Browserless

Headless Chrome browser as a service. Take screenshots, generate PDFs, scrape JS-rendered pages, and run Puppeteer/Playwright scripts without managing browser infrastructure.

Official docs: https://docs.browserless.io/

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Scrape JavaScript-heavy pages (React, Vue, Angular)
• Take full-page or element screenshots
• Generate PDFs from web pages
• Execute custom JavaScript in a browser context
• Bypass bot detection with stealth mode
• Run Puppeteer/Playwright scripts in the cloud

Prerequisites

1. Create an account at https://www.browserless.io/
2. Get your API token from https://account.browserless.io/

Set environment variable:

export BROWSERLESS_TOKEN="your-api-token-here"

How to Use

1. Scrape Data (CSS Selectors)

Extract structured JSON using CSS selectors:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "elements": [
    {"selector": "h1"},
    {"selector": "p"}
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/scrape?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json

With wait options:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
  "elements": [{"selector": ".titleline > a"}],
  "gotoOptions": {
    "waitUntil": "networkidle2",
    "timeout": 30000
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/scrape?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json | jq '.data[0].results[:3]'

2. Take Screenshots

Full page screenshot:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "options": {
    "fullPage": true,
    "type": "png"
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/screenshot?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output screenshot.png

Element screenshot:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "options": {
    "type": "png"
  },
  "selector": "h1"
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/screenshot?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output element.png

With viewport size:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "viewport": {
    "width": 1920,
    "height": 1080
  },
  "options": {
    "type": "jpeg",
    "quality": 80
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/screenshot?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output screenshot.jpg

3. Generate PDF

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "options": {
    "format": "A4",
    "printBackground": true,
    "margin": {
      "top": "1cm",
      "bottom": "1cm"
    }
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output page.pdf

4. Get Rendered HTML

Get fully rendered HTML after JavaScript execution:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "gotoOptions": {
    "waitUntil": "networkidle0"
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/content?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json

5. Execute Custom JavaScript (Click, Type, etc.)

Run Puppeteer code with full interaction support:

Click element:

Write to /tmp/browserless_function.js:

export default async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://example.com");
  await page.click("a");
  return { data: { url: page.url() }, type: "application/json" };
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/function?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" -H "Content-Type: application/javascript" -d @/tmp/browserless_function.js

Type into input:

Write to /tmp/browserless_function.js:

export default async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://duckduckgo.com");
  await page.waitForSelector("input[name=q]");
  await page.type("input[name=q]", "hello world");
  const val = await page.$eval("input[name=q]", e => e.value);
  return { data: { typed: val }, type: "application/json" };
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/function?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" -H "Content-Type: application/javascript" -d @/tmp/browserless_function.js

Form submission:

Write to /tmp/browserless_function.js:

export default async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://duckduckgo.com");
  await page.type("input[name=q]", "test query");
  await page.keyboard.press("Enter");
  await page.waitForNavigation();
  return { data: { title: await page.title() }, type: "application/json" };
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/function?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" -H "Content-Type: application/javascript" -d @/tmp/browserless_function.js

Extract data with custom script:

Write to /tmp/browserless_function.js:

export default async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://news.ycombinator.com");
  const links = await page.$$eval(".titleline > a", els => els.slice(0,5).map(a => ({title: a.innerText, url: a.href})));
  return { data: links, type: "application/json" };
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/function?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" -H "Content-Type: application/javascript" -d @/tmp/browserless_function.js

6. Unblock Protected Sites

Bypass bot detection:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "browserWSEndpoint": false,
  "cookies": false,
  "content": true,
  "screenshot": false
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/unblock?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json

7. Stealth Mode

Enable stealth mode to avoid detection:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "elements": [{"selector": "body"}]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/scrape?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)&stealth=true" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json

8. Export Page with Resources

Fetch a URL and get content in native format. Can bundle all resources (CSS, JS, images) as zip:

Basic export:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com"
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output page.html

Export with all resources as ZIP:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "includeResources": true
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/export?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json --output webpage.zip

9. Performance Audit (Lighthouse)

Run Lighthouse audits for accessibility, performance, SEO, best practices:

Full audit:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com"
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/performance?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json | jq '.data.categories | to_entries[] | {category: .key, score: .value.score}'

Specific category (accessibility, performance, seo, best-practices, pwa):

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "config": {
    "extends": "lighthouse:default",
    "settings": {
      "onlyCategories": ["performance"]
    }
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/performance?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json | jq '.data.audits | to_entries[:5][] | {audit: .key, score: .value.score, display: .value.displayValue}'

Specific audit (e.g., unminified-css, first-contentful-paint):

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "config": {
    "extends": "lighthouse:default",
    "settings": {
      "onlyAudits": ["first-contentful-paint", "largest-contentful-paint"]
    }
  }
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/performance?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json | jq '.data.audits'

10. Create Persistent Session

Create a persistent browser session that can be connected to via WebSocket:

Write to /tmp/browserless_request.json:

{
  "ttl": 300000,
  "stealth": false,
  "headless": true
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/session?token=$(printenv BROWSERLESS_TOKEN)" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/browserless_request.json

Response includes:

• id - Session ID for subsequent operations
• connect - WebSocket URL for Puppeteer/Playwright connection
• stop - Full URL to stop/delete the session (use this exact URL)
• browserQL - BrowserQL query endpoint
• ttl - Time-to-live in milliseconds (default: 300000 = 5 minutes)

Use the session with Puppeteer:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer-core');
const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: '<connect-url-from-response>' // Use the 'connect' URL from response
});

11. Stop Persistent Session

Stop a running session before its timeout expires using the stop URL from the creation response:

curl -s -X DELETE "<stop-url-from-response>"

Example (replace <stop-url-from-response> with the actual stop URL from session creation):

curl -s -X DELETE "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/e/<encoded-path>/session/<session-id>?token=<your-token>"

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Session <session-id> was successfully removed",
  "sessionId": "<session-id>",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-01T07:41:36.933Z"
}

API Endpoints

Common Options

gotoOptions

Control page navigation:

{
  "gotoOptions": {
  "waitUntil": "networkidle2",
  "timeout": 30000
  }
}

waitUntil values:

• load - Wait for load event
• domcontentloaded - Wait for DOMContentLoaded
• networkidle0 - No network connections for 500ms
• networkidle2 - Max 2 network connections for 500ms

waitFor Options

{
  "waitForTimeout": 1000,
  "waitForSelector": {"selector": ".loaded", "timeout": 5000},
  "waitForFunction": {"fn": "() => document.ready", "timeout": 5000}
}

Viewport

{
  "viewport": {
  "width": 1920,
  "height": 1080,
  "deviceScaleFactor": 2
  }
}

Query Parameters

Response Format

Scrape response:

{
  "data": [
  {
  "selector": "h1",
  "results": [
  {
  "text": "Example Domain",
  "html": "Example Domain",
  "attributes": [{"name": "class", "value": "title"}],
  "width": 400,
  "height": 50,
  "top": 100,
  "left": 50
  }
  ]
  }
  ]
}

Guidelines

1. waitUntil: Use networkidle2 for most pages, networkidle0 for SPAs
2. Timeouts: Default is 30s; increase for slow pages
3. Stealth Mode: Enable for sites with bot detection
4. Screenshots: Use jpeg with quality 80 for smaller files
5. Rate Limits: Check your plan limits at https://account.browserless.io/
6. Regions: Use region-specific endpoints for better latency:

• production-sfo.browserless.io (US West)
• production-lon.browserless.io (Europe)