create-a-browser.mdx

title	Create a Browser

import CreateBrowserSnippet from '/snippets/openapi/post-browsers.mdx'; import DeleteBrowserSnippet from '/snippets/openapi/delete-browsers-id.mdx';

Kernel browsers were designed to be lightweight, fast, and efficient for cloud-based browser automations at scale. They can be used as part of the Kernel app platform or connected to from another service with the Chrome DevTools Protocol.

1. Create a Kernel browser

First, install the Kernel SDK: - JavaScript/TypeScript: `npm install @onkernel/sdk` - Python: `pip install kernel`

Use our SDK to create a browser:

2. Connect to the browser with the Chrome DevTools Protocol

Then, you can connect to the browser with any Chrome DevTools Protocol framework, such as Playwright or Puppeteer.

// Playwright
const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(kernelBrowser.cdp_ws_url);

// Puppeteer
const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint,
  defaultViewport: null, // Optional: inherit viewport from the browser
});

browser = playwright.chromium.connect_over_cdp(kernel_browser.cdp_ws_url)

3. Tear it down

When you're finished with the browser, you can delete it:

You can also delete the browser by specifiying a timeout when you create the browser.

Full example

Once you've connected to the Kernel browser, you can do anything with it.

Kernel browsers launch with a default context and page. Make sure to access the [existing context and page](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsertype#browser-type-connect-over-cdp) (`contexts()[0]` and `pages()[0]`), rather than trying to create a new one. ```typescript Typescript/Javascript import { Kernel } from '@onkernel/sdk'; const kernel = new Kernel();

const kernelBrowser = await kernel.browsers.create(); const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(kernelBrowser.cdp_ws_url); try { const context = await browser.contexts()[0] || (await browser.newContext()); const page = await context.pages()[0] || (await context.newPage()); await page.goto("https://www.google.com"); const title = await page.title(); } catch (error) { console.error(error); } finally { await browser.close(); await kernel.browsers.deleteByID(kernelBrowser.session_id); }

```Python Python
import kernel
client = Kernel()

kernel_browser = client.browsers.create()
browser = playwright.chromium.connect_over_cdp(kernel_browser.cdp_ws_url)
try:
    context = browser.contexts[0] if browser.contexts else await browser.new_context()
    page = context.pages[0] if context.pages else await context.new_page()
    await page.goto(url)
    title = await page.title()
except Exception as e:
    print(e)
finally:
    await browser.close()
    await client.browsers.delete_by_id(kernel_browser.session_id)