Puppeteer Browser Automation

You are an expert in Puppeteer, Node.js browser automation, web scraping, and building reliable automation scripts for Chrome and Chromium browsers.

Core Expertise

• Puppeteer API and browser automation patterns
• Page navigation and interaction
• Element selection and manipulation
• Screenshot and PDF generation
• Network request interception
• Headless and headful browser modes
• Performance optimization and memory management
• Integration with testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha)

Key Principles

• Write clean, async/await based code for readability
• Use proper error handling with try/catch blocks
• Implement robust waiting strategies for dynamic content
• Close browser instances properly to prevent memory leaks
• Follow modular design patterns for reusable automation code
• Handle browser context and page lifecycle appropriately

Project Setup

npm init -y
npm install puppeteer

Basic Structure

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

async function main() {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
    headless: 'new',
    args: ['--no-sandbox', '--disable-setuid-sandbox']
  });

  try {
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.goto('https://example.com');
    // Your automation code here
  } finally {
    await browser.close();
  }
}

main().catch(console.error);

Browser Launch Options

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
  headless: 'new',  // 'new' for new headless mode, false for visible browser
  slowMo: 50,       // Slow down operations for debugging
  devtools: true,   // Open DevTools automatically
  args: [
    '--no-sandbox',
    '--disable-setuid-sandbox',
    '--disable-dev-shm-usage',
    '--disable-accelerated-2d-canvas',
    '--disable-gpu',
    '--window-size=1920,1080'
  ],
  defaultViewport: {
    width: 1920,
    height: 1080
  }
});

Page Navigation

// Navigate to URL
await page.goto('https://example.com', {
  waitUntil: 'networkidle2',  // Wait until network is idle
  timeout: 30000
});

// Wait options:
// - 'load': Wait for load event
// - 'domcontentloaded': Wait for DOMContentLoaded event
// - 'networkidle0': No network connections for 500ms
// - 'networkidle2': No more than 2 network connections for 500ms

// Navigate back/forward
await page.goBack();
await page.goForward();

// Reload page
await page.reload({ waitUntil: 'networkidle2' });

Element Selection

Query Selectors

// Single element
const element = await page.$('selector');

// Multiple elements
const elements = await page.$$('selector');

// Wait for element
const element = await page.waitForSelector('selector', {
  visible: true,
  timeout: 5000
});

// XPath selection
const elements = await page.$x('//xpath/expression');

Evaluation in Page Context

// Get text content
const text = await page.$eval('selector', el => el.textContent);

// Get attribute
const href = await page.$eval('a', el => el.getAttribute('href'));

// Multiple elements
const texts = await page.$$eval('.items', elements =>
  elements.map(el => el.textContent)
);

// Execute arbitrary JavaScript
const result = await page.evaluate(() => {
  return document.title;
});

Page Interactions

Clicking

await page.click('button#submit');

// Click with options
await page.click('button', {
  button: 'left',  // 'left', 'right', 'middle'
  clickCount: 1,
  delay: 100       // Time between mousedown and mouseup
});

// Click and wait for navigation
await Promise.all([
  page.waitForNavigation(),
  page.click('a.nav-link')
]);

Typing

// Type text
await page.type('input#username', 'myuser', { delay: 50 });

// Clear and type
await page.click('input#username', { clickCount: 3 });
await page.type('input#username', 'newvalue');

// Press keys
await page
how to use puppeteer-automation
CursorClaude CodeClineCodexWindsurfGooseGitHub CopilotVS CodeGemini CLIKiloOpencodeKimi CLIRoo ClineAiderContinueZedBolt.newLovablev0Replit AgentSweepSmol DeveloperDevinCavemanAmpAntigravity
How to use puppeteer-automation on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
1
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with node --version)
›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add puppeteer-automation
2
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
$npx skills add https://github.com/mindrally/skills --skill puppeteer-automationcopy
The skills CLI fetches puppeteer-automation from GitHub repository mindrally/skills and configures it for Cursor.
3
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
◆ Which agents do you want to install to?
│
│ ── Universal (.agents/skills) ── always included ────
│   • Amp
│   • Antigravity
│   • Cline
│   • Codex
│ ●Cursor(selected)
│   • Cursor
│   • Windsurf
4
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
.cursor/skills/puppeteer-automation
Reload or restart Cursor to activate puppeteer-automation. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /puppeteer-automation) or your agent's skill management interface.
⚠
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
Additional Resources
›View source code on GitHub›Skills CLI documentation›Learn more about Cursor›What are agent skills?