Bright Data Scraping Browser

Overview

Use Bright Data's Scraping Browser to scrape JavaScript-rendered pages. The Scraping Browser works like a regular Playwright/Puppeteer browser but routes through Bright Data's proxy infrastructure with built-in CAPTCHA solving, fingerprint management, and automatic retries.

Prerequisites

• Completed brightdata-install-auth setup
• Scraping Browser zone active in Bright Data control panel
• Playwright or Puppeteer installed

Instructions

Step 1: Install Playwright

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

Step 2: Connect to Scraping Browser with Playwright

// scraping-browser.ts
import { chromium } from 'playwright';
import 'dotenv/config';

const { BRIGHTDATA_CUSTOMER_ID, BRIGHTDATA_ZONE, BRIGHTDATA_ZONE_PASSWORD } = process.env;

const AUTH = `brd-customer-${BRIGHTDATA_CUSTOMER_ID}-zone-${BRIGHTDATA_ZONE}:${BRIGHTDATA_ZONE_PASSWORD}`;
const BROWSER_WS = `wss://${AUTH}@brd.superproxy.io:9222`;

async function scrapWithBrowser(url: string) {
  console.log('Connecting to Scraping Browser...');
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(BROWSER_WS);

  try {
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded', timeout: 60000 });

    // Wait for dynamic content to load
    await page.waitForSelector('body', { timeout: 30000 });

    // Extract structured data
    const data = await page.evaluate(() => ({
      title: document.title,
      metaDescription: document.querySelector('meta[name="description"]')?.getAttribute('content') || '',
      h1: document.querySelector('h1')?.textContent?.trim() || '',
      links: Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('a[href]')).slice(0, 20).map(a => ({
        text: a.textContent?.trim(),
        href: a.getAttribute('href'),
      })),
    }));

    console.log('Scraped data:', JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
    return data;
  } finally {
    await browser.close();
  }
}

scrapWithBrowser('https://example.com').catch(console.error);

Step 3: Scrape Dynamic Product Listings

// scrape-products.ts — real-world example
import { chromium, Page } from 'playwright';
import 'dotenv/config';

interface Product {
  name: string;
  price: string;
  rating: string;
  url: string;
}

const AUTH = `brd-customer-${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_CUSTOMER_ID}-zone-${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_ZONE}:${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_ZONE_PASSWORD}`;

async function scrapeProducts(searchUrl: string): Promise<Product[]> {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(`wss://${AUTH}@brd.superproxy.io:9222`);
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  try {
    await page.goto(searchUrl, { waitUntil: 'networkidle', timeout: 90000 });

    // Scroll to trigger lazy-loaded content
    await autoScroll(page);

    const products = await page.evaluate(() => {
      return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('[data-testid="product-card"]')).map(card => ({
        name: card.querySelector('.product-title')?.textContent?.trim() || '',
        price: card.querySelector('.price')?.textContent?.trim() || '',
        rating: card.querySelector('.rating')?.textContent?.trim() || '',
        url: card.querySelector('a')?.getAttribute('href') || '',
      }));
    });

    return products;
  } finally {
    await browser.close();
  }
}

async function autoScroll(page: Page): Promise<void> {
  await page.evaluate(async () => {
    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
      let totalHeight = 0;
      const distance = 300;
      const timer = setInterval(() => {
        window.scrollBy(0, distance);
        totalHeight += distance;
        if (totalHeight >= document.body.scrollHeight) {
          clearInterval(timer);
          resolve();
        }
      }, 200);
    });
  });
}

Step 4: Puppeteer Alternative

// scraping-browser-puppeteer.ts
import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';

const AUTH = `brd-customer-${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_CUSTOMER_ID}-zone-${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_ZONE}:${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_ZONE_PASSWORD}`;

async function scrapeWithPuppeteer(url: string) {
  const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
    browserWSEndpoint: `wss://${AUTH}@brd.superproxy.io:9222`,
  });
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded', timeout: 60000 });
  const title = await page.title();
  console.log('Page title:', title);
  await browser.close();
}

Output

• Browser connection through Bright Data's proxy network
• Scraped structured data from JS-rendered pages
• Automatic CAPTCHA solving and fingerprint management

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
WebSocket connection failed	Wrong zone or credentials	Verify Scraping Browser zone is active
Timeout 60000ms exceeded	Slow page load	Increase timeout; use domcontentloaded instead of networkidle
Target closed	Browser disconnected	Implement retry logic; browser sessions are ephemeral
Navigation failed	Site blocked request	Scraping Browser handles this; increase timeout

Resources

• Scraping Browser Docs
• Scraping Browser Code Examples
• Playwright CDP Docs

Next Steps

For SERP API scraping, see brightdata-core-workflow-b.