@puppeteer/browsers

What is @puppeteer/browsers?

@puppeteer/browsers is a package that provides tools for managing browser binaries for Puppeteer. It allows you to download, install, and manage different versions of browsers like Chrome and Firefox, which can be used with Puppeteer for web scraping, automated testing, and other browser automation tasks.

What are @puppeteer/browsers's main functionalities?

Download a specific browser version

This feature allows you to download a specific version of a browser. In this example, it downloads Chrome version 91.0.4472.124.

const { downloadBrowser } = require('@puppeteer/browsers');

(async () => {
  await downloadBrowser('chrome', '91.0.4472.124');
})();

List available browser versions

This feature lists all available versions of a specified browser. In this example, it lists all available versions of Chrome.

const { listBrowserVersions } = require('@puppeteer/browsers');

(async () => {
  const versions = await listBrowserVersions('chrome');
  console.log(versions);
})();

Install a browser

This feature installs a specified version of a browser. In this example, it installs Firefox version 89.0.

const { installBrowser } = require('@puppeteer/browsers');

(async () => {
  await installBrowser('firefox', '89.0');
})();

Other packages similar to @puppeteer/browsers

puppeteer

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools Protocol. While @puppeteer/browsers focuses on managing browser binaries, Puppeteer itself is used for browser automation tasks such as web scraping and automated testing.

playwright

Playwright is a Node library to automate Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API. It provides similar functionalities to Puppeteer but supports more browsers. Playwright also includes tools for managing browser binaries, making it a comprehensive alternative to @puppeteer/browsers.

selenium-webdriver

Selenium WebDriver is a tool for automating web application testing, and it supports multiple browsers. Selenium WebDriver can manage browser binaries through WebDriverManager, which provides similar functionalities to @puppeteer/browsers.

README

@puppeteer/browsers

Manage and launch browsers/drivers from a CLI or programmatically.

CLI

Use npx to run the CLI:

# This will install and run the @puppeteer/browsers package.
# If it is already installed in the current directory, the installed
# version will be used.
npx @puppeteer/browsers --help

Built-in per-command help will provide all documentation you need to use the CLI.

npx @puppeteer/browsers --help # help for all commands
npx @puppeteer/browsers install --help # help for the install command
npx @puppeteer/browsers launch --help # help for the launch command
npx @puppeteer/browsers clear --help # help for the clear command
npx @puppeteer/browsers list --help # help for the list command

You can specify the version of the @puppeteer/browsers when using npx:

# Always install and use the latest version from the registry.
npx @puppeteer/browsers@latest --help
# Always use a specifc version.
npx @puppeteer/browsers@2.4.1 --help
# Always install the latest version and automatically confirm the installation.
npx --yes @puppeteer/browsers@latest --help

To clear all installed browsers, use the clear command:

npx @puppeteer/browsers clear

To list all installed browsers, use the list command:

npx @puppeteer/browsers list

Some example to give an idea of what the CLI looks like (use the --help command for more examples):

# Download the latest available Chrome for Testing binary corresponding to the Stable channel.
npx @puppeteer/browsers install chrome@stable

# Download a specific Chrome for Testing version.
npx @puppeteer/browsers install chrome@116.0.5793.0

# Download the latest Chrome for Testing version for the given milestone.
npx @puppeteer/browsers install chrome@117

# Download the latest available ChromeDriver version corresponding to the Canary channel.
npx @puppeteer/browsers install chromedriver@canary

# Download a specific ChromeDriver version.
npx @puppeteer/browsers install chromedriver@116.0.5793.0

# On Ubuntu/Debian and only for Chrome, install the browser and required system dependencies.
# If the browser version has already been installed, the command
# will still attempt to install system dependencies.
# Requires root privileges.
npx puppeteer browsers install chrome --install-deps

Known limitations

1. Launching the system browsers is only possible for Chrome/Chromium.

API

The programmatic API allows installing and launching browsers from your code. See the test folder for examples on how to use the install, canInstall, launch, computeExecutablePath, computeSystemExecutablePath and other methods.