Steel

Steel is the open-source browser API for AI agents and apps. The Steel Cloud REST API (https://api.steel.dev/v1) launches and manages cloud browser sessions, runs stateless quick actions (scrape, screenshot, pdf, search), and exposes a live session viewer, while long-running automation connects to a per-session Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) WebSocket driven with Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium. The same surface ships self-hosted under Apache-2.0 as steel-browser.

Steel publishes 4 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Files API, Quick Actions API, Session Actions API, and 1 more. Tagged areas include Browser, Web Automation, Scraping, AI Agents, and Open-Source.

Steel’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, and 8 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
36.4/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 20/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
4 APIs
BrowserWeb AutomationScrapingAI AgentsOpen-Source

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0
Composite quality — 36.4/100 · thin
Contract Quality 12.4 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Access Clarity 7.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.4 / 13
Contract Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 10
Agent readiness — 20/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
Documented Reversibility 0 / 6
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Delegated User Identity 0 / 6
Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5
Registration Without a Human 0 / 6
Agentic Commerce Surface 0 / 5
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/steel-dev: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Steel Files API

Manage files inside a session's browser context.

Steel Quick Actions API

Stateless one-off scrape, screenshot, PDF, and search.

Steel Session Actions API

Scrape, screenshot, and PDF the page in a running session.

Steel Sessions API

Launch, inspect, and release cloud browser sessions.

Open Collections 6

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

API Collection

OPEN COLLECTION

Steel Files API

OPEN COLLECTION

Steel Files Quick Actions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Steel Files Session Actions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Steel Files Sessions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Steel API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Steel Dev Plans Pricing

6 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Steel Dev Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Steel Dev Finops

FINOPS

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Steel Dev Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Steel Dev Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Steel Dev Agentic Access

17 operations · 12 acting

17 operations · 12 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization
GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits
RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans
Plans
 FinOps
FinOps

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Website
Website

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: steel-dev
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/steel-dev/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: Steel
kind: company
description: Steel is the open-source browser API for AI agents and apps. The Steel Cloud REST API (https://api.steel.dev/v1)
  launches and manages cloud browser sessions, runs stateless quick actions (scrape, screenshot, pdf, search), and exposes
  a live session viewer, while long-running automation connects to a per-session Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) WebSocket
  driven with Playwright, Puppeteer, or Selenium. The same surface ships self-hosted under Apache-2.0 as steel-browser.
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/steel-dev.png
tags:
- Browser
- Web Automation
- Scraping
- AI Agents
- Open-Source
tags_raw:
- Browser
- Web Automation
- Scraping
- AI Agents
- Open Source
created: '2026-06-20'
modified: '2026-06-20'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: steel-dev:steel-dev-files-api
  name: Steel Files API
  description: Manage files inside a session's browser context.
  humanURL: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  baseURL: https://api.steel.dev/v1
  tags:
  - File
  tags_raw:
  - Files
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/steel-dev-files-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/api-reference
  - type: PostmanCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.postman_collection.json
  - type: OpenCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.opencollection.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/quick-actions-api
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/guides/connect-with-playwright
  - type: Review
    url: review.yml
- aid: steel-dev:steel-dev-quick-actions-api
  name: Steel Quick Actions API
  description: Stateless one-off scrape, screenshot, PDF, and search.
  humanURL: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  baseURL: https://api.steel.dev/v1
  tags:
  - Quick Actions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/steel-dev-quick-actions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/api-reference
  - type: PostmanCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.postman_collection.json
  - type: OpenCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.opencollection.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/quick-actions-api
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/guides/connect-with-playwright
  - type: Review
    url: review.yml
- aid: steel-dev:steel-dev-session-actions-api
  name: Steel Session Actions API
  description: Scrape, screenshot, and PDF the page in a running session.
  humanURL: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  baseURL: https://api.steel.dev/v1
  tags:
  - Session Actions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/steel-dev-session-actions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/api-reference
  - type: PostmanCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.postman_collection.json
  - type: OpenCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.opencollection.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/quick-actions-api
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/guides/connect-with-playwright
  - type: Review
    url: review.yml
- aid: steel-dev:steel-dev-sessions-api
  name: Steel Sessions API
  description: Launch, inspect, and release cloud browser sessions.
  humanURL: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  baseURL: https://api.steel.dev/v1
  tags:
  - Sessions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/steel-dev-sessions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/sessions-api
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/api-reference
  - type: PostmanCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.postman_collection.json
  - type: OpenCollection
    url: collections/steel-dev.opencollection.json
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/quick-actions-api
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.steel.dev/overview/guides/connect-with-playwright
  - type: Review
    url: review.yml
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/steel-dev-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/steel-dev-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/steel-dev-authentication.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/steel-dev
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/steel-dev
- type: Website
  url: https://steel.dev
- type: Documentation
  url: https://docs.steel.dev
- type: Plans
  url: plans/steel-dev-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/steel-dev-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/steel-dev-finops.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

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