We Built a Browser Robot Because Webflow's API Can't Handle a Code Block

In a detailed account, Adam Fish, the Founder and CEO of Ditto, describes his experience building a browser robot to circumvent the limitations of Webflow's API, which cannot handle code blocks or tables in its CMS. After transitioning to Webflow for its new brand identity launched in 2025, Ditto faced challenges with publishing technical content, as the Webflow API returned empty strings for code blocks and lacked support for table elements. To address these issues, Fish developed a Playwright-based automation that navigates Webflow's interface to manually insert these elements, highlighting a broader industry problem where APIs often lag behind GUIs, especially in the age of AI-driven automation. He argues for the necessity of robust, API-first designs in SaaS platforms, emphasizing that AI agents and automated systems increasingly rely on APIs as primary interfaces. Fish advocates for a "local-first" approach, where content is managed independently of CMS constraints, and underscores the need for prioritizing API parity to ensure that all elements supported by a GUI are equally accessible via API.