Puppeteer is a Node.js library developed by Google that provides a high-level API to control Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools Protocol. It allows developers to automate browser actions, generate screenshots and PDFs, crawl websites, and perform end-to-end testing of web applications.

Pros

• Powerful automation capabilities for web scraping, testing, and generating PDFs/screenshots
• Headless mode support for faster execution and server-side usage
• Extensive API with good documentation and active community support
• Built and maintained by Google, ensuring reliability and regular updates

Cons

• Can be resource-intensive, especially when running multiple instances
• Learning curve for developers new to browser automation
• Limited cross-browser support (primarily focused on Chrome/Chromium)
• May require additional setup for certain use cases (e.g., running in Docker containers)

Code Examples

1. Navigating to a website and taking a screenshot:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  await page.screenshot({ path: 'example.png' });
  await browser.close();
})();

2. Extracting data from a web page:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  
  const title = await page.title();
  const text = await page.$eval('body', el => el.textContent);
  
  console.log(`Title: ${title}`);
  console.log(`Text content: ${text}`);
  
  await browser.close();
})();

3. Filling out and submitting a form:

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com/form');
  
  await page.type('#username', 'myusername');
  await page.type('#password', 'mypassword');
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  
  await page.waitForNavigation();
  console.log('Form submitted successfully');
  
  await browser.close();
})();

Getting Started

To get started with Puppeteer, follow these steps:

1. Install Puppeteer in your Node.js project:

   npm install puppeteer
   

2. Create a new JavaScript file (e.g., script.js) and add the following code:

   const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
   
   (async () => {
     const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
     const page = await browser.newPage();
     await page.goto('https://example.com');
     console.log('Page title:', await page.title());
     await browser.close();
   })();
   

3. Run the script using Node.js:

   node script.js
   

This basic example demonstrates how to launch a browser, navigate to a website, retrieve the page title, and close the browser.