---
title: "Automated browsers get their own actor"
description: "Visits now come in five actors: Human, Bot, Agent, Automated and Unknown. Automated is a browser driven by software. Headless Chrome is recognized on every visit, and a visible automated browser is recognized on links with Advanced data collection."
canonical: "https://linkbreakers.com/help/article/automated-browsers-get-their-own-actor"
last-updated: 2026-10-29
---

# Automated browsers get their own actor

> Visits now come in five actors: Human, Bot, Agent, Automated and Unknown. Automated is a browser driven by software. Headless Chrome is recognized on every visit, and a visible automated browser is recognized on links with Advanced data collection.

## Short answer

Linkbreakers now has a fifth actor, **Automated**, for browsers driven by software: an AI agent operating a browser, a load or QA test, a scraper or a monitor. Headless Chrome is recognized from its request on every visit. A visible browser under automation is recognized on links that collect data at the **Advanced** level, and takes the **Automated** branch of a Device Actor Condition from its next visit. **Agent** now means only AI agents that name themselves in their user agent, such as GPTBot, ChatGPT-User or Claude-User.

## What we shipped

### Five actors

- **Human**: a person in a normal browser. The default
- **Bot**: crawlers that name themselves, such as Googlebot, Bingbot, link preview bots and ad verifiers
- **Agent**: AI agents that name themselves in their user agent
- **Automated**: a browser driven by software, whoever is behind it
- **Unknown**: a request without a user agent

The actor shows in analytics, the visitor profile, the device details and the activity timeline, and the **Device Actor Condition** has an **Automated** option.

### Headless browsers

Headless Chrome, which many tests, scrapers and browsing agents run, says so in its user agent or in its `Sec-CH-UA` client hints. Those visits are **Automated**, named **Headless Chrome**. For about a day before this change they counted as Agent; the devices recorded that way have been moved to Automated.

### Visible automated browsers

A visible browser under automation, for example Chrome showing "Chrome is being controlled by automated test software", Playwright or Selenium in headed mode, or an AI agent operating Chrome, sends the same request as a person. On a link that collects data at the Advanced level, the short page that reads the device's details now also reads `navigator.webdriver`. If the browser reports automation, the device is recorded as **Automated**, named **Automated browser**, and its later visits take the Automated branch. No delay is added for visitors.

### Agent and Automated together

An automated browser is not always an AI agent; it can be your own test or monitor. To route them the same way, connect both **Agent** and **Automated** to the same step. In the editor, picking either option shows a short note on what it catches.

In the API, the new values are `DEVICE_ACTOR_AUTOMATED` and `DEVICE_ACTOR_CONDITION_VALUE_AUTOMATED`.

## Limits

- The first visit of a visible automated browser is routed as human, because the page that detects it runs after routing
- Links without Advanced data collection never learn it
- A browser set up to hide `navigator.webdriver`, as stealth plugins do, is not detected
- A recognized device is remembered for about a year

Full details in [how Linkbreakers detects AI agents and automated browsers](/help/article/how-linkbreakers-detects-ai-agents-and-automated-browsers).

## Frequently asked questions

### Will my existing Agent branches change?

Agent branches keep catching AI agents that name themselves. Headless Chrome now takes the **Automated** branch instead, so if you want it to keep following your Agent path, connect **Automated** to the same step.

### Does this need Advanced data collection?

Only for visible automated browsers. Headless Chrome, Agent, Bot and Unknown are recognized from the request, without any page.

### Is reading navigator.webdriver personal data?

No. It is a yes or no property of the browser saying whether software drives it.