browser

name	browser
description	Browser automation with Playwright. Use for screenshots, web scraping, form filling, and visual verification of web apps.

Browser Automation (Playwright)

Use Python Playwright for browser automation. Chromium is pre-installed.

Quick Examples

Take a Screenshot

python3 -c "
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page(viewport={'width': 1280, 'height': 720})
    page.goto('https://example.com', wait_until='networkidle', timeout=30000)
    page.screenshot(path='screenshot.png')
    browser.close()
    print('Screenshot saved to screenshot.png')
"

Screenshot a Local App

python3 -c "
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page(viewport={'width': 1280, 'height': 720})
    page.goto('http://localhost:8000', wait_until='networkidle', timeout=30000)
    page.screenshot(path='app_screenshot.png', full_page=True)
    browser.close()
    print('Screenshot saved to app_screenshot.png')
"

Extract Text from Page

python3 -c "
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', wait_until='networkidle')
    text = page.inner_text('body')
    print(text)
    browser.close()
"

Fill a Form

python3 -c "
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/login')
    page.fill('input[name=\"username\"]', 'myuser')
    page.fill('input[name=\"password\"]', 'mypass')
    page.click('button[type=\"submit\"]')
    page.wait_for_load_state('networkidle')
    page.screenshot(path='after_login.png')
    browser.close()
"

Click and Navigate

python3 -c "
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')
    page.click('a:has-text(\"More information\")')
    page.wait_for_load_state('networkidle')
    print('Navigated to:', page.url)
    page.screenshot(path='after_click.png')
    browser.close()
"

Common Selectors

Selector	Description
#id	Element by ID
.class	Element by class
button	Element by tag
[name="field"]	Element by attribute
a:has-text("Click")	Link with text
input[type="submit"]	Input by type
form >> input	Nested element

Tips

• Always use headless=True - No physical display available
• Set viewport size for consistent screenshots: viewport={'width': 1280, 'height': 720}
• Use wait_until='networkidle' to wait for page to fully load
• Use full_page=True in screenshot() for long pages
• Save screenshots to workspace - They'll be accessible on the host

Debugging

If browser fails to launch:

# Check Xvfb is running
pgrep Xvfb

# Check DISPLAY is set
echo $DISPLAY  # Should be :99

# Check Playwright browsers
python3 -c "from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright; print('OK')"