Extending the Docker Image

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For hosted accounts, contact us to use a third-party module.

The Browserless Docker image includes Chrome/Chromium and common dependencies for browser automation. You'll need to extend the image when you require:

npm modules for use in /function API calls or custom scripts
System packages like fonts, libraries, or CLI tools
Custom configurations or startup scripts

This guide shows you how to build a custom image with your own dependencies.

Create your own Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile. This example adds the aws-sdk module.

FROM registry.browserless.io/browserless/browserless/enterprise:latest

# Install the AWS SDK
RUN npm install aws-sdk

Pin the FROM value to a specific version for stability. For example, to use version 2.3.0:

FROM registry.browserless.io/browserless/browserless/enterprise:2.3.0

# Install the AWS SDK
RUN npm install aws-sdk

Save your file and proceed to the build step.

Build the docker image
Build the image with Docker:
docker build -t my/browserless:latest .
This tags the image as my/browserless:latest. Change the name and tag if you plan to push the image to a public or private registry.
The first build takes a few minutes to pull dependencies. Subsequent builds are faster due to the local cache.

Run the image

Run the custom image with the same environment variables as the base image. Whitelist the new module with FUNCTION_EXTERNALS so Browserless can execute it.

docker run -p 3000:3000 -e FUNCTION_EXTERNALS='["aws-sdk"]' my/browserless:latest

Calls to /function now have access to the aws-sdk module:

curl -X POST \
  http://localhost:3000/function \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/javascript' \
  -d 'const aws = require('\''aws-sdk'\'');

module.exports = async () => {
  const data = Object.keys(aws);

  return {
    data,
    type: '\''text/plain'\'',
  };
};'

To add more modules, install them in the Dockerfile, rebuild the image, and run it.

Create your own Dockerfile

Build the docker image

Run the image