Hybrid Automation

info

Hybrid Automation is only available on paid plans.

Hybrid automation lets you pause an automated script, hand control to a human via a secure live URL, and resume automation once they finish. Use it for login flows, 2FA, CAPTCHAs, or any step that requires human judgment.

How It Works

Create a liveURL through CDP and Browserless returns a one-time, shareable link. No API tokens are exposed and no extra software is needed.

Behavior	Default	Override
Viewport	Resizes to match the end user's screen	resizable: false to keep the current viewport
Interaction	Click, type, scroll, touch, and tap enabled	interactable: false to block all input (view-only mode)
Stream quality	Full quality compressed video	quality: 1-100 to reduce bandwidth (useful for mobile)
Tab scope	Only the page used to create the URL	showBrowserInterface: true to stream all tabs (may increase CAPTCHA challenges)
Events	None	Listen for Browserless.liveComplete and Browserless.captchaFound

Basic Implementation

Puppeteer

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: 'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE',
});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://practicetestautomation.com/practice-test-login/');

const cdp = await page.createCDPSession();
const { liveURL } = await cdp.send('Browserless.liveURL');

console.log('Share this URL:', liveURL);

// Wait for the user to complete their tasks
await new Promise((r) => cdp.on('Browserless.liveComplete', r));

// Continue automation...
await browser.close();

Playwright

import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(
  'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io/chromium/stealth?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE'
);
const [context] = await browser.contexts();
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://practicetestautomation.com/practice-test-login/');

const cdpSession = await context.newCDPSession(page);
const { liveURL } = await cdpSession.send('Browserless.liveURL');

console.log('Share this URL:', liveURL);

// Wait for the user to complete their tasks
await new Promise((r) => cdpSession.on('Browserless.liveComplete', r));

// Continue automation...
await browser.close();

Example: Authentication with 2FA

Hand off the browser to a human for login flows that require verification, then resume automation with the authenticated session.

Puppeteer

const login = async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
    browserWSEndpoint: 'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE',
  });
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://accounts.google.com');

  const cdp = await page.createCDPSession();
  const { liveURL } = await cdp.send('Browserless.liveURL');

  console.log('Please complete login:', liveURL);

  // Wait for the user to finish authentication
  await new Promise((r) => cdp.on('Browserless.liveComplete', r));

  // Continue with the authenticated session
  // Your automation code here...

  await browser.close();
};

Playwright

const login = async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(
    'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io/chromium/stealth?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE'
  );
  const [context] = await browser.contexts();
  const page = await context.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://accounts.google.com');

  const cdpSession = await context.newCDPSession(page);
  const { liveURL } = await cdpSession.send('Browserless.liveURL');

  console.log('Please complete login:', liveURL);

  // Wait for the user to finish authentication
  await new Promise((r) => cdpSession.on('Browserless.liveComplete', r));

  // Continue with the authenticated session
  // Your automation code here...

  await browser.close();
};

tip

For advanced patterns like multi-stage workflows, read-only monitoring, programmatic session control, and bandwidth optimization, see Advanced Hybrid Automation Configurations.

Next Steps

Advanced Hybrid Automation Configurations

Configure stream quality, viewport control, event handling, and programmatic session management

Screen Recording

Capture browser sessions as WebM video files

Session Replay

Record DOM-based sessions viewable in your dashboard