Building Your First Bot in Browser Automation Studio
A step-by-step walkthrough of creating your first working BAS bot — from a blank project to a flow that navigates, extracts data, and runs in multiple threads.
The fastest way to understand Browser Automation Studio is to build something tiny that actually runs. This walkthrough takes you from an empty project to a bot that opens a page, pulls data, and loops — the skeleton of almost every real project.
Step 1: Create a new project
Open BAS and create a blank project. You’ll see the record panel, the action list (your flow), and the embedded browser. The flow is the program; everything you do is an ordered list of nodes here.
Step 2: Record a navigation
Press record, type a URL into the embedded browser, and navigate. BAS captures the navigation as a node. Stop recording and press run — the bot should repeat exactly what you did. This record-then-replay loop is the core working rhythm of BAS.
Step 3: Extract data from the page
Add a data-extraction step targeting an element — a title, a price, a list. Use a stable CSS selector rather than the recorded screen position, because positions break the moment layout shifts. Store the result in a variable so later steps can use it.
Step 4: Add a loop
Real bots repeat. Wrap your extraction in a loop that walks a list — pages, search results, or rows of input data. This is the jump from “a recorded macro” to “a program”: the same logic applied across many items.
Step 5: Run in multiple threads
Set the thread count above one and BAS spins up independent browser instances running your flow in parallel. Keep per-thread data (accounts, proxies) separate so threads don’t collide. This is how a single project scales from one run to hundreds.
Common first-bot mistakes
- No waits. Pages load asynchronously; add wait-for-element steps before acting.
- Recorded coordinates. Prefer selectors — they survive layout changes.
- Shared state across threads. Give each thread its own account and proxy.
Once this skeleton feels natural, the next thing every serious project needs is proxies — covered in the companion article.
FAQ
How long does it take to build a first BAS bot?
A simple navigate-and-extract bot takes 15–30 minutes once BAS is installed. The record feature does most of the work; you mainly clean up and add a loop.
Why does my recorded action fail on replay?
Usually the page had not finished loading or the element selector changed. Add a wait-for-element step before the action and prefer stable selectors over recorded coordinates.
- Browser Automation Studio: The Complete Practical GuideGuide
- Setting Up Proxies in Browser Automation StudioHow to configure proxies in BAS the right way — proxy types, per-thread assignment, rotation, and the checks that keep multi-account bots from getting flagged.
- Finding Elements in BAS: Selectors That Don't BreakHow element search works in Browser Automation Studio — CSS vs XPath selectors, why recorded ones break, and how to write selectors that survive page changes.
- Filling and Submitting Forms in BASHow to fill, select, check and submit web forms reliably in Browser Automation Studio — typing like a human, handling dropdowns and checkboxes, and verifying the result.