Background browser independent Application

Hello everyone,            i faced problems while creating a software application which will run in background. it will communicate with a remote site i.e. read value from csv file present in the application with value present in the browser.it should work on windows/linux and also system should be a browser independent.

Can i do this by using Watir?actually i try with watir but i don't know is it a right way or in rails there is something new gem/plugin to do it. Can anyone point me in a direction that is current?

Thank you for your time and help with this issue.

Salil