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User agent modification support #410

@natorion

Description

@natorion

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

FEEDBACK WANTED

1. Problem Statement

AI agents are currently "device-blind." They can only test a web application from the perspective of a single environment: the default desktop Chrome browser.

This prevents the AI from diagnosing a huge category of bugs, including:

  • Responsive design and layout issues (e.g., "This button is off-screen on mobile").
  • SEO and pre-rendering problems (e.g., "Googlebot isn't seeing the right content").

To solve these, the AI must ask the user to manually open DevTools and change the device or user agent string, which interrupts the workflow and adds manual toil.

2. Problems We Want to Solve

We believe there are three primary problems related to environment simulation. We would like to know which is most valuable to you.

Problem 1: Simulating Mobile/Tablet Devices (The "Responsive Design" Problem)
An agent needs to test how a site renders and behaves on specific device viewports.

  • Goal: "I need to check if the 'Add to Cart' button is visible on an 'iPhone 14 Pro' viewport."

Problem 2: Simulating Different Browsers (The "Browser-Specific Bug" Problem)
An agent needs to test for bugs that only manifest when the site detects a different browser.

  • Goal: "The user says this only breaks in Safari. I need to set the user agent string to 'Safari on macOS' to see if the server sends different JavaScript or if I can reproduce a client-side error."

Problem 3: Simulating Crawlers and Bots (The "SEO/Bot" Problem)
An agent needs to test what a server-side-rendered (SSR) or pre-rendered page looks like to a bot.

  • Goal: "I need to debug an SEO or hydration issue. To do this, I must set my user agent to 'Googlebot' and inspect the raw HTML response that the server provides."

3. Key Use Cases (As Problems)

  • As an... AI agent debugging a layout bug, I want to simulate an 'iPhone 14 Pro' (including its user agent, viewport, and touch capabilities) to confirm the user's report that a button is off-screen.
  • As an... AI agent diagnosing a JavaScript error, I want to set the user agent to 'Safari on macOS' to try and reproduce a browser-specific serving issue.
  • As an... AI agent checking for SEO problems, I want to set the user agent to 'Googlebot' and inspect the server's initial HTML response to check for missing meta tags.

4. Feedback Requested

We are posting this to validate which simulation problems are most critical. We would love to know:

  • Does this capability (AI-driven device/UA simulation) seem useful to you?
    • (Please add a 👍 reaction to this issue if you would find this useful!)
  • Which of these problems is your highest priority?
    • (Please help us rank them: 1. Mobile/Responsive, 2. Browser-Specific, 3. Bot/Crawler)
  • What is your "80/20"?
    • (Is just setting the user agent string enough? Or is it essential to also set the viewport, pixel density, and touch emulation at the same time, like the DevTools "Device Mode"?)
  • What did we miss?
    • (Are there other environment emulation problems that are just as, or more, important? e.g., Network Speed, Geolocation, Dark Mode, Timezone?)

Describe the solution you'd like

s/o

Describe alternatives you've considered

s/o

Additional context

No response

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