51 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Rollback Steel to Camoufox
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type: decision
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status: active
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created: 2026-08-02
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updated: 2026-08-02
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verified_on: 2026-08-02
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confidence: high
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tags: [decision, browser, steel, camofox, rollback]
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sources: [session-history, live-config]
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---
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# Decision: Rollback Steel Browser → Camoufox
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## Date
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2026-07-30
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## Context
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Steel Browser was deployed on CT201 on 2026-07-29 as the primary browser automation backend, replacing Camoufox. It ran for approximately 24 hours before being reverted.
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## Options Considered
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| Option | Pros | Cons |
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|---|---|---|
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| **Keep Steel** | Full CDP access, session viewer UI, Docker isolation | CDP URL normalization issues, network hop, empty-stream errors |
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| **Revert to Camoufox** | Local (no network hop), already authenticated, fewer failure modes | Headed display consumes resources, no built-in session viewer |
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| **Both (Steel primary, Camoufox fallback)** | Redundancy | Complexity, two backends to maintain, unclear which one Hermes uses per-request |
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## Decision
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**Revert to Camoufox as primary.** Steel plugin disabled but left running on CT201.
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## Rationale
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1. **Reliability:** Camoufox runs on the same host as Hermes (CT450) — no Docker networking, no CDP URL normalization patches, no container-to-host routing issues.
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2. **Auth persistence:** Camoufox's persistent profile `anthony` is already authenticated into key services (Uber Eats, LinkedIn). Steel required cookie re-exports.
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3. **Failure mode:** The `opencode-go/deepseek-v4-flash` empty-stream errors were hitting all providers, but Steel added an extra failure surface (CDP connection, plugin layer) on top of the same problem.
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4. **DeepSeek 0731 compatibility:** The new model's stricter tool name validation (`^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$`) affected all providers — not a Steel-specific issue, but another reason to minimise the toolchain.
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## Consequences
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- **Positive:** Browser automation is stable again. Uber Eats report ran successfully via Camofox on 2026-08-01.
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- **Negative:** Steel's session viewer UI and full CDP access are no longer available to Hermes.
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- **Neutral:** Steel still runs on CT201 — can be re-enabled by uncommenting `.env` lines and enabling the plugin.
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## Evidence
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- Camoufox verified working Jul 30: `browserConnected: true`, `sessions: 1`, `tabs: 1`, active 200s
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- Uber Eats report (Aug 1) successfully scraped via Camofox REST API — 11 orders, $264.51
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- Steel plugin `browser-steel` still present at `/home/hermes/.hermes/plugins/browser-steel/` — disabled
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## Related
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- [[comparisons/steel-vs-camoufox]]
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- [[systems/browser-backend]]
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- [[concepts/browser-automation]]
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