midscene/apps/site/docs/en/automate-with-scripts-in-yaml.mdx

# Automate with Scripts in YAML

In most cases, developers write automation just to perform some smoke tests, like checking the appearance of some content, or verifying that the key user path is accessible. Maintaining a large test project is unnecessary in this situation.

⁠Midscene offers a way to do this kind of automation with `.yaml` files, which helps you to focus on the script itself instead of the test infrastructure. Any team member can write an automation script without learning any API.

Here is an example of `.yaml` script, you may have already understood how it works by reading its content.

```yaml
target:
  url: https://www.bing.com

tasks:
  - name: search weather
    flow:
      - ai: search for 'weather today'
      - sleep: 3000

  - name: check result
    flow:
      - aiAssert: the result shows the weather info
```

:::info Demo Project
You can find the demo project with YAML scripts [https://github.com/web-infra-dev/midscene-example/tree/main/yaml-scripts-demo](https://github.com/web-infra-dev/midscene-example/tree/main/yaml-scripts-demo)
:::

## Preparation

Config the OpenAI API key in the environment variable

```bash
# replace with your own
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
```

or you can use a `.env` file to store the configuration

```env filename=.env
OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
```

or you may [customize model and provider](./model-provider.html)

## Start

Install `@midscene/cli` globally

```bash
npm i -g @midscene/cli
# or if you prefer a project-wide installation
npm i @midscene/cli --save-dev
```

Write a yaml file to `bing-search.yaml`

```yaml
target:
  url: https://www.bing.com
flow:
  - ai: search for 'weather today'
  - sleep: 3000
  - aiAssert: the result shows the weather info
```

Run this script

```bash
midscene ./bing-search.yaml
# or if you installed midscene inside the project
npx midscene ./bing-search.yaml
```

You should see that the output shows the progress of the running process and the report file.

## Usage in-depth

### Run single `.yaml` file

```bash
midscene /path/to/yaml
```

### Run all `.yaml` files under a folder

```bash
midscene /dir/of/yaml/

# glob is also supported
midscene /dir/**/yaml/
```

### Debug in headed mode

'headed mode' means the browser will be visible. The default behavior is to run in headless mode.

To turn on headed mode, you can use `--headed` option. Besides, if you want to keep the browser window open after the script finishes, you can use `--keep-window` option. `--keep-window` implies `--headed`.

When running in headed mode, it will consume more resources, so we recommend you to use it locally only when needed.

```bash
# run in headed mode
midscene /path/to/yaml --headed

# run in headed mode and keep the browser window open after the script finishes
midscene /path/to/yaml --keep-window
```

### `.yaml` file schema

There are two parts in a `.yaml` file, the `target` and the `tasks`.

The `target` part defines the basic of a task

```yaml
target:
  # The URL to visit, required. If `serve` is provided, provide the path to the file to visit
  url: <url>

  # Serve the local path as a static server, optional
  serve: <root-directory>

  # The user agent to use, optional
  userAgent: <ua>

  # number, the viewport width, default is 1280, optional
  viewportWidth: <width>

  # number, the viewport height, default is 960, optional
  viewportHeight: <height>

  # number, the device scale factor (dpr), default is 1, optional
  deviceScaleFactor: <scale>

  # string, the path to the json format cookie file, optional
  cookie: <path-to-cookie-file>
  
  # object, the strategy to wait for network idle, optional
  waitForNetworkIdle:
    # number, the timeout in milliseconds, 10000ms for default, optional
    timeout: <ms>
    # boolean, continue on network idle error, true for default
    continueOnNetworkIdleError: <boolean>
  
  # string, the path to save the aiQuery result, optional
  output: <path-to-output-file>

  # string, the bridge mode to use, optional, default is 'currentTab', can be 'newTabWithUrl' or 'currentTab'
  bridgeMode: <mode>
```

The `tasks` part is an array indicates the tasks to do. Remember to write a `-` before each item which means an array item.

```yaml
tasks:
  - name: <name>
    continueOnError: <boolean> # optional, default is false
    flow:
      # perform an action, this is the shortcut for aiAction
      - ai: <prompt>

      # perform an action
      - aiAction: <prompt>

      # perform an assertion
      - aiAssert: <prompt>

      # perform a query, return a json object
      - aiQuery: <prompt> # remember to describe the format of the result in the prompt
        name: <name> # the name of the result, will be used as the key in the output json

      # wait for a condition to be met with a timeout (ms, optional, default 30000)
      - aiWaitFor: <prompt>
        timeout: <ms>

      # sleep for a number of milliseconds
      - sleep: <ms>

  - name: <name>
    flow:
      # ...
```

## Use environment variables in `.yaml` file

You can use environment variables in `.yaml` file by `${variable-name}`.

For example, if you have a `.env` file with the following content:

```env filename=.env
topic=weather today
```

You can use the environment variable in the `.yaml` file like this:

```yaml
#...
 - ai: type ${topic} in input box
#...
```

## Use bridge mode
By using bridge mode, you can utilize YAML scripts to automate the web browser on your desktop. This is particularly useful if you want to reuse cookies, plugins, and page states, or if you want to manually interact with automation scripts.

See [Bridge Mode by Chrome Extension](./bridge-mode-by-chrome-extension.html) for more details.

## FAQ

**How to get cookies in JSON format from Chrome?**

You can use this [chrome extension](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/get-cookiestxt-locally/cclelndahbckbenkjhflpdbgdldlbecc) to export cookies in JSON format.

## More

You may also be interested in [Prompting Tips](./prompting-tips.html)