The CDP Gateway

bauta serve is the gateway: it puts each persona behind a CDP endpoint of its own. A script keeps its code and changes only how it connects.

Start the gatewayCopy Anchor Link

bauta setup                                # once: a free session now; offers an account (GitHub)
bauta geo update                           # the database that places a proxy's exit
bauta persona new shop --from win-intel
bauta serve

One endpoint per personaCopy Anchor Link

Each persona is an endpoint on 127.0.0.1:9222:

browser = playwright.chromium.connect_over_cdp("http://127.0.0.1:9222/persona/shop")

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({ browserWSEndpoint: "ws://127.0.0.1:9222/persona/shop" });

A client sees only its own persona's pages, as if the browser were its own.

Shared browsersCopy Anchor Link

Personas share browsers, up to --per-browser (8) to one, among personas whose fonts, locale and screen scale match. This takes far less memory per persona. Each persona still has its own User-Agent, Client Hints, timezone, proxy and the rest of its persona, and its endpoint is the same.

To give each persona a browser of its own:

bauta serve --per-browser 1

A persona that loads unpacked extensions (extension_paths in the Python package, extensionPaths in the Node.js package) also has a browser of its own.

A shared browser that crashes takes its personas with it, and no others. Each starts again on its next connection.

StorageCopy Anchor Link

A persona keeps its own profile, so cookies and storage are there on the next connection. While it is away, its profile is written out and unloaded. A persona with "ephemeral": true keeps nothing between sessions.

When a browser closesCopy Anchor Link

A persona's browser closes --idle seconds after its last client, 30 by default:

bauta serve --idle 120

A window, not headlessCopy Anchor Link

Each browser opens a window sized to its persona's screen. On a machine without a display, install Xvfb, and bauta serve opens the windows on a virtual display of its own:

apt install xvfb

Without Xvfb it falls back to Chrome's headless mode, which a page can tell apart, and says so.

bauta serve --hidden puts the windows where no one sees them, even on a desktop:

The packages' headless option, on by default, asks for it when they start the gateway.

Listen address and portCopy Anchor Link

The gateway listens on 127.0.0.1, port 9222. --port changes the port. --listen 0.0.0.0 lets other machines in, and whoever reaches the port drives the personas.

The packages reach a gateway that runs elsewhere, such as a container's, with their gateway option or BAUTA_GATEWAY. You make its personas there.

The licenseCopy Anchor Link

While it runs, the gateway renews the license with our server (--server, or BAUTA_SERVER) every --heartbeat seconds: 60 at least, unless the server is on this machine. It counts its active personas against the license. See sessions and the license.

Launch settingsCopy Anchor Link

A persona file may also set how its browser runs: its timezone and locale, its proxy, humanize, third-party cookies, ephemeral and request blocking. With a proxy, and no timezone or locale stated, they follow where the proxy exits, which the database of bauta geo update places. See launch settings and proxies.

Scripts and user activationCopy Anchor Link

A script you run is the page's, not a person's. page.evaluate and the like give the page no user activation: the click or key of a person, which Chrome requires to open a popup, go fullscreen or write the clipboard. With it, a page would see an activation no input came before. Click (page.click, humanize) for what needs a person.

Looking at personasCopy Anchor Link

bauta stats and bauta inspect take --port when the gateway runs on another port.

NextCopy Anchor Link

• Sessions and the license: how many personas can be active, and what happens over the cap.
• bauta serve: every flag and its default.
• Playwright and Puppeteer: connecting your scripts.