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Browser Sessions

The browser() primitive launches a stealthed Chrome instance and returns a CDP WebSocket URL. Connect Playwright or Puppeteer to automate pages with anti-bot stealth active.

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How It Works

reader.browser()
    │
    ├── Spawns a dedicated Chrome process via child_process.spawn
    ├── Applies stealth flags and emulation scripts
    ├── Extracts CDP WebSocket URL
    │
    ▼
session.wsEndpoint  →  Playwright/Puppeteer connects
Each session gets its own Chrome process, spawned directly (not from the Playwright pool). This isolates sessions from scraping throughput.

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Stealth Features

Sessions apply stealth via Chrome flags and emulation scripts:
FeatureActiveMechanism
webdriver = falseYesPage.addScriptToEvaluateOnNewDocument
Navigator spoofingYesinjected at BrowserContext level
WebGL fingerprintingYesinjected at BrowserContext level
WebRTC IP maskingYesinjected at BrowserContext level
Sessions use direct Chrome spawn (the same as the scrape engine), so all stealth features are applied identically.

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Usage

import { ReaderClient } from "@vakra-dev/reader";
import { chromium } from "playwright-core";

const reader = new ReaderClient();
const session = await reader.browser({ timeoutMs: 300_000 });

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.wsEndpoint);
const context = await browser.newContext();
const page = await context.newPage();

await page.goto("https://example.com");
console.log(await page.title());

await browser.close();
await session.close();

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CLI

# Create session (standalone)
reader browser create --standalone

# With daemon running
reader browser create
reader browser list
reader browser stop <sessionId>

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Resource Usage

  • Each session uses ~300MB memory (Chrome process)
  • Sessions are isolated from the scrape/crawl pool
  • Default timeout: 5 minutes (configurable via timeoutMs)