universal-web-adaptation
Use this skill when asked to work with an unfamiliar public website and the goal is to make progress generically before writing site-specific rules. It teaches Copilot how to probe controls, classify UI patterns, try multiple search and navigation strategies, follow popups, and only create a site profile when the generic approach is no longer sufficient.
Universal web adaptation skill
Use this skill when the user wants a general solution across many websites, not a one-by-one manual integration first.
This skill is especially suitable for:
- unfamiliar public websites
- search-oriented workflows
- result-page collection and lightweight summaries
- deciding whether a site needs a dedicated profile or can stay generic
For the 99idea Playwright project, this skill should work together with:
src\run-demo.jssrc\planner.jssrc\llm-planner.jssrc\site-profiles.jsscenarios\site-profiles.json
Core principle
Always try this order:
- Capability discovery — check if opencli already supports the site (
opencli list) - Auth cascade — classify: PUBLIC → COOKIE/SESSION → HEADER → LOGIN-GATED
- Generic adaptation — probe UI controls and try heuristic strategies
- Temporary scenario tuning — adjust runtime before assuming selectors are wrong
- Popup / opener / alternate-submit handling
- Site profile only if generic adaptation still fails
The goal is to minimize per-site handwork.
Execution path decision (inspired by opencli)
Before touching the DOM, first determine which execution layer to use:
if opencli has an adapter for this site:
use opencli (zero LLM cost, deterministic)
elif the site has a public API:
use fetch (structured data, no rendering)
elif the site renders server-side (SSR):
use web_fetch or Playwright (metadata extraction)
else:
use Browser Agent with login-state or mark blocked
This avoids wasting time on SPA shells that will never yield results via scraping.
What “generic adaptation” means
When facing a new site, do not immediately create a profile. First try to discover:
- likely search inputs
- likely opener buttons or icons
- likely submit controls
- whether Enter works
- whether a click opens a popup or new tab
- whether the site verifies best by URL, title, or visible text
Standard workflow
1. Probe the page
Collect candidates for:
- inputs
- buttons
- anchors
- role=button
- role=search
Prefer candidates whose metadata includes:
searchqueryfind搜索查找
For each candidate, record:
- visibility
- enabled/editable status
- approximate position
- container context
- whether duplicates exist in header/footer/overlay regions
2. Classify the site UI
Put the site into one of these buckets:
- direct-search: visible input plus obvious submit
- opener-search: search exists but must be opened first
- popup-search: submit opens a new tab or popup
- duplicate-controls: multiple matching controls require container qualification
- hidden-disabled: search exists but is not immediately usable
- SPA-shell: page returns JS-only content, no usable DOM without full rendering
- login-gated
- anti-bot / rate-limited
Auth cascade classification (from opencli)
Also classify the site's auth requirements:
- PUBLIC: no auth needed, fetch/web_fetch works
- COOKIE: requires browser session cookies (opencli Browser Bridge)
- HEADER: requires custom auth headers (API key, Bearer token)
- LOGIN-GATED: requires interactive login, not suitable for default regression
3. Try generic action strategies
Try these in order:
- fill visible search input + press Enter
- fill visible search input + click nearest likely submit
- if search is hidden, click likely opener then retry 1 and 2
- if click or Enter opens a popup, switch to the popup and continue there
- verify success by:
- URL change
- expected URL parameter
- title change
- visible result container text
Prefer URL verification whenever available.
4. Use temporary runtime tuning before giving up
If the page is heavy or slow:
- use
waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" - use
postNavigationLoadState: "domcontentloaded" - add a settle delay
Do not assume selectors are wrong if the real problem is heavy page load behavior.
5. Decide whether to keep it generic or create a profile
Stay generic if:
- the search flow works with robust heuristic selectors
- the same logic is likely reusable across many sites
Create a dedicated profile only if:
- the site needs exact selectors to avoid ambiguity
- the site has duplicate controls in multiple containers
- the site needs a stable popup-specific submit selector
- the site has a unique opener pattern worth remembering
Failure classification rules
Strict mode violation
Meaning:
- your selector is too broad
- multiple header/footer/overlay controls match
Response:
- add container-qualified selectors
- prefer the visible and nearest control to the active search region
Timeout waiting for visible/editable
Meaning:
- the control is hidden
- disabled
- off-screen
- not opened yet
Response:
- find and click the opener
- retry with a container-specific visible control
Enter does nothing
Meaning:
- the page requires a dedicated submit control
- or the form uses JS-driven submission
Response:
- inspect nearest clickable sibling/container controls
- test the likely submit node
Search opens a new tab/popup
Meaning:
- current-page URL checks will fail
Response:
- switch the active page to the popup
- continue verification and screenshot on the popup page
Login / anti-bot / rate-limit
Meaning:
- the site is not a good candidate for stable default regression
Response:
- mark blocked or special
- do not force it into the generic stable matrix
Output expectations
When using this skill, the agent should produce:
- execution path recommendation: opencli / fetch / browser — and why
- auth cascade classification: PUBLIC / COOKIE / HEADER / LOGIN-GATED
- the site UI classification
- the generic strategy attempted
- whether generic adaptation succeeded
- whether a site profile is actually needed
- the final stable selectors or blocker reason
Also include explicit evidence lines when possible:
- URL before/after
- title before/after
- the selector used for input and submit
- whether popup-following was required
Proven lessons from this environment
- CNN needed container-qualified selectors to avoid duplicate
qinputs. - Bilibili needed popup-following behavior because search opens
search.bilibili.comin a new tab. - BBC exposes a hidden and disabled search input, so generic probing alone is not enough yet.
- Tencent News shows a visible search button but no directly usable input in the default state.
- GitHub works, but is a low-frequency special case because of rate limits.
When to combine with other skills
- Use
external-site-profile-learningwhen generic adaptation fails and a durable site profile is needed. - Use
content-search-summarizationwhen the goal is to search a content platform and summarize the top results.
Practical rule of thumb
If a new site can be made to work by:
- picking the right visible input
- picking the right nearby submit
- following a popup
- using URL verification
then keep it in the generic path first.
If success depends on an exact remembered selector or a unique UI ritual, then promote it into a site profile.