--- sidebar_position: 1 --- # Puppeteer [![Build status](https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/workflows/CI/badge.svg)](https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/actions?query=workflow%3ACI) [![npm puppeteer package](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/puppeteer.svg)](https://npmjs.org/package/puppeteer) #### [Guides](https://pptr.dev/guides) | [API](https://pptr.dev/api) | [FAQ](https://pptr.dev/faq) | [Contributing](https://pptr.dev/contributing) | [Troubleshooting](https://pptr.dev/troubleshooting) > Puppeteer is a Node.js library which provides a high-level API to control > Chrome/Chromium over the > [DevTools Protocol](https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/). > Puppeteer runs in > [headless](https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome) > mode by default, but can be configured to run in full (non-headless) > Chrome/Chromium. #### What can I do? Most things that you can do manually in the browser can be done using Puppeteer! Here are a few examples to get you started: - Generate screenshots and PDFs of pages. - Crawl a SPA (Single-Page Application) and generate pre-rendered content (i.e. "SSR" (Server-Side Rendering)). - Automate form submission, UI testing, keyboard input, etc. - Create an automated testing environment using the latest JavaScript and browser features. - Capture a [timeline trace](https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/evaluate-performance/reference) of your site to help diagnose performance issues. - Test Chrome Extensions. ## Getting Started ### Installation To use Puppeteer in your project, run: ```bash npm i puppeteer # or `yarn add puppeteer` # or `pnpm i puppeteer` ``` When you install Puppeteer, it automatically downloads a recent version of Chromium (~170MB macOS, ~282MB Linux, ~280MB Windows) that is [guaranteed to work](https://pptr.dev/faq#q-why-doesnt-puppeteer-vxxx-work-with-chromium-vyyy) with Puppeteer. For a version of Puppeteer without installation, see [`puppeteer-core`](#puppeteer-core). #### Configuring Puppeteer Puppeteer uses several defaults that can be customized through configuration files. For example, to change the default cache directory Puppeteer uses to install browsers, you can add a `.puppeteerrc.cjs` (or `puppeteer.config.cjs`) at the root of your application with the contents ```js const {join} = require('path'); /** * @type {import("puppeteer").Configuration} */ module.exports = { // Changes the cache location for Puppeteer. cacheDirectory: join(__dirname, '.cache', 'puppeteer'), }; ``` After adding the configuration file, you will need to remove and reinstall `puppeteer` for it to take effect. See [Configuring Puppeteer](https://pptr.dev/guides/configuring-puppeteer) for more information. #### `puppeteer-core` Every release since v1.7.0 we publish two packages: - [`puppeteer`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/puppeteer) - [`puppeteer-core`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/puppeteer-core) `puppeteer` is a _product_ for browser automation. When installed, it downloads a version of Chromium, which it then drives using `puppeteer-core`. Being an end-user product, `puppeteer` automates several workflows using reasonable defaults [that can be customized](https://pptr.dev/guides/configuring-puppeteer). `puppeteer-core` is a _library_ to help drive anything that supports DevTools protocol. Being a library, `puppeteer-core` is fully driven through its programmatic interface implying no defaults are assumed and `puppeteer-core` will not download Chromium when installed. You should use `puppeteer-core` if you are [connecting to a remote browser](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.puppeteer.connect) or [managing browsers yourself](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.browserfetcher). If you are managing browsers yourself, you will need to call [`puppeteer.launch`](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.puppeteernode.launch) with an an explicit [`executablePath`](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.launchoptions.executablepath) (or [`channel`](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.launchoptions.channel) if it's installed in a standard location). When using `puppeteer-core`, remember to change the import: ```ts import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core'; ``` ### Usage Puppeteer follows the latest [maintenance LTS](https://github.com/nodejs/Release#release-schedule) version of Node. Puppeteer will be familiar to people using other browser testing frameworks. You [launch](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.puppeteernode.launch)/[connect](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.puppeteernode.connect) a [browser](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.browser), [create](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.browser.newpage) some [pages](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.page), and then manipulate them with [Puppeteer's API](https://pptr.dev/api). For more in-depth usage, check our [guides](https://pptr.dev/guides) and [examples](https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/tree/main/examples). #### Example The following example searches [developers.google.com/web](https://developers.google.com/web) for articles tagged "Headless Chrome" and scrape results from the results page. ```ts import puppeteer from 'puppeteer'; (async () => { const browser = await puppeteer.launch(); const page = await browser.newPage(); await page.goto('https://developers.google.com/web/'); // Type into search box. await page.type('.devsite-search-field', 'Headless Chrome'); // Wait for suggest overlay to appear and click "show all results". const allResultsSelector = '.devsite-suggest-all-results'; await page.waitForSelector(allResultsSelector); await page.click(allResultsSelector); // Wait for the results page to load and display the results. const resultsSelector = '.gsc-results .gs-title'; await page.waitForSelector(resultsSelector); // Extract the results from the page. const links = await page.evaluate(resultsSelector => { return [...document.querySelectorAll(resultsSelector)].map(anchor => { const title = anchor.textContent.split('|')[0].trim(); return `${title} - ${anchor.href}`; }); }, resultsSelector); // Print all the files. console.log(links.join('\n')); await browser.close(); })(); ``` ### Default runtime settings **1. Uses Headless mode** Puppeteer launches Chromium in [headless mode](https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome). To launch a full version of Chromium, set the [`headless`](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.browserlaunchargumentoptions.headless) option when launching a browser: ```ts const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless: false}); // default is true ``` **2. Runs a bundled version of Chromium** By default, Puppeteer downloads and uses a specific version of Chromium so its API is guaranteed to work out of the box. To use Puppeteer with a different version of Chrome or Chromium, pass in the executable's path when creating a `Browser` instance: ```ts const browser = await puppeteer.launch({executablePath: '/path/to/Chrome'}); ``` You can also use Puppeteer with Firefox Nightly (experimental support). See [`Puppeteer.launch`](https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.puppeteernode.launch) for more information. See [`this article`](https://www.howtogeek.com/202825/what%E2%80%99s-the-difference-between-chromium-and-chrome/) for a description of the differences between Chromium and Chrome. [`This article`](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/refs/heads/main/docs/chromium_browser_vs_google_chrome.md) describes some differences for Linux users. **3. Creates a fresh user profile** Puppeteer creates its own browser user profile which it **cleans up on every run**. #### Using Docker See our [guide on using Docker](https://pptr.dev/guides/docker). #### Using Chrome Extensions See our [guide on using Chrome extensions](https://pptr.dev/guides/chrome-extensions). ## Resources - [API Documentation](https://pptr.dev/api) - [Guides](https://pptr.dev/guides) - [Examples](https://github.com/puppeteer/puppeteer/tree/main/examples) - [Community list of Puppeteer resources](https://github.com/transitive-bullshit/awesome-puppeteer) ## Contributing Check out our [contributing guide](https://pptr.dev/contributing) to get an overview of Puppeteer development. ## FAQ Our [FAQ](https://pptr.dev/faq) has migrated to [our site](https://pptr.dev/faq).