Session Inspection

See how to debug automation sessions via a real-time graphical interface.

The Session Inspection Tool is a powerful debugging feature of Oxylabs Unblocking Browser that leverages VNC (Virtual Network Computing) technology to provide real-time visual access to your browser automation sessions. This tool creates a secure bridge between your headless browser instance and a graphical interface you can observe and control.

When to use it?

While Oxylabs Unblocking Browser offers built-in stealth capabilities, dynamic CAPTCHA bypassing, and other features, certain scenarios require direct visual observation to:

• Diagnose complex issues that aren't evident from logs or error messages

• Understand page rendering exactly as the browser sees it

• Verify proper execution of your automation workflows

• Troubleshoot unexpected behavior in real-time

Usage example

You can enable the Session Inspection Tool by adding the o_vnc=true parameter to the connection endpoint, for example: wss://username:[email protected]?o_vnc=true.

The JavaScript code snippet below works with Chrome browser (UBC), both Playwright and Puppeteer libraries are supported:

const {chromium} = require('playwright');

(async () => {
    let page = null
    let browser = null

    try {
        // Use o_vnc=true parameter to connect
        browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP('wss://user:[email protected]?o_vnc=true')
        const ctx = browser.contexts()[0];

        // Create a new page
        page = await ctx.newPage()
        page.on('console', async msg => {
            console.log(`BROWSER [${msg.type()}] ${msg.text()}`);
        })

        // Get the session ID using a CDP session
        let sesId = await (await ctx.newCDPSession(page)).send("__session_id")
        // Use UB novnc client or any WebSocket capable client to connect to vnc
        console.log(`Connect to VNC: https://vnc.headlesify.io/novnc/?id=${sesId.value}`)

        // Goto to a page
        await page.goto('https://duckduckgo.com')

        // Sleep for 10 minutes
        await new Promise(resolve => {
            setTimeout(resolve, 6000000)
        })
    }
    catch (e) {
        console.log("Finished with error:", e)
    } finally {
        if (page != null) await page.close()
        if (browser != null) await browser.close()
        process.exit(0)
    }
})()