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Use cases

Cloud browser

Use Kernel cloud browsers with E2B sandboxes to give your agents access to the internet.

This guide covers cloud browsers powered by Kernel — cloud Chromium instances your code controls via CDP or the Kernel SDK. For local browser automation using a virtual desktop, see Computer use.

Cloud browsers run on Kernel’s managed infrastructure, not inside your sandbox. This gives you sub-second browser startup, persistent sessions you can pause and resume across hours or days, and reusable browser state. Your agent connects to them over the network via CDP, BiDi, or their CUA API.

Kernel handles CAPTCHA solving, residential proxies, authentication, and observability out of the box.

Prerequisites

npm i e2b @onkernel/sdk playwright-core

Set your keys in the environment:

.env
E2B_API_KEY=e2b_***
KERNEL_API_KEY=kernel_***

E2B provides a pre-built sandbox template with the Kernel SDK and Playwright already installed:

TemplateWhat’s includedBest for
kernel-browserKernel SDK, Playwright, Browser UseScreenshots, scraping, app previews, autonomous agents

Examples

Here are three common patterns for using cloud browsers with E2B sandboxes.

Screenshot app endpoints

Deploy a web app in a sandbox, screenshot every route

Agent data extraction

Let an LLM autonomously browse and extract data

Live browser preview

Watch the browser in real time via Kernel’s live view

Screenshot app endpoints

Deploy a web app inside an E2B sandbox, get a public URL, then use a Kernel cloud browser to screenshot every route.

Create the sandbox and start your app

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

// A minimal FastAPI app with three routes to screenshot
const FASTAPI_APP = `
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse

app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def home():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>Home</h1><p>Welcome to the app.</p>")

@app.get("/about")
def about():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>About</h1><p>About this app.</p>")

@app.get("/dashboard")
def dashboard():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>Dashboard</h1><p>Your dashboard.</p>")
`

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('kernel-browser', {
  envs: { KERNEL_API_KEY: process.env.KERNEL_API_KEY! },
  timeoutMs: 300_000,
})

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/app.py', FASTAPI_APP)
await sandbox.commands.run(
  'pip install fastapi uvicorn',
  { timeoutMs: 60_000 },
)
await sandbox.commands.run(
  'uvicorn app:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000',
  { background: true, cwd: '/home/user' },
)

Screenshot each route with Kernel

E2B exposes any sandbox port as a public HTTPS endpoint. Write a browsing script into the sandbox that creates a Kernel browser and screenshots each route.

const host = sandbox.getHost(8000)
const appUrl = `https://${host}`

const BROWSE_SCRIPT = `
import sys
from kernel import Kernel
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

app_url = "${appUrl}"
routes = ["/", "/about", "/dashboard"]

kernel = Kernel()
kb = kernel.browsers.create()

with sync_playwright() as pw:
    browser = pw.chromium.connect_over_cdp(kb.cdp_ws_url)
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.set_viewport_size({"width": 1280, "height": 720})

    for route in routes:
        page.goto(f"{app_url}{route}", wait_until="networkidle")
        name = "home" if route == "/" else route.strip("/")
        page.screenshot(path=f"/home/user/{name}.png")
        print(f"Captured {route}")

    browser.close()
`

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/browse.py', BROWSE_SCRIPT)
const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  'python3 /home/user/browse.py',
  { timeoutMs: 60_000 },
)
console.log(result.stdout)
await sandbox.kill()

Full example:

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

// A minimal FastAPI app with three routes to screenshot
const FASTAPI_APP = `
from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse

app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def home():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>Home</h1><p>Welcome to the app.</p>")

@app.get("/about")
def about():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>About</h1><p>About this app.</p>")

@app.get("/dashboard")
def dashboard():
    return HTMLResponse("<h1>Dashboard</h1><p>Your dashboard.</p>")
`

// 1. Create the sandbox and start the app
const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('kernel-browser', {
  envs: { KERNEL_API_KEY: process.env.KERNEL_API_KEY! },
  timeoutMs: 300_000,
})

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/app.py', FASTAPI_APP)
await sandbox.commands.run(
  'pip install fastapi uvicorn',
  { timeoutMs: 60_000 },
)
await sandbox.commands.run(
  'uvicorn app:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000',
  { background: true, cwd: '/home/user' },
)

// 2. Screenshot each route with a Kernel browser
const host = sandbox.getHost(8000)
const appUrl = `https://${host}`

const BROWSE_SCRIPT = `
import sys
from kernel import Kernel
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

app_url = "${appUrl}"
routes = ["/", "/about", "/dashboard"]

kernel = Kernel()
kb = kernel.browsers.create()

with sync_playwright() as pw:
    browser = pw.chromium.connect_over_cdp(kb.cdp_ws_url)
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.set_viewport_size({"width": 1280, "height": 720})

    for route in routes:
        page.goto(f"{app_url}{route}", wait_until="networkidle")
        name = "home" if route == "/" else route.strip("/")
        page.screenshot(path=f"/home/user/{name}.png")
        print(f"Captured {route}")

    browser.close()
`

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/browse.py', BROWSE_SCRIPT)
const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  'python3 /home/user/browse.py',
  { timeoutMs: 60_000 },
)
console.log(result.stdout)
await sandbox.kill()

Agent data extraction

Use Browser Use to let an LLM autonomously browse a website and extract data. The agent sees the page via screenshots and decides what to click, type, and navigate.

This requires an additional LLM API key:

.env
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-***

Create the sandbox with API keys

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('kernel-browser', {
  envs: {
    KERNEL_API_KEY: process.env.KERNEL_API_KEY!,
    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY!,
  },
  timeoutMs: 300_000,
})

Write and run the agent

The agent script runs inside the sandbox. Browser Use and its dependencies come pre-installed in the kernel-browser template. The script creates a Kernel browser, connects Browser Use, and completes the task autonomously.

const AGENT_SCRIPT = `
import asyncio
from kernel import Kernel
from browser_use import Agent, Browser, ChatAnthropic

async def main():
    kernel = Kernel()
    kb = kernel.browsers.create()
    browser = Browser(cdp_url=kb.cdp_ws_url)

    agent = Agent(
        task="Go to https://news.ycombinator.com, find the top 5 stories, and return their titles and point counts as JSON",
        llm=ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4"),
        browser=browser,
    )
    result = await agent.run()
    print(result)

asyncio.run(main())
`

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/agent_task.py', AGENT_SCRIPT)
const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  'python3 /home/user/agent_task.py',
  { timeoutMs: 180_000 },
)
console.log(result.stdout)
await sandbox.kill()

Full example:

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

// 1. Create the sandbox with API keys
const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('kernel-browser', {
  envs: {
    KERNEL_API_KEY: process.env.KERNEL_API_KEY!,
    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY!,
  },
  timeoutMs: 300_000,
})

// 2. Write and run the Browser Use agent
const AGENT_SCRIPT = `
import asyncio
from kernel import Kernel
from browser_use import Agent, Browser, ChatAnthropic

async def main():
    kernel = Kernel()
    kb = kernel.browsers.create()
    browser = Browser(cdp_url=kb.cdp_ws_url)

    agent = Agent(
        task="Go to https://news.ycombinator.com, find the top 5 stories, and return their titles and point counts as JSON",
        llm=ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4"),
        browser=browser,
    )
    result = await agent.run()
    print(result)

asyncio.run(main())
`

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/agent_task.py', AGENT_SCRIPT)
const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  'python3 /home/user/agent_task.py',
  { timeoutMs: 180_000 },
)
console.log(result.stdout)
await sandbox.kill()

Live browser preview

Kernel provides a live view URL for every browser session — you can watch the browser in real time or embed it in your app. This is useful for debugging, demos, or letting users see what the agent is doing.

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('kernel-browser', {
  envs: { KERNEL_API_KEY: process.env.KERNEL_API_KEY! },
  timeoutMs: 300_000,
})

const LIVE_VIEW_SCRIPT = `
from kernel import Kernel

kernel = Kernel()
browser = kernel.browsers.create()

# Print the live view URL — accessible from any browser
print(browser.browser_live_view_url)
`

await sandbox.files.write('/home/user/live_view.py', LIVE_VIEW_SCRIPT)
const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  'python3 /home/user/live_view.py',
  { timeoutMs: 30_000 },
)
const liveViewUrl = result.stdout.trim()
console.log('Watch the browser:', liveViewUrl)

// Embed in your app as an iframe
// <iframe src={liveViewUrl}></iframe>

// Read-only mode (no mouse/keyboard interaction)
// liveViewUrl + '?readOnly=true'

The live view URL stays active until the browser is deleted or times out. For more details, see the Kernel live view documentation.

Computer use

Local browser automation with virtual desktops

Sandbox lifecycle

Create, manage, and control sandbox lifecycle

Running commands

Run terminal commands inside the sandbox

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PrerequisitesExamplesScreenshot app endpointsAgent data extractionLive browser previewRelated guides