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name: hive.linkedin-automation description: Read before automating LinkedIn with browser_* tools. LinkedIn combines shadow DOM (#interop-outlet), strict Trusted Types CSP that silently drops innerHTML, Lexical composer, native beforeunload dialogs that hang the bridge, and aggressive spam filters — each has bitten us at least once. Verified flows for profile messaging, connection-request acceptance, feed composition, and search. Requires hive.browser-automation. Verified against logged-in production 2026-04-11. metadata: author: hive type: default-skill version: "1.0" verified: 2026-04-11 requires_skill: hive.browser-automation

LinkedIn Automation

LinkedIn is the hardest mainstream site to automate because it combines shadow DOM (#interop-outlet for messaging), strict Trusted Types CSP (silently drops innerHTML), heavy React reconciliation (injected nodes get stripped on re-render), native beforeunload draft dialogs (hang the bridge), and aggressive spam filters. Every one of those has bit us at least once. This skill documents what actually works.

Always activate browser-automation first. This skill assumes you already know about CSS-px coordinates, browser_type/browser_type_focused, and browser_shadow_query. The guidance below is LinkedIn-specific; general browser rules are there.

Rule #0: screenshot + coordinates, not selectors

LinkedIn changes class names aggressively and hides composers inside shadow roots AND iframes. Selectors break constantly. Your default strategy on every LinkedIn page should be:

1. browser_screenshot() — see the page visually
2. Pick the target's position from the image
3. browser_coords(image_x, image_y) → get CSS pixels
4. browser_click_coordinate(css_x, css_y) — reaches shadow DOM, iframes, and React elements indifferently
5. browser_type(use_insert_text=True, text=...) — types into whatever is focused, including Lexical composers

If browser_evaluate(...querySelectorAll...) returns [] even once, do not try a different selector. Stop, screenshot, and click. The "what if I try .artdeco-list__item next" instinct has burned ~50 tool calls in real sessions before the agent pivoted. Don't fall into that loop.

The selectors in the table below are only for when you already know the target is in the light DOM and you want a faster path than screenshot+coord. When in doubt, default to coordinates.

Invitation manager — inline message button path is BROKEN

If the user asks to message a connection request from the invitation manager page without accepting first, the inline "Message" button opens a composer inside a nested iframe overlay (not a shadow root). The iframe's contentDocument is either cross-origin-blocked or not hydrated at access time. This path is not reliably automatable today.

Redirect: click the person's name/profile link on the card, go to the profile page, and use the standard Profile Message flow below. The profile flow is battle-tested; the inline-iframe flow isn't.

If you end up writing document.activeElement.tagName === 'IFRAME' inside a browser_evaluate, you've hit this trap. Stop and go to the profile page.

Timing expectations

• browser_navigate(wait_until="load") — LinkedIn takes 4–5 seconds to load the feed cold.
• After navigation, always sleep(3) to let React hydrate the profile/feed chrome before querying selectors. Without the sleep wait_for_selector will flake on elements that exist moments later.
• Composer modal slide-in takes ~2 seconds after you click the Message button.

Verified selectors

| Target | Selector | Notes | |---|---|---| | Global search input | input[data-testid='typeahead-input'] | Light DOM, straightforward | | Own profile link | a[href*='linkedin.com/in/'] | Top nav; filter to the one near top-left | | Profile Message action | a[href*='/messaging/compose/'] filtered by NON_SELF_PROFILE_VIEW AND no body= param AND x < 700 | Is an <a>, not a <button>. Multiple match; filter carefully. | | Modal composer textarea | div.msg-form__contenteditable (inside #interop-outlet shadow) | Multiple instances exist — pick largest-area in-viewport one. | | Modal Send button | button.msg-form__send-button (inside #interop-outlet shadow) | Same multi-instance trap — filter by y + height <= innerHeight. | | Invitation manager | navigate to https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invitation-manager/received/ | Direct URL is faster than nav-link clicking | | Pending connection card | .invitation-card, .invitations-card, [data-test-incoming-invitation-card] | Filter out "invited you to follow" / "subscribe" cards | | Accept button | button[aria-label*="Accept"] within the card scope | Per-card scoping is critical — there are many Accept buttons on the page |

LinkedIn changes class names aggressively. If a class-based selector breaks, fall back to browser_screenshot → visual identification → browser_click_coordinate with the pixel you read straight off the image (screenshots are CSS-sized, no conversion). The screenshot + coord path works regardless of class-name churn and regardless of shadow DOM.

Profile Message flow (verified end-to-end 2026-04-11)

# 1. Load the profile
browser_navigate("https://www.linkedin.com/in/<username>/", wait_until="load")
sleep(3)

# 2. Strip onbeforeunload before any state-mutating work — prevents draft-dialog deadlock later
browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    window.onbeforeunload = null;
    window.addEventListener('beforeunload', e => e.stopImmediatePropagation(), true);
  })();
""")

# 3. Find the profile Message link (NOT a button, and multiple exist)
msg_btn = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    const links = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('a[href*="/messaging/compose/"]'));
    for (const a of links){
      const href = a.href || '';
      if (!href.includes('NON_SELF_PROFILE_VIEW')) continue;
      if (href.includes('body=')) continue;            // reject Premium upsell
      const r = a.getBoundingClientRect();
      if (r.width === 0 || r.x > 700) continue;        // reject sidebar / "More profiles for you"
      return {cx: r.x + r.width / 2, cy: r.y + r.height / 2};
    }
    return null;
  })();
""")
browser_click_coordinate(msg_btn['cx'], msg_btn['cy'])
sleep(2.5)  # composer modal slide-in

# 4. Find the modal composer textarea (pick biggest in-viewport; reject pinned chat bar)
textarea = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    const vh = window.innerHeight, vw = window.innerWidth;
    const candidates = [];
    function walk(root){
      const els = root.querySelectorAll ?
        root.querySelectorAll('div.msg-form__contenteditable') : [];
      for (const el of els){
        const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
        if (r.width <= 0 || r.height <= 0) continue;
        if (r.y < 0 || r.y + r.height > vh) continue;  // reject pinned bar (below viewport)
        if (r.x < 0 || r.x + r.width > vw) continue;
        candidates.push({cx: r.x + r.width/2, cy: r.y + r.height/2, area: r.width * r.height});
      }
      const all = root.querySelectorAll ? root.querySelectorAll('*') : [];
      for (const host of all){ if (host.shadowRoot) walk(host.shadowRoot); }
    }
    walk(document);
    if (!candidates.length) return null;
    candidates.sort((a, b) => b.area - a.area);
    return candidates[0];
  })();
""")

# 5. Click to focus the modal composer (click-first is mandatory for Lexical)
browser_click_coordinate(textarea['cx'], textarea['cy'])
sleep(0.6)

# 6. Insert text via browser_type_focused. This dispatches CDP
#    Input.insertText to document.activeElement — the same underlying
#    mechanism as execCommand('insertText') but with no JSON escaping,
#    no browser_evaluate round trip, and built-in retry. The click in
#    step 5 already focused Lexical, so insertText lands in the editor
#    regardless of the shadow wrapping around #interop-outlet.
#
#    Use browser_type_focused (not browser_type) here — browser_type
#    requires a selector, which cannot see past the #interop-outlet
#    shadow root. browser_type_focused targets document.activeElement
#    directly, sidestepping shadow boundaries entirely.
browser_type_focused(text=message_text)
sleep(1.0)   # let Lexical commit state + enable Send button

# 7. Find the modal Send button (filter by in-viewport, reject pinned bar)
send = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    const vh = window.innerHeight;
    function walk(root){
      const btns = root.querySelectorAll ? root.querySelectorAll('button') : [];
      for (const b of btns){
        const cls = (b.className || '').toString();
        const txt = (b.textContent || '').trim();
        if (!cls.includes('send-button') && txt !== 'Send') continue;
        const r = b.getBoundingClientRect();
        if (r.width <= 0 || r.y + r.height > vh) continue;
        return {
          cx: r.x + r.width/2, cy: r.y + r.height/2,
          disabled: b.disabled || b.getAttribute('aria-disabled') === 'true',
        };
      }
      const all = root.querySelectorAll ? root.querySelectorAll('*') : [];
      for (const host of all){
        if (host.shadowRoot){
          const got = walk(host.shadowRoot);
          if (got) return got;
        }
      }
      return null;
    }
    return walk(document);
  })();
""")

# 8. ONLY click Send if it's enabled — if disabled, the insertText
#    didn't land. DO NOT retry with a different tool; the fix is
#    always: re-click the composer rect, re-run browser_type_focused(text=...),
#    re-check. The Send button's `disabled` state IS the ground truth —
#    if Lexical registered your text, it enables the button. If it's
#    still disabled, your text did not reach the editor, regardless
#    of what any tool call claims.
if send['disabled']:
    # The editor didn't receive your text. Do NOT click Send. Do NOT
    # fall back to browser_type with a selector (see anti-pattern in
    # Common Pitfalls — selector-based type can't reach the shadow-DOM
    # composer). Instead: re-click the textarea rect from step 4, wait
    # a beat, re-run browser_type_focused(text=message_text) from
    # step 6. If that still fails after 2 retries, bail and surface —
    # the modal may have been reclaimed by a stale state or auth wall.
    raise Exception("Send button disabled after insertText — editor did not receive input")

browser_click_coordinate(send['cx'], send['cy'])
sleep(2.5)  # wait for send + bubble render

Verify post-send: the composer textarea should now be empty (innerText === '') and .msg-s-event-listitem__message-bubble count should have grown by 1. Walk the shadow tree via browser_evaluate to check.

Connection request acceptance flow

Daily outbound pattern — accept pending connection requests and send a templated welcome message.

browser_navigate("https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invitation-manager/received/",
                 wait_until="load")
sleep(4)
browser_evaluate("(function(){window.onbeforeunload=null;})()")

# Scan pending connection cards — FILTER OUT follow/subscribe invitations
cards = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    const out = [];
    const cards = document.querySelectorAll('[data-test-incoming-invitation-card], .invitation-card');
    for (const c of cards){
      const text = (c.textContent || '').toLowerCase();
      if (text.includes('invited you to follow')) continue;
      if (text.includes('invited you to subscribe')) continue;
      const nameEl = c.querySelector('a[href*="/in/"], strong');
      const name = nameEl ? nameEl.textContent.trim().split(/\\s+/)[0] : '';
      const accept = c.querySelector('button[aria-label*="Accept"]');
      if (!accept) continue;
      const r = accept.getBoundingClientRect();
      out.push({
        first_name: name,
        cx: r.x + r.width/2, cy: r.y + r.height/2,
      });
      if (out.length >= 25) break;