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;   // strict daily cap — see rate limits below
    }
    return out;
  })();
""")

# Process cards one at a time with human-like cadence
for card in cards[:25]:
    browser_click_coordinate(card['cx'], card['cy'])   # click Accept
    sleep(2)
    # After accepting, a "Message" button appears on the card — navigate to
    # the profile and run the profile Message flow above, personalized by first_name.
    # OR: if the "Message" button is inline on the card, click it directly and
    # use the shadow-root composer flow.
    sleep(random.uniform(5, 10))  # human-like delay BETWEEN targets

Don't do 25 back-to-back sends with zero delay. LinkedIn's spam filter catches this. 5–10 second randomized sleeps between sends, hard cap at 25 per 24h window.

Feed post composer flow

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

# Click the "Start a post" trigger
start_trigger = browser_get_rect("button.share-box-feed-entry__trigger, [aria-label*='Start a post']")
browser_click_coordinate(start_trigger.cx, start_trigger.cy)
sleep(1.5)  # modal slide-in

# Find the post editor inside the modal (also contenteditable, may not be in shadow)
editor = browser_get_rect("div[contenteditable=true][aria-placeholder*='talk about']")
browser_click_coordinate(editor.cx, editor.cy)
sleep(0.5)
browser_type("div[contenteditable=true][aria-placeholder*='talk about']", post_text)
sleep(1.0)

# Verify Post button enabled before clicking
state = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    const btn = document.querySelector('button.share-actions__primary-action');
    if (!btn) return {found: false};
    return {
      found: true,
      disabled: btn.disabled || btn.getAttribute('aria-disabled') === 'true',
    };
  })();
""")
if state['found'] and not state['disabled']:
    browser_click("button.share-actions__primary-action")

Posting WITH an image attached

Do NOT click the "Add media" / image icon inside the feed post composer to pick a file. LinkedIn renders a styled button that opens Chrome's native OS file picker when clicked, and that dialog is unreachable via CDP — the automation will hang on an invisible modal. Use browser_upload directly against the hidden <input type='file'>:

# After the post modal is open and the editor has text:
# (A) First, click "Add media" to surface the file input
#     (clicking THIS button reveals the input but does NOT itself open
#     the OS picker on current LinkedIn — the picker only opens if
#     you click the inner "Choose from your device" entry).
media_btn = browser_get_rect("button[aria-label*='image'], button[aria-label*='photo']")
browser_click_coordinate(media_btn.cx, media_btn.cy)
sleep(0.8)

# (B) Enumerate file inputs to find the right one
inputs = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('input[type="file"]'))
      .map((el, i) => ({
        idx: i,
        accept: el.accept || '',
        name: el.name || '',
      }));
  })();
""")
# Expect to see one with accept='image/*' or accept containing 'image/jpeg'

# (C) Set the file programmatically — no dialog
browser_upload(
    selector="input[type='file'][accept*='image']",
    file_paths=["/absolute/path/to/logo.png"],
)
sleep(3)  # LinkedIn shows an upload-progress bar + preview

# (D) Verify the image preview rendered before clicking Post
preview_ok = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    // LinkedIn shows the preview as an <img> inside
    // .share-creation-state__image-preview or similar.
    return !!document.querySelector(
      '.share-creation-state__preview img, .image-preview-container img'
    );
  })();
""")
if not preview_ok:
    raise Exception("LinkedIn image upload did not render — do NOT click Post")

# (E) Now click Post as usual
browser_click("button.share-actions__primary-action")
sleep(4)  # media post takes longer to commit than text-only

If the image isn't already on disk, write it first with write_file(absolute_path, bytes). browser_upload only accepts absolute paths.

Rate limits and safety

LinkedIn's abuse detection is aggressive. Beware of the limits, let user know but dare to break them if user confirms.:

Action	Limit
Outbound messages to non-connections	Do not attempt — will get you warned or restricted
Outbound messages to new 1st-degree connections	25/day max, 5–10s randomized delays
Connection request sends	100/week max, spread across days, warm intros preferred
Profile views	Several hundred/day is usually fine but varies by account age
Post publications	1–5/day, no URL-only posts

Signals you're being throttled:

• "Message failed to send" with no error detail
• Redirect to https://www.linkedin.com/checkpoint/challenge/...
• Profile views showing stale data
• Connection requests auto-withdrawn after a few hours

If any of those show up, stop the run, screenshot the state, and surface the issue to the human operator. Do not retry.

Common pitfalls

• innerHTML injection is silently dropped — LinkedIn's Trusted Types CSP discards any innerHTML = "<...>" from injected scripts, no console error. Always use createElement + appendChild + setAttribute for DOM injection. textContent, style.cssText, and .value assignments are fine.
• Use browser_type_focused (not browser_type) on the message composer. The Lexical contenteditable lives inside the #interop-outlet shadow root which document.querySelector (what browser_type's selector path uses under the hood) cannot see. browser_type requires a selector and will fail with "Element not found". The reliable insert path is: (1) browser_click_coordinate on the composer rect — the response's focused_element confirms Lexical received focus → (2) browser_type_focused(text=message_text) — CDP Input.insertText dispatches to document.activeElement regardless of shadow wrapping.
• Per-char keyDown on the message composer produces empty text — Lexical intercepts beforeinput and drops raw keys. Use browser_type_focused(text=..., use_insert_text=True) after click-coordinate focused the composer. The CDP Input.insertText method commits as if IME fired, which Lexical accepts cleanly.
• Multiple Send buttons on the page — the pinned bottom-right messaging bar has its own msg-form__send-button that's usually below innerHeight. Filter by in-viewport before clicking.
• window.onbeforeunload hangs navigation/close — after typing in a composer, any browser_navigate or close_tab can pop a native "unsent message, leave?" confirm dialog that deadlocks the bridge. Always strip onbeforeunload before any navigation, and wrap composer flows in a try/finally that runs the cleanup block:

# Cleanup on exit — run even if the flow crashed mid-type.
browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    window.onbeforeunload = null;
    const h = document.getElementById('__hive_hl');
    if (h) { try { h.__hiveStop && h.__hiveStop(); } catch(_){}; h.remove(); }
  })();
""")

• SPA reconciliation strips injected overlays — LinkedIn's React reconciler removes foreign children of documentElement on re-render. The framework highlight overlay survives (re-mount observer + bounded retries), but test overlays injected via raw browser_evaluate may not. If you need a stable test overlay, append it to document.documentElement AND wrap in a MutationObserver that re-appends on removal, capped at ~20 retries.
• Profile page chrome is not in the AX snapshot — browser_snapshot on a profile misses a lot of the structured layout. Use browser_screenshot to orient; use specific selectors or the shadow-walk pattern for actions.
• Name parsing from a connection card is fragile — the card layout changes every few months. Prefer .textContent.split(/\s+/)[0] on the first link inside the card rather than relying on a class like .invitation-card-name.

Auth wall detection

If you see a "Log in" / "Join LinkedIn" prompt instead of the logged-in feed, stop immediately and surface the issue to user. Do NOT attempt to log in via automation — LinkedIn's bot detection will flag the account.

Check via:

is_logged_in = browser_evaluate("""
  (function(){
    return !!document.querySelector('nav.global-nav') ||
           !!document.querySelector('[data-test-global-nav-me]');
  })();
""")

Deduplication pattern

Dedup is handled by the colony progress queue, not a separate JSON file. For any daily loop (connection acceptance, profile visits, DMs), the queen enqueues one row in the tasks table per (profile_url, action) pair; workers claim, act, and mark done. Already-done rows are skipped on the next claim — that's your crash-resume and cross-day dedup. See hive.colony-progress-tracker for the full claim/update protocol.

If you need to check whether a given (profile_url, action) has already been handled in a prior run before enqueuing a new row, query the queue directly:

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "SELECT status FROM tasks WHERE payload LIKE '%\"profile_url\":\"<url>\"%' AND payload LIKE '%\"action\":\"<action>\"%';"

Empty → not yet enqueued, safe to add. Otherwise honor the existing row's status.

See also

• browser-automation skill — general CDP/coord/screenshot rules, the click-then-type pattern, shadow-DOM strategy
• x-automation skill — X/Twitter equivalent