An extension button can start work elsewhere. A desktop interface can display data stored remotely. A hosted job can still depend on a person renewing its authenticated session. The place where you click is not enough information to write an overnight runbook.
Before scheduling a workflow, draw its execution boundary: what starts the job, what performs it, what state it depends on, and how someone retrieves the result. The procedure below is an application-side design proposal. Its examples are fictional; it is not a report of vendor testing or a new run against a customer portal.
Name the parts separately
Start with five roles, even if one product fills several of them. The trigger accepts the request. The executor performs the work. The session provides the required account access. Storage retains state or output. The reviewer decides whether the delivery meets the request.
A screenshot of an extension proves where the trigger is visible. It does not establish the executor's location. Likewise, shared storage does not prove that a machine is running the job. Ask for workflow-specific evidence rather than inferring these properties from “desktop,” “cloud” or “AI” in a product label.
Record the answers in a compact map:
| Part | Question to answer | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | What action creates this job? | Request reference and input version |
| Executor | Which host or service performs it? | Observed job identifier and runtime documentation |
| Session | Which account does the job require? | Account reference and renewal owner |
| Storage | Where do state and artifacts persist? | Approved location and retention policy |
| Delivery | Who checks the actual result? | Acceptance rule and reviewer |
Keep credentials out of this map. A reference to an approved account is enough for a runbook; secrets belong in the access mechanism selected for that environment.
Distinguish stored work from running work
Write down what persists when the operator leaves. A saved input list, a queued request and an actively executing job are different states. A browser tab that says “submitted” does not, on its own, prove that another process has started or completed the request.
For a pilot, propose a small authorized input and observe each transition. Retain the job identifier after submission, then inspect status through the documented route. Define what evidence counts as completed work and what artifact must exist before delivery.
If the team needs the laptop to be off, make that a specific acceptance condition. Confirm the executor's location and perform an authorized pilot before depending on it. A successful pilot establishes that scenario's result, not perpetual unattended reliability.
Give session renewal a human owner
Execution capacity and account access are separate dependencies. A service may be available while the account needed for a particular job requires attention. Specify who receives that condition, how they recognize the affected account and which pending job they should inspect afterward.
Required login or account confirmation should pause the affected work for the authorized person. Do not make a runbook depend on silently switching accounts or repeatedly starting new jobs until one succeeds. Preserve the unresolved job reference so recovery starts with an inspection.
A fictional job note might look like this:
{
"request_ref": "pilot-07",
"input_version": "approved-list-v2",
"executor_ref": "approved-worker-a",
"job_ref": "job-reference-from-the-executor",
"account_ref": "research-account-a",
"access_owner": "assigned-operator",
"on_access_required": "pause_and_notify_owner",
"delivery_rule": "artifact-and-record-review-v1"
}
These are proposed application fields, not a claim that any named vendor exposes this schema. Replace references with the team's approved identifiers and map them to the actual interface.
Recover from evidence, not from the missing screen
An operator can lose the triggering tab while the executor continues. Conversely, a dashboard can remain reachable while the underlying job has stopped. Treat the interface and the job as separate things when investigating an interruption.
First inspect the recorded job. Check its latest state and any existing artifacts before deciding whether a retry is necessary. If the result is uncertain, escalate that uncertainty instead of creating an indistinguishable replacement. The retry policy should identify which input version and output location the recovery will use.
This is also where ownership matters. Someone needs responsibility for host availability, session renewal and unresolved output. Assign those duties explicitly even when the same person initially holds all three.
Accept the handoff independently
Finally, inspect the file against the requested fields and record unit. An exported row, a visible address and a separately verified address are different outcomes. Where research and enrichment are separate stages, preserve their sources and statuses through the handoff.
Record both completed and unresolved inputs. A workflow that drops empty results can look more successful while becoming harder to reconcile. Delivery acceptance should explain what arrived, what remains uncertain and what action follows.
BrowserAct's extension, desktop and cloud comparison provides the deployment context. The runbook turns that context into an operational question: can a second operator locate the job, restore the right dependency and verify the delivered result without reconstructing the original click sequence?
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