📝 Quick Summary:

Lightpanda Browser is an open-source, headless browser designed for AI and automation tasks. It emphasizes fast execution, low memory footprint, and compatibility with tools like Playwright and Puppeteer through the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). It's intended for use cases such as AI agent development, LLM training, web scraping, and testing.

🔑 Key Takeaways

✅ Ultra-low memory footprint (9x less than Chrome)
✅ Exceptionally fast execution (11x faster than Chrome)
✅ Instant startup
✅ Compatible with Playwright and Puppeteer via CDP
✅ Cost-effective for large-scale automation

📊 Project Statistics

⭐ Stars: 7930
🍴 Forks: 178
❗ Open Issues: 62

🛠 Tech Stack

✅ Zig

Hey fellow developers! Ever wished you had a super-fast, lightweight browser specifically designed for web automation? Say hello to Lightpanda! This open-source project is a game-changer for anyone working with headless browsers, especially if you're dealing with large-scale tasks like AI agent development, LLM training, web scraping, or automated testing. Forget about the memory hog that is Chrome; Lightpanda boasts an incredibly low memory footprint – a mind-blowing 9 times less than Chrome! That's massive savings, especially when running numerous instances.

What makes Lightpanda so special? It's built for speed and efficiency. We're talking 11 times faster execution than Chrome in some benchmarks. Imagine the time you'll save! This is partly achieved through its lean architecture. It focuses on headless usage, meaning it runs without a graphical user interface, making it perfect for background tasks. It supports Javascript execution and is progressively adding support for Web APIs, making it compatible with popular automation tools like Playwright and Puppeteer. The integration with these tools is still a work in progress (WIP), but the progress is exciting!

Lightpanda's core functionality revolves around fetching and processing web pages. You can use it to fetch the content of a webpage and dump it, similar to using curl but with the added benefit of Javascript execution. Furthermore, Lightpanda includes a built-in CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) server. This allows you to connect and control it using existing Puppeteer or Playwright scripts with minimal changes. This is especially great for developers who are already familiar with these tools. No need to rewrite your existing automation scripts from scratch! Just point your automation tool to Lightpanda's CDP server and you are good to go.

But the benefits don't stop there. Lightpanda's low resource consumption translates directly to cost savings, particularly when running automation tasks on cloud servers. Imagine the reduction in your cloud bills! The instant startup time further enhances productivity, letting you get started with your automation tasks immediately. While still in beta, the project is actively developed and updated, promising an even more robust and feature-rich browser in the future.

Installation is straightforward. Nightly builds are available for Linux and MacOS, and the project provides clear instructions on how to get up and running in minutes. The project's documentation provides a simple guide to fetch a URL, start the CDP server, and connect to it using puppeteer. The team behind Lightpanda is actively working on improving compatibility with various websites and adding more Web APIs. Give it a try and see how much faster and more efficiently you can run your web automation tasks!

📚 Learn More

View the Project on GitHub

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Lightpanda: The Blazing-Fast Headless Browser You Need!