feat: stealth launch option + adopt the plugin's own running browser session (0.3.0)

README.md

@@ -49,17 +49,35 @@ plugins:
 ebay:
   profile: ~/.protoagent/ebay-profile   # REQUIRED — this is what keeps you signed in
   headed: true
+  stealth: false                        # true if your eBay account signs in through Google (below)
   domain: www.ebay.com                  # www.ebay.co.uk, www.ebay.de, …
   amazon_domain: www.amazon.com
 ```
 
 Then ask the agent to run `ebay_session_status`, and **sign in once** in the window that
 opens. The profile persists it.
 
-> `profile` and `headed` are **daemon-level** launch options in `agent-browser`. If a browser
-> daemon is already running under different options the CLI ignores them silently — so the
-> plugin raises instead of browsing as the wrong identity. `agent-browser close --all`, then
-> retry.
+### Signing in through Google
+
+Chrome sets `navigator.webdriver` when it is driven over CDP, and Google refuses to sign an
+account in from such a browser ("This browser or app may not be secure"). If your eBay account
+signs in through Google, set `stealth: true`: the browser launches with
+`--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled` — the same flag protoAgent's core browser plugin
+uses for its stealth option — and nothing else changes. The browser still identifies as Chrome
+and runs at a human pace; this is not an attempt to defeat eBay's own checks. An eBay password
+or passkey login needs none of this.
+
+> `profile`, `headed` and `stealth` are **daemon-level** launch options in `agent-browser`. The
+> plugin sends them with every page open and the daemon reconciles them against the running
+> browser: unchanged → reused; changed → Chrome relaunches with the new options on the same
+> profile (a sign-in survives); daemon gone → one is respawned with them. So a fresh agent
+> process, a subagent with its own tool set, or a config change all converge on the right
+> browser with nothing to close by hand. (Through 0.2.0 the launch step was a URL-less `open`,
+> which the CLI turns into a second, option-less launch — every window it opened was replaced
+> within seconds by one on a throwaway profile. Fixed in 0.3.0.) If you ever do need to reset
+> the browser: `agent-browser close --session ebay`, never `close --all`, which also kills
+> every other plugin's browser. Two instances that need *different* profiles need different
+> `session` names too — one session reconciles to whichever instance opened it last.
 
 ## Tools
 

browser.py

@@ -4,13 +4,23 @@
 each other (the event bus is the only inter-plugin channel), and this keeps the test suite
 host-free — every call goes through :func:`_run`, which tests replace wholesale.
 
-The one non-obvious thing about the CLI: **launch options are daemon-level, not
-per-command.** ``open --profile X`` on an already-running daemon prints
-``⚠ --profile, --headed ignored: daemon already running`` and proceeds with whatever
-profile that daemon started under. Silently accepting that would mean browsing as the wrong
-identity — logged out, or worse, as some other account — so :meth:`Browser.ensure_session`
-surfaces it as a real error instead. The operator either closes the daemon or points this
-plugin at the profile already in use.
+**Launch options are daemon-level, and how they are sent matters.** ``--profile``,
+``--headed`` and ``--args`` describe the Chrome the daemon runs. Given on an ``open <url>``,
+the CLI sends one full-options *launch* ahead of the navigation and the daemon reconciles it
+against the running browser: same options → reused; different → Chrome is relaunched with the
+new ones (on the same profile, so a sign-in survives); no daemon → one is started with them.
+So this wrapper rides the flags on EVERY ``open <url>``. A fresh agent process, a subagent's
+own tool set, a config change, a daemon that died — all converge on a browser with our
+options and no bookkeeping.
+
+What it must never do is a URL-less ``open`` with flags. That parses to an explicit launch
+carrying only ``headless``, sent right after the full-options one, and the daemon dutifully
+relaunches Chrome a second time — on a throwaway temp profile. That was this plugin's launch
+step through 0.2.0: every "signed-in" window it ever opened was abandoned within seconds for
+one on a profile nobody was signed in to, which is why the profile dir never held a cookie.
+(The CLI's ``⚠ … ignored: daemon already running`` warning is printed client-side whenever a
+daemon exists and flags were given; it is noise, not a signal — the daemon applied them.)
+Verified live against agent-browser 0.27.1 by watching Chrome's ``--user-data-dir``.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
@@ -25,8 +35,10 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger("protoagent.plugins.ebay")
 
-#: The CLI prints this when launch flags were dropped because a daemon was already up.
-_IGNORED_MARKER = "ignored: daemon already running"
+#: Chrome flag that clears ``navigator.webdriver``, which Chrome sets under CDP control and
+#: which Google's sign-in refuses ("this browser or app may not be secure"). The same flag
+#: protoAgent's core browser plugin uses for its ``stealth`` option — and nothing more.
+_STEALTH_ARGS = "--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled"
 
 
 class BrowserError(RuntimeError):
@@ -55,8 +67,9 @@ class Browser:
     """Drives one named ``agent-browser`` session.
 
     ``min_interval_s`` paces navigations. This is politeness, not evasion — it keeps a
-    research loop from hammering a site faster than a person would. Nothing here tries to
-    look like something it isn't.
+    research loop from hammering a site faster than a person would. ``stealth`` drops the
+    one automation flag that blocks Google's sign-in page; the browser still identifies
+    itself as Chrome and nothing here tries to look like something it isn't.
     """
 
     def __init__(
@@ -66,13 +79,15 @@ def __init__(
         session: str = "ebay",
         profile: str = "",
         headed: bool = True,
+        stealth: bool = False,
         timeout_s: float = 60.0,
         min_interval_s: float = 1.5,
     ):
         self.binary = binary
         self.session = session
         self.profile = profile
         self.headed = headed
+        self.stealth = stealth
         self.timeout_s = timeout_s
         self.min_interval_s = min_interval_s
         self._last_nav = 0.0
@@ -97,35 +112,34 @@ def _pace(self) -> None:
             time.sleep(self.min_interval_s - gap)
         self._last_nav = time.monotonic()
 
+    def _launch_flags(self) -> list[str]:
+        """The daemon-level options, sent with every ``open <url>`` (module docstring)."""
+        flags: list[str] = []
+        if self.profile:
+            flags += ["--profile", self.profile]
+        if self.headed:
+            flags += ["--headed"]
+        if self.stealth:
+            flags += ["--args", _STEALTH_ARGS]
+        return flags
+
+    def _open_cmd(self, url: str) -> list[str]:
+        return [self.binary, "open", url, *self._launch_flags(), "--session", self.session]
+
     # ── session ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     def ensure_session(self) -> None:
-        """Launch the browser once, with our profile actually applied.
+        """Bring the browser up with our options, once per instance.
 
-        Raises if the CLI dropped the launch flags because another daemon already owns the
-        browser: the whole point of the profile is the logged-in eBay session, so quietly
-        continuing without it would produce confidently wrong answers from a logged-out or
-        unrelated identity.
+        ``open about:blank`` with the flags: the daemon starts, reuses, or relaunches as
+        needed (module docstring). Never a URL-less ``open`` — that is the double launch.
         """
         if self._session_ready:
             return
         if reason := self.available():
             raise BrowserError(reason)
-        args = [self.binary, "open"]
-        if self.profile:
-            args += ["--profile", self.profile]
-        if self.headed:
-            args += ["--headed"]
-        args += ["--session", self.session]
-        res = _run(args, timeout=self.timeout_s)
+        res = _run(self._open_cmd("about:blank"), timeout=self.timeout_s)
         if not res.ok:
             raise BrowserError(f"could not start the browser: {(res.stderr or res.stdout).strip()}")
-        if self.profile and _IGNORED_MARKER in (res.stdout + res.stderr):
-            raise BrowserError(
-                "a browser daemon is already running, so this plugin's profile "
-                f"({self.profile}) was ignored — it would be browsing as whatever identity that "
-                "daemon started under, not your signed-in eBay session. Run `agent-browser close "
-                "--all` and retry, or set ebay.profile to the profile already in use."
-            )
         self._session_ready = True
 
     def close(self) -> None:
@@ -136,7 +150,9 @@ def close(self) -> None:
     def open(self, url: str) -> None:
         self.ensure_session()
         self._pace()
-        res = _run(self._cmd("open", url), timeout=self.timeout_s)
+        # Flags on every navigation: a daemon that died (an operator's `close`, a newer
+        # CLI's idle timeout) respawns with our profile instead of a blank one.
+        res = _run(self._open_cmd(url), timeout=self.timeout_s)
         if not res.ok:
             raise BrowserError(f"could not open {url}: {(res.stderr or res.stdout).strip()}")
 

protoagent.plugin.yaml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 id: ebay
 name: Marketplace prices (eBay + Amazon, via browser)
-version: 0.2.0
+version: 0.3.0
 description: >-
   Price research across eBay and Amazon — what an item actually SOLD for on eBay, what it
   is being asked on both, and where today's price sits against what we've recorded before.
@@ -25,15 +25,26 @@ config:
   # The agent-browser CLI on PATH (override for a pinned path).
   binary: agent-browser
   # Named browser session, so eBay work doesn't fight another plugin over the default one.
+  # Two instances that need DIFFERENT profiles need different session names too — a session
+  # reconciles to whichever instance opened it last.
   session: ebay
   # Persistent browser-profile dir — this is what keeps you signed in to eBay between runs.
   # Blank means no profile, which means signing in every session and losing the sold view.
-  # NOTE: profile/headed are DAEMON-level launch options. If a browser daemon is already
-  # running under different options the CLI silently ignores these, so the plugin raises
-  # instead of browsing as the wrong identity. `agent-browser close --all` then retry.
+  # profile/headed/stealth are DAEMON-level launch options; the plugin sends them with every
+  # page open and the daemon reconciles: unchanged → reused, changed → the browser relaunches
+  # with the new ones (same profile, so the sign-in survives), gone → respawned with them.
   profile: ""
   # eBay refuses headless browsers with an error page. Leave this on.
   headed: true
+  # Drop the `navigator.webdriver` automation flag Chrome sets under CDP control
+  # (`--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled`, the same flag protoAgent's core browser
+  # plugin uses for its stealth option, and nothing more). Google refuses to sign an account
+  # in from a browser carrying that flag ("this browser or app may not be secure"), so an eBay
+  # account that signs in THROUGH GOOGLE needs this on for the one-time sign-in. It is not an
+  # attempt to defeat eBay's own checks: the browser still identifies as Chrome and runs at a
+  # human pace. Takes effect on the next page open after the config reload — the browser
+  # relaunches itself with it.
+  stealth: false
   # Marketplace domains — www.ebay.co.uk / www.amazon.co.uk … for a non-US market.
   domain: www.ebay.com
   amazon_domain: www.amazon.com

pyproject.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "ebay-plugin"
-version = "0.2.0"
+version = "0.3.0"
 description = "Marketplace price research (eBay + Amazon) + seller economics for protoAgent, via a browser session"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 

skills/ebay-pricing/SKILL.md

@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ paper over the second as "I didn't find anything" — that turns a plugin bug in
 market claim.
 
 - **sign-in wall** → run `ebay_session_status`, tell the operator to sign in once in the
-  browser window. It persists after that.
+  browser window. It persists after that. If the operator reports Google refusing the sign-in
+  as an insecure browser, that is config, not something to click past: `ebay.stealth: true`,
+  then `ebay_session_status` again once the config has reloaded — the browser relaunches
+  with it.
 - **challenge page** → eBay wants a human interaction; ask the operator to complete it. If
   it recurs, suggest raising `ebay.min_interval_s`.
 - **couldn't find the results list** → eBay changed its markup. Run `ebay_page_probe` on the
@@ -56,9 +59,11 @@ market claim.
 
 - **Sell-through rate.** Sold comps show what sold, never how many *didn't*. A high median
   on a slow-moving item is not a good price.
-- **Amazon or other marketplaces.** Amazon's Product Advertising API is deprecated and
-  returns 403; its replacement needs an Associates account with qualifying sales. There is
-  no Amazon data here. Say that plainly rather than reasoning about Amazon from memory.
+- **Amazon sold prices or history.** `amazon_price_check` returns what Amazon is *asking*
+  right now (Buy Box, sponsored rows excluded) — Amazon publishes no sold data and no price
+  history, and `price_history` holds only what this plugin has recorded since it was enabled.
+  Use the Amazon number as a ceiling a new buyer compares against, never as a comp, and say
+  which it is rather than reasoning about Amazon from memory.
 - **Anything older than eBay shows.** The sold view reaches back a limited window.
 
 Say which of these applies when it bears on the answer. A caveat stated is worth more than a