# browserless/browserless

Deploy headless browsers in Docker. Run on our cloud or bring your own. Free for non-commercial uses.

Repository: https://github.com/browserless/browserless
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/browserless
Homepage: https://browserless.io
Language: TypeScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: docker, chrome, puppeteer, browserless, firefox, nodejs, playwright, typescript, webkit, websocket
Last push: 2026-08-25T05:44:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3211, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 13, "gap_med": 3, "n_releases_24m": 16}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 13634, forks 1032 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:04.443571+00:00)

## What it is
Browserless is a platform for deploying and managing headless browsers (Chrome, Firefox, WebKit) in Docker, usable self-hosted or via their cloud service. It exposes browsers over WebSocket and HTTP APIs compatible with Puppeteer and Playwright, plus an MCP server and browser-agent endpoints for AI agents.

## Use cases
- run puppeteer scripts against a managed headless chrome pool
- self-host headless browsers in docker for web scraping
- take screenshots and generate PDFs from web pages via an API
- give AI agents a real browser with stealth and captcha solving
- run headless browser tests and lighthouse audits at scale
- connect playwright to a remote browser over websocket
- scrape websites without getting blocked using residential proxies

## When to choose
- you need scalable headless browser infrastructure without managing chrome crashes, memory leaks, or zombie processes
- you want puppeteer/playwright compatibility with a hosted or dockerized browser pool
- you need anti-bot features like stealth mode, captcha solving, and proxies for scraping
- you want to give LLM agents browser access via MCP or REST agent endpoints

## When to avoid
- you only need simple HTTP fetching without JavaScript rendering
- you require a fully permissive open-source license for commercial self-hosting (license is source-available with non-commercial free use)
- you need deep customization of the browser binary beyond what the container exposes
- you want a lightweight local automation setup where running puppeteer directly is simpler

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, websocket, mcp, sdk
- domain: web-development, crawlers, developer-tools
- platform: self-hosted, cloud
- tags: headless-browser, puppeteer, playwright, chrome, firefox, webkit, browser-automation, web-scraping, screenshots, pdf-generation, captcha-solving, stealth-mode, browser-pool, automation, ai-agents, docker, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- browserless/browserless (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:04.443571+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:13:08.968825+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/browserless/browserless (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:04.443571+00:00, sha 8eb2a45fa4ee)
  - homepage: https://browserless.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.478815+00:00, sha 32b1585d9af3)
  - site_page: https://www.browserless.io/feature/enterprise-features (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.488661+00:00, sha 2be83dfbc628)
  - site_page: https://www.browserless.io/about (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.490517+00:00, sha 67d76035c473)
  - site_page: https://docs.browserless.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.493943+00:00, sha e7797a275395)
  - site_page: https://docs.browserless.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.496328+00:00, sha e7797a275395)
  - site_page: https://www.browserless.io/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.492203+00:00, sha 134479d520ad)
  - site_page: https://www.browserless.io/changelog (fetched 2026-08-29T08:08:09.498791+00:00, sha 56dcd44397c7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.