node-red-contrib-playwright-automation
Advanced tools
Node-RED nodes for browser automation with Playwright
A collection of Node-RED nodes for web automation using Playwright. This package includes nodes for capturing website screenshots and generating PDFs directly from your Node-RED flows.
~/.node-red):npm install node-red-contrib-playwright-automation
# Install Playwright
pip install playwright
# Install browser binaries
python -m playwright install
Capture full-page screenshots of websites.
msg.payloadmsg.payload if the screenshot failsGenerate PDFs from web pages with customizable options.
{"top": "1cm", "right": "1cm", "bottom": "1cm", "left": "1cm"})msg propertiesmsg.url, msg.format, msg.margin, etc.msg.payloadmsg.payload if PDF generation fails// Convert base64 to data URL
msg.payload = {
topic: 'Screenshot',
payload: `data:image/jpeg;base64,${msg.payload}`
};
return msg;
pdfs/{{payload.title || 'document'}}.pdfpdfs directory existsTo serve a PDF as a download:
// Convert base64 to buffer
msg.payload = Buffer.from(msg.payload, 'base64');
msg.headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/pdf',
'Content-Disposition': 'attachment; filename=document.pdf'
};
return msg;
For better dependency management, it's recommended to use a Python virtual environment:
Create and activate a virtual environment:
# Create
python -m venv venv
# Activate (Windows)
.\venv\Scripts\activate
# Or activate (macOS/Linux)
# source venv/bin/activate
Install Playwright:
pip install playwright
python -m playwright install
python -m playwright install-deps # Install system dependencies (Linux only)
Use the virtual environment in Node-RED:
./venv (relative to your Node-RED user directory) or /path/to/venv (absolute path)If you're using Docker, you'll need to ensure the container has all required dependencies:
# Example Dockerfile for Node-RED with Playwright
FROM nodered/node-red:latest
# Install Python and Playwright dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
python3 \
python3-pip \
&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
# Install Playwright and browsers
RUN pip3 install playwright \
&& playwright install \
&& playwright install-deps
# Copy your Node-RED project files
COPY . /data
# Install Node-RED dependencies
RUN cd /data && npm install
For the PDF node, you can use the following special classes in your header/footer templates:
date: The current datetitle: The page titleurl: The page URLpageNumber: Current page numbertotalPages: Total number of pagesExample footer template:
<div style="font-size: 10px; margin: 0 1cm; text-align: center; width: 100%;">
Page <span class="pageNumber"></span> of <span class="totalPages"></span>
</div>
Browser not found
python -m playwright installpython -m playwright install-depsScreenshot/PDF generation fails
Python not found
PDF generation errors
settings.js:
logging: {
console: {
level: "debug"
}
}
python -c "import playwright; print('Playwright version:', playwright.__version__)"
python -m playwright install
python -m playwright install-deps # Linux only
To contribute to this project:
npm install
Install test dependencies:
npm install -D node-red-node-test-helper
Run tests:
npm test
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
If you find this project useful, please consider giving it a ⭐️ on GitHub!
MIT - See LICENSE for more information.
For support, please open an issue on GitHub.
Browser doesn't start:
python -m playwright installElement not found:
page.wait_for_selector() before interacting with elementsTimeout errors:
page.wait_for_selector(..., timeout=10000)Docker issues:
def main(msg):
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto('https://example.com')
# Take a screenshot
screenshot = page.screenshot(type='png')
browser.close()
msg.payload = {
'screenshot': f"data:image/png;base64,{screenshot.decode('latin1')}",
'timestamp': str(datetime.utcnow())
}
return msg
Resource Management:
with statements) when possibleError Handling:
Performance:
Security:
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
This node configures a Playwright browser instance.
This node performs browser automation actions.
Navigate to URL
msg.url or msg.payload as the URLClick Element
Fill Form
Take Screenshot
Evaluate JavaScript
msg.payloadhttps://example.com)browser property with a Playwright browser instanceurl in the message to navigate before taking the screenshotmsg.screenshot as a base64-encoded data URLExample message to the node:
{
"browser": browserInstance, // From Playwright browser launch
"url": "https://example.com", // Optional: URL to navigate to
"payload": {
// Your custom data
}
}
Output message will include:
{
"screenshot": "data:image/png;base64,...", // Base64 encoded image
"screenshotTakenAt": "2025-06-21T10:42:33.123Z",
"payload": {
// Your original payload with additional processing
"processedAt": "2025-06-21T10:42:33.123Z"
}
}
To display the screenshot in the Node-RED Dashboard:
<div ng-if="msg.screenshot">
<h3>Screenshot taken at {{msg.screenshotTakenAt}}</h3>
<img ng-src="{{msg.screenshot}}" style="max-width: 100%;">
</div>
## Message Properties
### Input
- `msg.url`: URL to navigate to (for "navigate" action)
- `msg.selector`: CSS selector (for "click" and "fill" actions)
- `msg.value`: Value to fill (for "fill" action)
- `msg.payload`: Can be used as URL or value depending on the action
### Output
- `msg.payload`: Contains screenshot buffer (for "screenshot" action) or evaluation result (for "evaluate" action)
- `msg.screenshot`: Alternative property containing screenshot buffer
- `msg.page`: Reference to the Playwright Page object (advanced usage)
## Advanced Usage
### Screenshot Options
- **Take Screenshot**: Enable/disable screenshot functionality
- **Screenshot Delay**: Time to wait (in milliseconds) before taking the screenshot
- **Require Browser Instance**: When enabled, the node will only take screenshots if a browser instance is provided in the message. When disabled, the node will attempt to create a new browser instance if needed.
### Accessing Playwright API
You can access the Playwright Page object directly in function nodes:
```javascript
const page = msg._browserPage; // Available after any Playwright Automation node
// Use any Playwright Page API
const title = await page.title();
msg.payload = { title };
return msg;
// In a function node before navigation
msg._playwrightAuth = {
username: 'user',
password: 'pass',
url: 'https://example.com/login'
};
return msg;
npx playwright install.This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
FAQs
Node-RED nodes for browser automation with Playwright
We found that node-red-contrib-playwright-automation demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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