Browse: parent process watchdog kills server between CLI invocations

[billbox-ai]

Problem

The browse server's parent process watchdog (server.ts ~lines 700-715) kills the server between CLI invocations, making multi-step workflows (especially authentication) impossible without chaining everything in a single && sequence.

Root cause

Each $B <command> spawns a separate CLI process. The server records the parent PID on startup. The watchdog checks every 15 seconds if the parent is alive. When the CLI process exits after completing a command, the watchdog detects the parent is gone and kills the server + Chromium.

Key detail: headed mode disables the idle timeout but NOT the parent process watchdog. So launching with $B connect (headed) doesn't fix the problem.

Reproduction

$B connect          # Start headed browser
# wait 15+ seconds
$B goto https://example.com   # Fails — server was killed by watchdog

Impact

• Multi-step auth flows are impossible (login → navigate to protected page)
• Any workflow with natural pauses between commands breaks
• Cookie/session state is lost when server restarts
• The only workaround is chaining all commands with && and using in-browser JS polling instead of shell sleep

Suggested fix

A few options:

1. Detach the server properly — daemonize it so it doesn't depend on a parent PID
2. Disable watchdog in headed mode — if the user can see the browser, they can close it themselves
3. Use a PID file / lock file instead of parent process tracking, with a $B disconnect command for explicit cleanup
4. Adopt a client-server model — the server stays running, CLI commands are just HTTP clients that connect to it (this may already be the intent, but the watchdog undermines it)

Option 2 is the smallest change. Option 3 or 4 is the right long-term fix.

Environment

• macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)
• gstack installed at ~/.claude/skills/gstack/
• Browse binary at ~/.claude/skills/gstack/browse/dist/browse

[mtessar]

Also happening for me