Given a button reference, you can use javascript on your console to .click() it.
Is there a way for my website to differentiate between a click triggered by a mouse and a click triggered by the user's javascript? Or are these effectively equivalent from the browser's point of view?
Use Event.isTrusted
Yes, you can use the event.isTrusted property. Will be true when the user clicks as shown in this code snippet.
mybutton.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
console.log( "isTrusted = " + e.isTrusted );
});
test.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
mybutton.click();
});<button id="mybutton">My Button</button>
<button id="test">Test</button>