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Headless browser
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<h2 id="use-cases">Use cases</h2> <p>The main use cases for headless browsers are: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Test_automation/UAVXbSTV">Test automation</a> in modern <a href="/facts/Web_application/BLkF3BIN">web applications</a> (<a href="/facts/Web_testing/GPggbW6W">web testing</a>)</li> <li>Taking screenshots of web pages.</li> <li>Running automated tests for JavaScript libraries.</li> <li>Automating interaction of web pages.</li></ul> <h3>Other uses</h3> <p>Headless browsers are also useful for <a href="/facts/Web_scraping/5R4mf1bd">web scraping</a>. <a href="/facts/Google/GT9Sugza">Google</a> stated in 2009 that using a headless browser could help their search engine index content from websites that use Ajax.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p><p>Headless browsers have also been misused in various ways: </p> <ul><li>Perform <a href="/facts/DDoS/6nkoK02J">DDoS</a> attacks on web sites.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li> <li>Increase advertisement impressions.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li> <li>Automate web sites in unintended ways<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> e.g. for <a href="/facts/Credential_stuffing/HMYHmojg">credential stuffing</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a></li></ul> <p>However, a study of browser traffic in 2018 found no preference by malicious actors for headless browsers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> There is no indication that headless browsers are used more frequently than non-headless browsers for malicious purposes, like DDoS attacks, <a href="/facts/SQL_injection/QD0cwbk5">SQL injections</a> or <a href="/facts/Cross-site_scripting/dhtusKKm">cross-site scripting</a> attacks. </p> <h2 id="usage">Usage</h2> <p>As several major browsers natively support headless mode through <a href="/facts/API/GMlN4vUr">APIs</a>, some software exists to perform browser automation through a unified interface. These include: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Selenium_(software)/ebewybjJ">Selenium WebDriver</a> - a <a href="/facts/W3C/lGWmhF6M">W3C</a> compliant implementation of WebDriver<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Playwright_(software)/2bwTRyre">Playwright</a> - a <a href="/facts/Node.js/FKzhV4Qa">Node.js</a> library to automate Chromium, Firefox and WebKit<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a></li> <li>Puppeteer - a <a href="/facts/Node.js/FKzhV4Qa">Node.js</a> library to automate Chrome<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a></li></ul> <h3>Test automation</h3> <p>Some <a href="/facts/Test_automation/UAVXbSTV">test automation software</a> and frameworks include headless browsers as part of their testing apparati.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Capybara_(software)/GA25ugLP">Capybara</a> uses headless browsing, either via <a href="/facts/WebKit/YrP9vbIj">WebKit</a> or Headless Chrome to mimic user behavior in its testing protocols.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Jasmine_(JavaScript_testing_framework)/pLMqGCxk">Jasmine</a> uses Selenium by default, but can use WebKit or Headless Chrome, to run browser tests.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Cypress_(software)/WVtd01LK">Cypress</a>, a frontend testing framework</li> <li><a href="/facts/QF-Test/8lETpjlw">QF-Test</a>, a software tool for automated testing of programs via the graphical user interface where a headless browser can also be used for testing.</li></ul> <h3>Alternatives</h3> <p>Another approach is to use software that provides browser APIs. For example, <a href="/facts/Deno_(software)/m1xyHIPE">Deno</a> provides browser APIs as part of its design. For <a href="/facts/Node.js/FKzhV4Qa">Node.js</a>, jsdom<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> is the most complete provider. While most are able to support common browser features (HTML parsing, <a href="/facts/HTTP_cookie/o1laXyng">cookies</a>, <a href="/facts/XMLHttpRequest/3FHofhdx">XHR</a>, some JavaScript, etc.), they do not <a href="/facts/Rendering_(computer_graphics)/YYxfnmAq">render</a> the <a href="/facts/Document_Object_Model/GglE6jGx">DOM</a> and have limited support for <a href="/facts/DOM_events/1KoczpWr">DOM events</a>. They usually perform faster than full browsers, but are unable to correctly interpret many popular websites.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> </p><p>Another is <a href="/facts/HtmlUnit/sf9kHVLK">HtmlUnit</a>, a headless browser written in Java. HtmlUnit uses the <a href="/facts/Rhino_(JavaScript_engine)/yNRIqPeo">Rhino engine</a> to provide JavaScript and Ajax support as well as partial rendering capability.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="list-of-headless-browsers">List of headless browsers</h2> <p>These are various software that provide headless browser APIs. </p> <ul><li>Splash is a headless web browser written in <a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a> using the <a href="/facts/WebKit/YrP9vbIj">WebKit</a> layout engine via <a href="/facts/Qt_(framework)/gVhwlQnJ">Qt</a>. It has an HTTP API, <a href="/facts/Lua_(programming_language)/xkBCgta0">Lua</a> scripting support and a built-in <a href="/facts/IPython/PsAdpgxU">IPython</a> (Jupyter)-based IDE. Development started at ScrapingHub in 2013; it is partially funded by <a href="/facts/DARPA/Uf9sarhT">DARPA</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a></li> <li>Zombie.js is a simulated browser environment for <a href="/facts/Node.js/FKzhV4Qa">Node.js</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27"><sup>27</sup></a></li> <li>SimpleBrowser is a headless web browser written in C# supporting .NET Standard 2.0<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28"><sup>28</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/DotNetBrowser/g5HRBkXg">DotNetBrowser</a> is a proprietary .NET Chromium-based library that provides the off-screen rendering mode and can be used without embedding or displaying windows.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29"><sup>29</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30"><sup>30</sup></a></li></ul> <p>Another noted earlier effort was envjs in 2008 from <a href="/facts/John_Resig/ah1asIhj">John Resig</a>, which was a simulated browser environment written in JavaScript for the <a href="/facts/Rhino_(JavaScript_engine)/yNRIqPeo">Rhino engine</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31"><sup>31</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Headless_computer/p6MAkkou">Headless computer</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"What is a headless browser?". arhg.net. 7 October 2009. <a href="http://blog.arhg.net/2009/10/what-is-headless-browser.html" target="_blank">http://blog.arhg.net/2009/10/what-is-headless-browser.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Getting Started with Headless Chrome". developers.google.com. 27 April 2017. <a href="https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome" target="_blank">https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Bekerman, Dima (2018-11-28). "Headless Chrome: DevOps Love It, So Do Hackers, Here's Why | Imperva". Blog. Retrieved 2021-02-22. <a href="https://www.imperva.com/blog/headless-chrome-devops-love-it-so-do-hackers-heres-why/" target="_blank">https://www.imperva.com/blog/headless-chrome-devops-love-it-so-do-hackers-heres-why/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Firefox 56 release notes". developer.mozilla.org. 26 February 2023. <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Releases/56#Other" target="_blank">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Releases/56#Other</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Headless mode - browser support". developer.mozilla.org. Archived from the original on 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2017-08-31. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180603191617/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Headless_mode#Browser_support" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20180603191617/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox/Headless_mode#Browser_support</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Quick Start". phantomjs.org. <a href="http://phantomjs.org/quick-start.html" target="_blank">http://phantomjs.org/quick-start.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Mueller, John (2009-10-07). "Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: A proposal for making AJAX crawlable". Official Google Webmaster Central Blog. <a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/proposal-for-making-ajax-crawlable.html" target="_blank">http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/proposal-for-making-ajax-crawlable.html</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Rawlings, Matt (2013-11-20). "Headless Browser Botnet Used in 150 hour DDoS attack". Business 2 Community. <a href="http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/headless-browser-botnet-used-150-hour-ddos-attack-0688767" target="_blank">http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/headless-browser-botnet-used-150-hour-ddos-attack-0688767</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Mello Jr., John P. (2014-03-25). "Headless Web Traffic Threatens Internet Economy". ecommercetimes.com. <a href="http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/80194.html" target="_blank">http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/80194.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Raywood, Dan (2014-04-01). "Headless browsers: legitimate software that enables attack". ITProPortal. <a href="http://www.itproportal.com/2014/04/01/headless-browsers-legitimate-software-enables-attack/" target="_blank">http://www.itproportal.com/2014/04/01/headless-browsers-legitimate-software-enables-attack/</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Mueller, Neal. "Credential stuffing". owasp.org. <a href="https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Credential_stuffing" target="_blank">https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Credential_stuffing</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Bekerman, Dima (2018-11-28). 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