# Browser Pool (`marco.gullo/browser-pool`) Actor

A Standby Actor for providing a pool of on-demand browsers, accessible through CDP.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/marco.gullo/browser-pool.md
- **Developed by:** [Marco Gullo](https://apify.com/marco.gullo) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Open source
- **Stats:** 31 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 2 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Browser Pool

### What is Browser Pool?

Browser Pool is a tool that leverages the Apify platform and provides you with headless browsers for building AI agents.

### Why using Browser Pool?

Because it can rely on well tested features by Apify, such as proxies, which help to circumvent obstacles and let you concentrate on developing the online automation.

### How to use Browser Pool

1. Go to the *Standby* tab and copy the *Actor URL*.

2. Replace `https://` with `wss://`: you now have the URL for connecting your Playwright session to Apify through [CDP](https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/), which looks something like this:

```
wss://marco-gullo--browser-pool.apify.actor?token=$TOKEN
```

3. Finally, you can use the URL with Playwright. Let's say you want to generate and download the emoji of a *smiling rocket* on [emojikitchen.dev](https://emojikitchen.dev/):

```js
import fs from 'fs;
import { chromium } from 'playwright';

console.log('Connecting to a remote browser on the Apify platform');
const wsEndpoint = 'wss://marco-gullo--browser-pool.apify.actor?token=$TOKEN&other_params...';
const browser = await chromium.connect(wsEndpoint);

console.log('Browser connection established, creating context');
const context = await browser.newContext({ viewport: { height: 1000, width: 1600 } });

console.log('Opening new page');
const page = await context.newPage();

const timeout = 60_000;
console.log(`Going to: ${url}. Timeout = ${timeout}ms`);
await page.goto(url, { timeout });

console.log('Selecting emojis');
await page.getByRole('img', { name: 'rocket' }).first().click();
await page.getByRole('img', { name: 'smile', exact: true }).nth(1).click();

console.log('Saving screenshot');
const screenshot = await page.getByRole('img', { name: 'rocket-smile' }).screenshot();
fs.writeFileSync('rocket-smile.png', screenshot);

console.log('Closing the browser');
await context.close();
await browser.close();
```

This code is executed locally, and in the end you will have this nice picture on your computer:

![Rocket Smile](https://www.gstatic.com/android/keyboard/emojikitchen/20240206/u1f680/u1f680_u1f604.png)

Nevertheless, the browser runs on the Apify platform, so there is no need for you to install Chromium.\
Moreover, you can mock your location or try to circumvent blocks using Apify's proxies.
To do so, you need to use search parameters: see below.

#### Search parameters

You can customize your session using search parameters.
They are designed to be compatible with [browserless.io](https://docs.browserless.io):

- `proxy`: either `datacenter` or `residential`; selects the corresponding default proxy groups.
- `proxyGroups`: stringified JSON of an array of Apify proxy groups, e.g., `["RESIDENTIAL5"]`.
- `proxyCountry`: [ISO 3166 country code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_3166_country_codes#Current_ISO_3166_country_codes).
- `launch`: stringified JSON containing the following properties:
  - headless: either `true` or `false`, passed as [option to Playwright](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testoptions#test-options-headless).
  - args: array of arguments to pass to Chromium, e.g., `["--window-size=1920,1080", "--lang=en-US"]`.
- `ignoreDefaultArgs`: either `true` or `false`, if true only uses the passed browser arguments.
- `timeout`: maximum allowed time to spawn the browser server, in milliseconds.
- `ttl`: time to live, in milliseconds, of the browser session after the socket has been closed.

For example, if you wanted to use Apify's residential proxies from the United States, your URL would look like this:

```
wss://marco-gullo--browser-pool.apify.actor?token=$TOKEN&proxy=residential&proxyCountry=us
```

## Actor input object example

```json
{}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("marco.gullo/browser-pool").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("marco.gullo/browser-pool").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call marco.gullo/browser-pool --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,marco.gullo/browser-pool"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/jkR7uvUFKu6YyVzq2/builds/jWnNxYmk9KEqpzNS1/openapi.json