OpenClaw File Management and Browser Automation Setup
File operations and browser automation are basic tools for autonomous agents performing real computer work. OpenClaw uses built-in capabilities for file system work and Playwright for browser control.
File Management
Built-in Capabilities: Read/write/move/delete files and directories. Search by patterns. Working with formats: TXT, JSON, CSV, YAML, PDF (via pdfplumber), DOCX (python-docx), XLSX (openpyxl).
Agent Typical Tasks:
- Monitor incoming documents folder → process → move to archive
- Generate reports and save in needed format
- Search information in file structure by content
- Batch rename, format conversion
Browser Automation
Playwright Integration: Headless Chrome/Firefox managed by agent. Capabilities: navigation, clicks, form filling, screenshots, text/data extraction, work with dynamic content (JS-rendering).
Typical Tasks:
- Web scraping with authentication (where no API)
- Automatic form filling in legacy systems
- Competitor website monitoring
- SPA-application automation without API
Limitations
CAPTCHA, biometric 2FA, mobile apps — not automated with standard tools. Browser automation unstable with UI site changes — needs regular monitoring of agent functionality.