jackwener · jackwener · Mar 24, 2026 · Mar 24, 2026 · Mar 24, 2026
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -28,6 +28,26 @@ Turn ANY Electron application into a CLI tool! Recombine, script, and extend app
 - **Dynamic Loader** — Simply drop `.ts` or `.yaml` adapters into the `clis/` folder for auto-registration.
 - **Dual-Engine Architecture** — Supports both YAML declarative data pipelines and robust browser runtime TypeScript injections.
 
+## Why opencli?
+
+There are many great browser automation tools. Here's when opencli is the right choice:
+
+| Your need | Best tool | Why |
+|-----------|-----------|-----|
+| Scheduled data extraction from specific sites | **opencli** | Pre-built adapters, deterministic JSON, zero LLM cost |
+| AI agent needs reliable site operations | **opencli** | Hundreds of commands, structured output, fast deterministic response |
+| Explore an unknown website ad-hoc | Browser-Use, Stagehand | LLM-driven general browsing for one-off tasks |
+| Large-scale web crawling | Crawl4AI, Scrapy | Purpose-built for throughput and scale |
+| Control desktop Electron apps from terminal | **opencli** | CDP + AppleScript — the only CLI tool that does this |
+
+**What makes opencli different:**
+
+- **Zero LLM cost** — No tokens consumed at runtime. Run 10,000 times and pay nothing.
+- **Deterministic** — Same command, same output schema, every time. Pipeable, scriptable, CI-friendly.
+- **Broad coverage** — 50+ sites across global and Chinese platforms (Bilibili, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu, Reddit, HackerNews, and more), plus desktop Electron apps via CDP.
+
+> For a detailed comparison with Browser-Use, Crawl4AI, Firecrawl, and others, see the [Comparison Guide](./docs/comparison.md).
+
 ## Prerequisites
 
 - **Node.js**: >= 20.0.0

diff --git a/README.zh-CN.md b/README.zh-CN.md
@@ -30,6 +30,26 @@ CLI all electron！现在支持把所有 electron 应用 CLI 化，从而组合
 - **AI 原生** — `explore` 自动发现 API，`synthesize` 生成适配器，`cascade` 探测认证策略
 - **动态加载引擎** — 声明式的 `.yaml` 或者底层定制的 `.ts` 适配器，放入 `clis/` 文件夹即可自动注册生效
 
+## 为什么选 opencli？
+
+浏览器自动化工具很多，opencli 适合什么场景？
+
+| 你的需求 | 最佳工具 | 原因 |
+|----------|----------|------|
+| 定时从特定站点提取结构化数据 | **opencli** | 预定义适配器，确定性 JSON 输出，零 LLM 成本 |
+| AI Agent 需要可靠的站点操作 | **opencli** | 数百条命令，结构化输出，快速确定性响应 |
+| 临时探索未知网站 | Browser-Use、Stagehand | LLM 驱动的通用浏览，适合一次性任务 |
+| 大规模网页爬取 | Crawl4AI、Scrapy | 专为吞吐量和规模设计 |
+| 从终端控制桌面 Electron 应用 | **opencli** | CDP + AppleScript，目前唯一能做到这一点的 CLI 工具 |
+
+**opencli 的核心差异：**
+
+- **零 LLM 成本** — 运行时不消耗任何 token，跑一万次不花一分钱
+- **确定性** — 同一命令永远返回同一结构，可管道化、可脚本化、CI 友好
+- **覆盖广泛** — 50+ 站点，横跨全球与中国平台（B站、知乎、小红书、Reddit、HackerNews 等），并支持通过 CDP 控制桌面 Electron 应用
+
+> 与 Browser-Use、Crawl4AI、Firecrawl 等工具的详细对比，请查看 [Comparison Guide](./docs/comparison.md)。
+
 ## 前置要求
 
 - **Node.js**: >= 20.0.0

diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/config.mts b/docs/.vitepress/config.mts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
               items: [
                 { text: 'Getting Started', link: '/guide/getting-started' },
                 { text: 'Installation', link: '/guide/installation' },
+                { text: 'Comparison', link: '/comparison' },
                 { text: 'Browser Bridge', link: '/guide/browser-bridge' },
                 { text: 'Troubleshooting', link: '/guide/troubleshooting' },
                 { text: 'Plugins', link: '/guide/plugins' },

diff --git a/docs/comparison.md b/docs/comparison.md
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+# Comparison Guide
+
+OpenCLI occupies a specific niche in the browser automation ecosystem. This guide honestly evaluates where opencli excels, where it's a viable option, and where other tools are a better fit.
+
+## At a Glance
+
+| Tool | Approach | Best for |
+|------|----------|----------|
+| **opencli** | Pre-built adapters (YAML/TS) | Deterministic site commands, broad platform coverage, desktop apps |
+| **Browser-Use** | LLM-driven browser control | General-purpose AI browser automation |
+| **Crawl4AI** | Async web crawler | Large-scale data crawling |
+| **Firecrawl** | Scraping API / self-hosted | Clean markdown extraction, managed or self-hosted infrastructure |
+| **agent-browser** | Browser primitive CLI | Token-efficient AI agent browsing |
+| **Stagehand** | AI browser framework | Developer-friendly browser automation |
+| **Skyvern** | Visual AI automation | Cross-site generalized workflows |
+
+## Scenario Comparison
+
+### 1. Scheduled Batch Data Extraction
+
+> "I want to pull trending posts from Bilibili/Reddit/HackerNews every hour into my pipeline."
+
+| Tool | Fit | Notes |
+|------|-----|-------|
+| **opencli** | Best | One command, structured JSON output, zero runtime cost. Runs in cron/CI without tokens or API keys. |
+| Crawl4AI | Good | Strong for large-scale crawling, but requires writing extraction logic per site. |
+| Firecrawl | Viable | Managed service with clean output, but costs scale with volume. |
+| Browser-Use / Stagehand | Poor | LLM inference on every run is slow, expensive, and non-deterministic for repeated tasks. |
+
+**Why opencli wins here:** A command like `opencli bilibili hot -f json` returns the same structured schema every time, costs nothing to run, and finishes in seconds. For recurring data extraction from known sites, pre-built adapters beat LLM-driven approaches on cost, speed, and reliability.
+
+### 2. AI Agent Site Operations
+
+> "My AI agent needs to search Twitter, read Reddit threads, or post to Xiaohongshu."
+
+| Tool | Fit | Notes |
+|------|-----|-------|
+| **opencli** | Best | Structured JSON output, fast deterministic execution, hundreds of commands ready to use. |
+| agent-browser | Good | Token-efficient browser primitives, but requires LLM reasoning for every step. |
+| Browser-Use | Viable | General-purpose, but each operation costs tokens and takes 10-60s. |
+| Stagehand | Viable | Good DX, but same LLM-per-action cost model. |
+
+**Why opencli wins here:** When your agent needs `twitter search "AI news" -f json`, a deterministic command that returns in seconds is strictly better than an LLM clicking through a webpage. The agent saves tokens for reasoning, not navigation.
+
+### 3. Authenticated Operations (Login-Required Sites)
+
+> "I need to access my bookmarks, post content, or interact with sites that require login."
+
+| Tool | Fit | Notes |
+|------|-----|-------|
+| **opencli** | Best | Reuses your Chrome login session via Browser Bridge. No credentials stored or transmitted. |
+| Browser-Use | Viable | Can use browser profiles, but credential management is manual. |
+| Firecrawl | Poor | Cloud service cannot access your authenticated sessions. |
+| Crawl4AI | Poor | Requires manual cookie/session injection. |
+
+**Why opencli wins here:** The Browser Bridge extension reuses your existing Chrome login state in real-time. You log in once in Chrome, and opencli commands work immediately. No OAuth setup, no API keys, no credential files.
+
+### 4. General Web Browsing & Exploration
+
+> "I need to explore an unknown website, fill forms, or navigate complex multi-step flows."
+
+| Tool | Fit | Notes |
+|------|-----|-------|
+| Browser-Use | Best | LLM-driven, handles arbitrary websites and flows. |
+| Stagehand | Best | Clean API for `act()`, `extract()`, `observe()` on any page. |
+| agent-browser | Good | Token-efficient primitives for AI agents. |
+| Skyvern | Good | Visual AI that generalizes across sites. |
+| **opencli** | Poor | Only works with sites that have pre-built adapters. Cannot handle arbitrary websites. |
+
+**opencli is not the right tool here.** If you need to explore unknown websites or handle one-off tasks on sites without adapters, use an LLM-driven browser tool. opencli trades generality for determinism and cost.
+
+### 5. Desktop App Control
+
+> "I want to script Cursor, ChatGPT, Notion, or other Electron apps from the terminal."
+
+| Tool | Fit | Notes |
+|------|-----|-------|
+| **opencli** | Best | 8 desktop adapters via CDP + AppleScript. The only CLI tool with this capability. |
+| All others | N/A | Browser automation tools cannot control desktop applications. |
+
+**This is unique to opencli.** No other tool in this comparison can send a prompt to ChatGPT desktop, extract code from Cursor, or write to Notion pages via CLI.
+
+## Key Trade-offs
+
+### opencli's Strengths
+
+- **Zero LLM cost** — No tokens consumed at runtime. Run 10,000 times for free.
+- **Deterministic output** — Same command always returns the same schema. Pipeable, scriptable, CI-friendly.
+- **Speed** — Adapter commands return in seconds, not minutes.
+- **Broad platform coverage** — 50+ sites spanning global platforms (Reddit, HackerNews, Twitter, YouTube) and Chinese platforms (Bilibili, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu, Douban, Weibo) with adapters that understand local anti-bot patterns.
+- **Desktop app control** — CDP adapters for Cursor, Codex, Notion, ChatGPT, Discord, and more.
+- **Easy to extend** — Drop a `.yaml` or `.ts` adapter into the `clis/` folder for auto-registration. Contributing a new site adapter is straightforward.
+
+### opencli's Limitations
+
+- **Coverage requires adapters** — opencli only works with sites that have pre-built adapters. Adding a new site means writing a YAML or TypeScript adapter.
+- **Adapter maintenance** — When a website updates its DOM or API, the corresponding adapter may need updating. The community maintains these, but breakage is possible.
+- **Not general-purpose** — Cannot handle arbitrary websites. For unknown sites, pair opencli with a general browser tool as a fallback.
+
+## Complementary Usage
+
+opencli works best alongside general-purpose browser tools, not as a replacement:
+
+```
+Has adapter?  ──yes──▶  opencli (fast, free, deterministic)
+     │
+     no
+     │
+     ▼
+One-off task?  ──yes──▶  Browser-Use / Stagehand (LLM-driven)
+     │
+     no
+     │
+     ▼
+Recurring?    ──yes──▶  Write an opencli adapter, then use opencli
+```
+
+## Further Reading
+
+- [Architecture Overview](./developer/architecture.md)
+- [Writing a YAML Adapter](./developer/yaml-adapter.md)
+- [Writing a TypeScript Adapter](./developer/ts-adapter.md)
+- [Testing Guide](./developer/testing.md)
+- [AI Workflow](./developer/ai-workflow.md)
+- [Contributing Guide](./developer/contributing.md)