Skyvern
AI
browser automation agent
SHOW HN2024
How HN took it
13 positive, 32 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 5 critical, out of 53 comments about the project. Thread score +0.07.
Idea: 9 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 againstPerformance: 1 for, 0 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful idea and exciting approach to automating websites without APIs.
From 2 comments
Actually this kind of stuff is super exciting -- we don't need to depend on companies exposing APIs for their website -- we can just use something like Skyvern instead!
suchintan on HNExciting to see this on HN. I think very soon agents like Skyvern will account for the vast, vast majority of web traffic.
agreeahmed on HN
Objections
Cost per run is high compared with traditional scrapers.
From 2 comments
I tried it out and it's pretty pricey. My OpenAI API bill is $3.20 after using this on a few different pages to test it out. Not saying I wouldn't pay that for some use cases,…
dtnewman on HNRoughly how much does it cost to run to scrape a page? I see from the code this is basically an OpenAI API wrapper but you make no mention of that anywhere on your landing…
dinobones on HN
Struggles on some sites, such as costcotravel.com popups.
From 1 comment
First of all, wonderful work. I'm gonna be using this for sure. I can think of many use cases. What would be nice though is a simple API. I send you what I need, you send me a…
chadash on HN
Captcha solving could enable abuse.
From 1 comment
> Skyvern understands how to solve CAPTCHAs to complete complicated workflows this seems like this could be used for abuse. the CAPTCHAs are specifically designed to stop botting…
dvngnt_ on HN
Requests
Cache or memorize actions to cut repeated run costs.
From 2 comments
I tried it out and it's pretty pricey. My OpenAI API bill is $3.20 after using this on a few different pages to test it out. Not saying I wouldn't pay that for some use cases,…
dtnewman on HNRoughly how much does it cost to run to scrape a page? I see from the code this is basically an OpenAI API wrapper but you make no mention of that anywhere on your landing…
dinobones on HN
Generate reusable scraper code instead of running the LLM each time.
From 2 comments
I tried it out and it's pretty pricey. My OpenAI API bill is $3.20 after using this on a few different pages to test it out. Not saying I wouldn't pay that for some use cases,…
dtnewman on HNYou should consider focusing on intercepting network requests. Most if not all sites I scrape end up fetching data from some api. Like others have said, if you instead had the…
samsullivan on HN
Simple job API with status checks and result downloads.
From 1 comment
First of all, wonderful work. I'm gonna be using this for sure. I can think of many use cases. What would be nice though is a simple API. I send you what I need, you send me a…
chadash on HN
Questions
How does it compare to LaVague and OpenAdapt?
From 2 comments
How does it compare to this posted less than 24 hours ago? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39698546
spxneo on HNHow does this compare to OpenAdapt? I have a feeling that this tech will become a commodity and will probably be built-in into the OS or Browser. Props for open-sourcing though!
ushakov on HN
Which LLMs does it support?
From 1 comment
Roughly how much does it cost to run to scrape a page? I see from the code this is basically an OpenAI API wrapper but you make no mention of that anywhere on your landing…
dinobones on HN
Alternatives named
LaVague
From 1 comment
How does it compare to this posted less than 24 hours ago? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39698546
spxneo on HN
OpenAdapt
From 1 comment
How does this compare to OpenAdapt? I have a feeling that this tech will become a commodity and will probably be built-in into the OS or Browser. Props for open-sourcing though!
ushakov on HN
self-operating-computer
From 1 comment
the moment I saw vision in the title I knew what was going on. it was first demoed[0] by AI Jason around 4 months back. is it any different?…
shnkr on HN
Selenium
From 1 comment
This is a really good question we've thought a lot about You're right that this kind of escalation is inevitable a. From a business POV, we don't onboard any types of use-cases…
suchintan on HN
UiPath
From 1 comment
You're right -- we should have written days to weeks. What's interesting here is that large companies like UI Path charge thousands of dollars to build a single robot for…
suchintan on HN