What is Live Browser Control?
Live Browser Control gives you a real-time window into the AI agent's browser session. Instead of waiting for results and hoping everything worked, you can watch every page load, every click, and every form fill as it happens. When something needs human judgment — or when you want to guide the agent through a tricky step — you take over instantly.
This feature bridges the gap between full automation and manual work. You get the speed of AI-driven Browser Automation with the confidence of seeing everything happen live. If you are curious about how AI agents operate behind the scenes, our guide on what AI agents are provides a solid foundation.
Why Live Viewing Matters
Automation without visibility is a black box. When a workflow fails, you're left guessing what went wrong. Live Browser Control eliminates that uncertainty:
Debug in real-time — see exactly where the agent gets stuck
Verify data accuracy — watch the agent extract data and confirm it matches what's on screen
Handle edge cases — take over for CAPTCHAs, two-factor authentication, or unexpected popups
Train the agent — show it how to navigate a complex flow by doing it yourself once
Build trust — stakeholders and clients can watch automations run, which builds confidence in results
Onboard new team members — let colleagues watch live sessions to learn how your automations work before they build their own
VNC Streaming
The live browser feed uses VNC (Virtual Network Computing) to stream the agent's browser directly to your dashboard. The stream updates in real-time with low latency, so you see what the agent sees with minimal delay. The VNC connection is encrypted end-to-end, ensuring that sensitive data displayed in the browser is never exposed in transit.
The stream adapts to your network conditions automatically. On fast connections, you get full-resolution, high-frame-rate video. On slower connections, the stream reduces quality gracefully so you never lose the live view entirely. No browser plugins or desktop software are required — everything runs in your web browser.
Point-and-Click Element Selection
One of the most powerful features is interactive element selection. Instead of writing CSS selectors or describing elements in text, you can click directly on the element you want the agent to interact with. This is especially useful when building Data Extraction workflows — click on a table header, a product price, or a navigation link, and the agent understands exactly which element you mean.
The element picker highlights elements as you hover, showing their tag name and dimensions. When you click, Autonoly generates a robust selector automatically — one that is resistant to minor page changes. This approach is faster and more accurate than writing selectors by hand, and it works even on dynamically rendered websites that change their DOM structure frequently.
Human-in-the-Loop Workflows
Some automations benefit from a hybrid approach where the AI handles repetitive steps and a human handles decisions. Live Browser Control makes this seamless:
- The agent navigates to a site and fills in standard fields
- You get a notification when the agent reaches a decision point
- You take over, make the judgment call, and hand back control
- The agent continues with the rest of the workflow
This pattern works well for approval flows, quality checks, and any process where human judgment adds value without slowing down the entire automation. For teams exploring AI workflow automation, human-in-the-loop is often the ideal starting point because it delivers immediate value while letting you build confidence in fully automated processes over time.
Integration with Other Features
Live Browser Control enhances every browser-related feature in Autonoly:
[AI Agent Chat](/features/ai-agent-chat) — watch as the agent follows your chat instructions in real-time
[Visual Workflow Builder](/features/visual-workflow-builder) — debug workflow steps by watching each node execute
[Form Automation](/features/form-automation) — verify form fills visually before submission
[Data Extraction](/features/data-extraction) — confirm the agent identifies the right elements on complex pages
[AI Vision](/features/ai-vision) — when the agent switches to vision mode, see exactly what it sees and how it interprets the page
Session Recording
Every live session is automatically recorded. You can replay past sessions to review what happened, share recordings with teammates, or use them for training. Recordings capture the full browser view along with timestamps for each action taken. You can jump to any timestamp in the recording, fast-forward through idle periods, and annotate specific moments for team discussion.
Best Practices
Follow these tips to get the most out of Live Browser Control:
Start with observation before takeover. Watch the agent attempt a task at least once before intervening. This reveals the agent's natural approach, which may be different from yours but equally effective. You can always guide it if something goes wrong.
Use element selection instead of writing selectors. Clicking on elements in the live stream produces more reliable selectors than writing them manually, especially on complex pages with deeply nested components or obfuscated class names.
Set up notification triggers for decision points. Instead of watching the entire session, configure alerts for specific moments — such as when the agent encounters a CAPTCHA, reaches a payment page, or detects an unexpected dialog. This lets you monitor multiple sessions efficiently.
Record sessions for recurring workflows. The first time you run a new automation, record the live session. If the workflow needs adjustments later, the recording is invaluable for understanding what the agent did and where things diverged.
Leverage multi-session view for parallel monitoring. When running several workflows simultaneously, use the grid view to monitor all sessions from one dashboard. You can quickly switch to any session that needs attention without losing visibility into the others.
Security & Compliance
Live Browser Control is designed with security at the forefront. The VNC stream is encrypted using TLS, and the stream is only accessible to authenticated users within your workspace. No browser data is cached on intermediate servers — the stream flows directly from the agent's isolated browser environment to your dashboard.
Session recordings are stored in your workspace's encrypted storage and are subject to your organization's data retention policies. You can configure automatic deletion of recordings after a set period, which is important for workflows that handle sensitive information such as financial data or personal records. Recordings can also be restricted to specific team roles, ensuring that only authorized personnel can view sessions that involve sensitive sites.
For organizations in regulated industries, Live Browser Control provides an audit trail of every human intervention. When you take over the browser, the system logs who took control, when, and what actions were performed. This audit log is tamper-proof and exportable for compliance reviews.
Common Use Cases
Debugging Complex Multi-Step Workflows
When a workflow that involves navigating several websites in sequence begins failing at an intermediate step, live viewing lets you pinpoint exactly where the issue occurs. You might discover that a site changed its layout, a popup appeared that the agent did not expect, or a network timeout caused a page to load incompletely. By watching in real time, you can intervene, fix the issue, and teach the agent how to handle it in the future using Cross-Session Learning.
Supervised Data Extraction from Sensitive Sources
For workflows that extract data from financial portals, medical systems, or legal databases, organizations often require a human to be present during extraction. Live Browser Control satisfies this requirement without slowing the process down. The agent handles navigation and data collection while a human watches the stream, confirming that the correct records are being accessed and extracted. This is especially relevant when the results feed into a database for compliance-sensitive reporting.
Training and Quality Assurance for New Automations
When building a new form automation workflow, watching the first several runs live helps you verify that every field is filled correctly, that the right dropdown options are selected, and that the submission succeeds. Once you are confident the workflow runs cleanly, you can transition it to fully unattended execution with Scheduled Execution and only review the session recordings if an issue arises.
Client Demonstrations and Stakeholder Reviews
Agencies and consultancies use Live Browser Control to show clients exactly what their automations do. Instead of sharing screenshots or exported data, you can invite a stakeholder to watch a live session, which demonstrates the value of automation in a tangible, visual way. This is particularly effective for no-code automation engagements where technical explanations alone may not resonate.
Visit pricing to see live browser control availability across plans.