кредитов, карта не нужна; облачные запуски тарифицируются как обычные браузерные сессии Outcrawl, а вызовы вашей модели оплачиваются отдельно её провайдеру.
Насколько хорошо он обходит защиту от ботов по сравнению с другими агентами?На бенчмарке Browser Use по 80 сайтам Scout на облаке Outcrawl прошёл 92,5% страниц против 81,4% у ближайшего конкурента — за счёт резидентных IP-адресов и встроенного решения капч.
Можно ли использовать разные модели ИИ для разных шагов?Да. Scout делит работу на роли hands, brain, eyes и extract, и каждой можно назначить свою модель и ключ — например, быструю модель для hands и визуальную модель для eyes.
What are similar projects?stagehand, nanobrowser, browser-use, webcmd, browser-harness, SeleniumBase, invisible_playwright_mcp, playwright
Which topics is it in?browser-agent, captcha-solving, task-automation, web-automation, cdp, json-schema, chromium, llm-agents, playwright, node, web-scraping, browser-automation
Creator
outcrawlai
Size
15.4 MB
Stars
936
Updated
CommitOct 16
Age
4d
Commits · 90 Days