Process Execution

Run arbitrary commands inside the browser VM for advanced control.

When to Use

Use process execution for:

• Custom tooling – Install specialized tools in the VM (ffmpeg, imagemagick, etc.)
• Background services – Run auxiliary services alongside your browser
• Data processing – Execute scripts for data transformation
• System configuration – Configure the VM environment to your needs
• Debugging – Inspect VM state and processes
• Package installation – Install system packages with apt-get or other package managers

Info: The <session_id> argument refers to the browser session ID, not invocation IDs returned by other Kernel commands.

Prerequisites

Load the kernel-cli skill for Kernel CLI installation and authentication.

Execute Command (Synchronous)

# Execute and wait for completion
kernel browsers process exec <session_id> -- ls -la /tmp

# Execute as root
kernel browsers process exec <session_id> --as-root -- apt-get update

# With timeout (in seconds)
kernel browsers process exec <session_id> --timeout 30 -- long-running-command

# With working directory
kernel browsers process exec <session_id> --cwd /tmp -- pwd

# With specific user
kernel browsers process exec <session_id> --as-user chromium -- whoami

Spawn Background Process (Asynchronous)

# Start long-running process
kernel browsers process spawn <session_id> -- long-running-command

# With timeout
kernel browsers process spawn <session_id> --timeout 300 -- background-task

# Start web server
kernel browsers process spawn <session_id> -- python3 -m http.server 8080

Additional Process Commands

Check Process Status

# Get process status
kernel browsers process status <session_id> <process-id>

Returns process state, CPU usage, memory usage, and exit code.

Stream Process Output

# Stream stdout and stderr from a running process
kernel browsers process stdout-stream <session_id> <process-id>

This will continuously stream output until the process exits.

Write to Process stdin

# Send base64-encoded data to process stdin
echo "input data" | base64 | xargs -I {} kernel browsers process stdin <session_id> <process-id> --data-b64 {}

Base64 payload to write is required.

Kill Process

# Kill with TERM signal (graceful, default)
kernel browsers process kill <session_id> <process-id>
kernel browsers process kill <session_id> <process-id> --signal TERM

Available signals: (TERM, KILL, INT, HUP; default: TERM).