v0.17.0

Added

• acrawl run replays a saved script without an LLM. acrawl run <name|path.json> runs a script from a terminal, cron job or CI step with no provider credentials and no agent. It prints the collected data as a JSON array (--format json, default), one item per line (jsonl) or the full result envelope (result). --output/-o writes the file atomically, --flatten unwraps one level of arrays, and --max-steps, --timeout and --step-timeout set per-run limits, capped by the script settings. The script is validated before the browser launches. Exit codes: 0 completed, 1 failed (partial data is still written), 2 unknown or invalid script, 130 interrupted. It follows browser_backend, so extension mode replays in your own logged-in browser.
• {{var}} interpolation inside script strings. Previously only a whole-string "$var" was substituted, so a for_each over search terms couldn't build a URL. Each {{name}} is now replaced with the variable's value; braces around anything that isn't an identifier are left alone so JavaScript source passes through, and an unknown name fails the step.
• Documentation site at https://mingye-lu.github.io/AgenticCrawler/, built with mdBook from docs/ and deployed by GitHub Pages: overview with a promo video, install, quick start, MCP server setup, guides (real browser, repeatable scripts, JavaScript-heavy sites, DevTools debugging), tool reference, FAQ, and comparisons with browser-use, Playwright MCP and Firecrawl. It also publishes llms.txt, llms-full.txt and sitemap.xml for search engines and AI assistants.
• acrawl run is documented in the README, the docs site and the acrawl-mcp agent skill, which now tells agents to hand users a replay command for a saved script.

Removed

• Extension pairing and the bridge token. The acrawl Bridge extension runs in your own browser, and installing it is the permission for acrawl to drive it, so there is no longer a pairing code to type. /extension and the MCP connect error no longer show a code, the /pair and /pair/info endpoints are gone, and the popup no longer has a pairing panel or PAIR badge. The extension_bridge_token and extension_paired settings are dropped (an existing settings.json still loads; the keys are removed on its next save), and the extension deletes the token it stored on its next install or update.

Changed

• The bridge accepts a WebSocket only from a browser extension Origin. With no token, the Origin check is what keeps ordinary web pages, which can also open ws://127.0.0.1, from connecting; requests without an Origin header are now refused. An older extension that still sends ?token= keeps working.
• The MCP server always waits extension_bridge_connect_timeout_secs (default 3) for the extension before reporting that it did not connect, since there is no "never paired" state to skip the wait for.
• The updated extension needs this acrawl version or newer: it no longer sends a token, which an older acrawl rejects.
• acrawl Bridge extension 1.4.0. Ships the pairing removal and the two extension fixes below.

Fixed

• run_script by name works over MCP. Only the agent loop resolved a saved script's name, so the MCP server failed with "missing field schema_version". Named scripts now load in one shared path, save_as is actually written, and save_script, read_script and list_scripts all use the configured scripts_dir. The agent also closes the tab it cloned for a script that fails to start.
• The run_script tool description matches the real script grammar. It named a version: "1.0" field and PascalCase node types that the parser rejects; it now describes schema_version, the snake_case node types, expressions and substitution, with a minimal working example. The acrawl-mcp skill is updated to match. (#169)
• Omitted run_script limit fields default instead of failing, so limits: {"per_step_timeout_secs": 90} no longer errors with "missing field max_steps".
• try_catch catches per-step timeouts. One slow page no longer aborts an otherwise independent loop. Step-limit, wall-clock timeout and cancellation still end the script, and a failed script still returns the data collected before the failure. The CloakBrowser bridge now stays in sync when a timed-out command is abandoned mid-read, so the script can keep using it.
• Extension navigate waits for client-rendered pages. It used to return at the load event, so single-page apps read as empty or as their server-rendered shell. It now waits for network idle and a settled DOM, like the CloakBrowser backend. (#168)
• The extension recovers a tab after a certificate or DNS error page. Such a page detached the debugger and every later command on the tab failed with "Cannot attach to this target"; the tab is now reset to about:blank and re-attached. (#167)
• MCP installer tests no longer fail at random on Linux with "Text file busy" (ETXTBSY): the fake CLI they run is now passed to sh instead of being executed right after it is written. Test-only; no change to the installer.