Show HN: Webctl – Browser automation for agents based on CLI instead of MCP

Hacker News lit up over Webctl, a new way to steer a web browser from the command line instead of using MCP (a server-driven setup that can overstuff an AI’s “memory”). Webctl’s pitch is simple: you choose what the agent sees. Want only buttons and links? Snapshot and filter. Need to trim the noise? Pipe through trusty tools like grep and jq. It’s equal parts old-school Unix vibes and AI-era pragmatism—and the crowd brought the popcorn.

The drama: one camp cheered the simplicity—“CLIs are all you need,” said a fan—while skeptics asked if this is just another version of agent-browser. Another commenter waved a rival flag for crawler-buddy, which talks JSON over HTTP instead of a CLI. Benchmarks became the rallying cry (“is there a benchmark?”), and a cameo from the Elixir world linked to a Phoenix keynote hinting at a similar “web” control video. Jokes flew: “MCPocalypse,” “pipe dreams,” and “headless mode is introvert mode.” The vibe? Terminal maximalists versus API pragmatists, with everyone agreeing on one thing: keeping agents’ brains uncluttered is the new status symbol. Whether Webctl is a trendsetter or just the neatest shell script in town, the comment section made it a main character.