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

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();

Close LiveURL Programatically

This script detects whether the user closed the LiveURL tab manually or if a specific selector appeared on the page, and then programmatically closes the LiveURL session.

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, liveURLId } = await cdp.send("Browserless.liveURL", {
  timeout: 300000,
});

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

// Close when user finishes manually OR login succeeds
const result = await Promise.race([
  new Promise((r) => cdp.on("Browserless.liveComplete", () => r("user_closed"))),
  page.waitForSelector("h1.post-title", { timeout: 0 }).then(async () => {
    await cdp.send("Browserless.closeLiveURL", { liveURLId });
    return "login_detected";
  }),
]);

console.log(`LiveURL closed via: ${result}`);
await browser.close();

Playwright

import { chromium } from "playwright-core";

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

const cdpSession = await context.newCDPSession(page);
const { liveURL, liveURLId } = await cdpSession.send("Browserless.liveURL", {
  timeout: 300000,
});

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

// Close when user finishes manually OR login succeeds
const result = await Promise.race([
  new Promise((r) => cdpSession.on("Browserless.liveComplete", () => r("user_closed"))),
  page.waitForSelector("h1.post-title", { timeout: 0 }).then(async () => {
    await cdpSession.send("Browserless.closeLiveURL", { liveURLId });
    return "login_detected";
  }),
]);

console.log(`LiveURL closed via: ${result}`);
await browser.close();

End-User Authentication

LiveURL links authenticate using a short-lived ?i=<id> parameter that is unique to the session. This ID expires automatically after the LiveURL timeout elapses or when Browserless.closeLiveURL is called. LiveURL paths do not require your API token. Do not embed your token in LiveURL links shared with end users.

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