Facebook Group Monitor
Monitor Facebook groups for new posts using Playwright browser automation with stealth mode and persistent login session. Scrapes group feed, tracks seen pos...
Description
name: facebook-group-monitor description: >- Monitor Facebook groups for new posts using Playwright browser automation with stealth mode and persistent login session. Scrapes group feed, tracks seen posts, reports only new ones. Captures a single stitched "feed strip" screenshot (viewport scroll + Pillow stitch) for efficient LLM vision analysis — one image covers the full feed. Use when: monitoring Facebook groups, scraping FB posts, checking new group activity, Facebook automation, marketplace monitoring, book sale tracking, competitor group monitoring. Triggers: 'check Facebook group', 'scrape FB posts', 'new posts in group', 'monitor group', 'Facebook marketplace', 'group update'. metadata: openclaw: category: "social" shared: true
Facebook Group Monitor Skill
Overview
Playwright-based headless browser scraper for Facebook groups. Default behavior: captures a stitched "feed strip" (scrolls 3× viewport, crops to feed column, stitches into 1 JPEG) → agent calls vision model once with a custom prompt to extract and interpret all new posts in a single LLM call.
Requires one-time manual login via terminal to establish a persistent browser session.
Setup
See references/SETUP.md for installation and first-time login instructions.
File Locations (after install)
- Script:
scripts/fb-group-monitor.py - Shell wrapper:
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh - Browser session: auto-created at
scripts/.browser-data/(persistent login) - Seen posts: auto-created at
scripts/.seen-posts.json(dedup tracking) - Screenshots:
scripts/screenshots/or custom--shots-dir
Commands
1. Check login session
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh status
Output:
{"success": true, "action": "status", "message": "Session active — logged in to Facebook."}
2. Scrape new posts (with feed strip screenshot)
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh scrape <GROUP_URL> [--limit N] [--shots-dir <PATH>]
Parameters:
GROUP_URL: Full URL (https://www.facebook.com/groups/123456) or just group ID--limit N: Max posts to scrape (default: 10)--shots-dir <PATH>: ⚠️ REQUIRED for vision — save screenshots in agent workspace so image tool can read them--no-shots: Skip screenshots (faster, text-only mode)
Example:
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh scrape "https://www.facebook.com/groups/123456789" --limit 10 --shots-dir ./temp-screenshots
Output JSON (with feed strip screenshot):
{
"success": true,
"action": "scrape",
"group_name": "Example Group Name",
"group_url": "https://www.facebook.com/groups/123456789",
"total_scraped": 6,
"new_count": 3,
"feed_screenshot": "/path/to/temp-screenshots/feed_abc12345_1741800000.jpg",
"posts": [
{
"author": "Poster Name",
"text": "Post content (may be truncated by Facebook's 'See more')...",
"url": "https://facebook.com/groups/123456/posts/789",
"images": 3
},
{
"author": "Another Poster",
"text": "Text-only post, no images...",
"url": "https://facebook.com/groups/123456/posts/790",
"images": 0
}
],
"message": "Found 3 new posts / 6 total."
}
Note:
feed_screenshotis a single stitched JPEG covering the full feed (3 viewport scrolls). Individual posts no longer have ascreenshot_path— usefeed_screenshot(top-level) instead.
3. Clean old screenshots
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh clean-shots
Auto-removes screenshots older than 48h and caps at 100 max. Script also auto-cleans before each scrape.
4. Login (one-time, from terminal)
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh login
Opens browser, login manually, press Enter to save session. Session lasts weeks/months.
Agent Workflow
When triggered by cron or user request to check a group:
Step 1: Scrape
scripts/fb-group-monitor.sh scrape "<GROUP_URL>" --limit 10 --shots-dir ./temp-screenshots
⚠️ Use
--shots-dirpointing to a path within the workspace so the image tool can access screenshots.
Step 2: Analyze feed screenshot + combine with text
If feed_screenshot is present (1 stitched image covering the full feed):
- Compose a dynamic prompt using the author list from the JSON, so vision focuses on the correct new posts (the feed strip also contains already-seen posts)
- Call image tool with both
imageandpromptparameters:image tool: image: <feed_screenshot path> prompt: "Facebook group feed. Find and analyze posts by these people (new posts to process): - [Author 1]: "[first few words of text from JSON]" — N images - [Author 2]: "[first few words of text from JSON]" ... For EACH post, do 2 things: 1. EXTRACT: book/product name, author/publisher (read from cover), price (including handwritten prices), condition (new/used/marked/yellowed). 2. INTERPRET: is the deal worth it (price vs market if known), is the item rare/valuable, actual condition assessment from photos." - ⚠️ NEVER call image tool with empty
{}— default prompt just describes the image generically - ⚠️ Feed strip includes old posts — always include author + text snippet so vision targets the right posts
- After getting vision result: match by author, add
urlfrom JSON - Prioritize image content over truncated
textfield ("see more" posts)
If feed_screenshot is absent (screenshot failed):
- Read directly from
textfield of each post - Summarize available information, note "no screenshot available"
Step 3: Report to user
MUST include the original post link in each item for verification.
Format per new post:
📌 *[Title/Summary]*
👤 Author: [author]
💰 Price: [price or "unknown"]
📝 Condition: [description]
💡 Note: [deal assessment or insight, if any]
🔗 [post URL]
Step 4: If no new posts → stay silent (no notification)
Step 5: If success == false → report error briefly
⚠️ Anti-duplicate rule
- Send Telegram only ONCE per run, regardless of whether vision succeeded or failed
- If
messagetool returns an error → report once and stop, do NOT retry - If vision fails → fallback to text, send once with note "⚠️ Vision unavailable, text only"
Important Notes
- Rate limiting: Recommended cron interval ≥ 2 hours — safe for Facebook
- Session expired: If error "Not logged in" → run
loginfrom terminal - UI changes: Facebook updates DOM frequently → selectors may need updates
- "See more": Text is truncated — feed strip screenshot usually has complete content
- Feed strip: Scrolls 3× viewport height, crops to feed column, stitches 1 JPEG — reduces vision calls from N to 1
- Screenshot quality: JPEG 82% — sufficient for LLM vision to read text and identify product images
- Vision model: Use a vision-capable model (e.g. Gemini Flash) for the image tool call
Reviews (0)
No reviews yet. Be the first to review!
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!