Browserless — content

When to Use

Single-page application scraping: Fetch the rendered HTML of React or Angular apps where the server returns an empty shell and the content is injected by JavaScript after load.
Competitor price monitoring: Retrieve a product page after JavaScript renders the dynamic price, then pass the HTML to a parse or transform node to extract the value.
News and content aggregation: Pull the full article HTML from sites that require JavaScript to reveal paywall-gated or lazy-loaded content sections.
Automated testing verification: Capture a page's final DOM after a test action and compare key elements against expected values in a subsequent workflow step.
Data pipeline ingestion: Fetch HTML from a dynamic report portal and feed it to an AI extraction node that parses tables, lists, and structured content.

content vs. scrape: Use content when you need the full rendered HTML and will parse it downstream. Use scrape when you already know the CSS selectors for the values you need — scrape returns structured data directly without you having to parse HTML.

Configuration

Connection

Field	Required	Description
`BaseUrl`	Required	Browserless instance URL, e.g. `https://chrome.browserless.io` or your self-hosted address.
`Token`	Optional	API token for cloud Browserless. Omit for self-hosted instances without authentication.

Operation

Field	Required	Description
`url`	Required	The page URL to navigate to. Supports BizFirst expressions, e.g. `{{ $input.productUrl }}`.
`gotoOptions`	Optional	JSON object controlling navigation. Key fields: `waitUntil` (`"load"`, `"domcontentloaded"`, `"networkidle0"`, `"networkidle2"`) and `timeout` in ms.
`waitForSelector`	Optional	JSON object with `selector` (CSS selector string) and optional `timeout` (ms). Waits for the element to appear in the DOM before returning.
`waitForTimeout`	Optional	Fixed wait in milliseconds after the page finishes loading. Use sparingly — prefer `waitForSelector` or `gotoOptions.waitUntil`.
`waitForFunction`	Optional	JSON object with `fn` (JS expression to poll) and optional `timeout`. Waits until the expression returns truthy.
`setJavaScriptEnabled`	Optional	Default `true`. Set to `false` to disable JavaScript — useful for static sites where JS execution is not needed.
`userAgent`	Optional	Override the browser user-agent string. Useful for sites that return different content based on the client.
`viewport`	Optional	JSON object with `width`, `height`, and optionally `deviceScaleFactor`. Controls the viewport dimensions used for responsive rendering.
`authenticate`	Optional	JSON object with `username` and `password` for HTTP Basic or Digest authentication challenges.
`setExtraHTTPHeaders`	Optional	JSON object of additional request headers, e.g. `{"Authorization": "Bearer token"}`.
`cookies`	Optional	Array of cookie objects to set before navigation. Each object: `name`, `value`, `domain`.
`rejectResourceTypes`	Optional	Array of resource types to block: `"image"`, `"media"`, `"font"`, `"stylesheet"`. Speeds up load time when those resources are not needed.
`blockAds`	Optional	Default `true`. Blocks ad network requests during page load.
`bestAttempt`	Optional	Default `true`. When `true`, Browserless returns content even if some sub-resources failed to load, rather than erroring.
`useCustomBody`	Optional	When `true`, the raw `customBodyJson` is sent as the request body, bypassing all field mapping above.
`customBodyJson`	Optional	Raw JSON body sent verbatim when `useCustomBody` is `true`.

Sample Configuration

{
  "operation": "content",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "https://shop.example.com/products/{{ $input.productSlug }}",
  "gotoOptions": {
    "waitUntil": "networkidle2",
    "timeout": 20000
  },
  "waitForSelector": {
    "selector": ".product-price",
    "timeout": 10000
  },
  "rejectResourceTypes": ["image", "media", "font"],
  "blockAds": true,
  "bestAttempt": true
}

Validation Errors

Error Code	Cause
`VAL_MISSING_URL`	`url` is empty and `html` is also not provided.
`CFG_INVALID`	The node settings could not be resolved — usually indicates a misconfigured operation field.
`BROWSERLESS_BAD_REQUEST`	`customBodyJson` could not be parsed as a valid content request object.

Output

Success Port

Field	Type	Description
`status`	string	Always `"success"`.
`errorCode`	string	Always empty on success.
`operation`	string	Always `"content"`.
`url`	string	The URL that was fetched.
`html`	string	Full rendered HTML of the page after JavaScript execution.

Error Port

Field	Type	Description
`status`	string	Always `"error"`.
`errorCode`	string	Machine-readable error code, e.g. `BROWSERLESS_BAD_REQUEST`, `UNKNOWN_ERROR`.
`errorMessage`	string	Human-readable description of the failure.
`operation`	string	Always `"content"`.
`httpStatusCode`	int	HTTP status code from the Browserless API, if available (e.g. `429` for rate limit).

Sample Output

{
  "status": "success",
  "errorCode": "",
  "operation": "content",
  "url": "https://shop.example.com/products/widget-pro",
  "html": "<!DOCTYPE html><html lang=\"en\"><head><meta charset=\"UTF-8\"><title>Widget Pro — Example Shop</title></head><body><h1 class=\"product-title\">Widget Pro</h1><span class=\"product-price\">$49.99</span><p class=\"stock\">In stock — ships in 2 days</p></body></html>"
}

Expression Reference

Expression	Value
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.html }}`	Full rendered HTML string.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.url }}`	URL that was fetched.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.status }}`	`"success"` or `"error"`.
`{{ $output.BrowserlessNode.errorCode }}`	Error code, empty on success.

Node Policies & GuardRails

Policy	Recommendation	Severity
External network access	Browserless fetches arbitrary URLs. Validate and allowlist target domains in your workflow logic before passing user-supplied URLs to this node.	High
Token storage	Store the Browserless API token in a workflow secret or environment variable — never hardcode it in the node configuration.	Critical
Output size	Full-page HTML can exceed several megabytes for complex sites. If downstream nodes have payload limits, extract only the required elements using the scrape operation instead.	Medium
Timeout configuration	Always set a `gotoOptions.timeout` appropriate to the target site. Leaving it at the Browserless default (30 s) for slow sites can block the workflow queue.	Medium
Rate limits	Cloud Browserless plans cap concurrent sessions. Use the `continueOnError` flag and a retry node to handle `429` responses gracefully.	Medium

Examples

Example 1 — Extract a product price from a React storefront

Fetch the fully rendered page and pass the HTML to a Function node that uses a CSS parser to extract the price.

{
  "operation": "content",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "{{ $input.productUrl }}",
  "gotoOptions": { "waitUntil": "networkidle2", "timeout": 15000 },
  "waitForSelector": { "selector": "[data-testid='price']", "timeout": 8000 },
  "rejectResourceTypes": ["image", "media", "font", "stylesheet"],
  "blockAds": true
}

Example 2 — Fetch a behind-login page using cookies

Pass authenticated session cookies so Browserless navigates as a logged-in user.

{
  "operation": "content",
  "baseUrl": "https://chrome.browserless.io",
  "token": "{{ $env.BROWSERLESS_TOKEN }}",
  "url": "https://portal.example.com/reports/monthly",
  "cookies": [
    { "name": "session_id", "value": "{{ $env.SESSION_COOKIE }}", "domain": "portal.example.com" }
  ],
  "gotoOptions": { "waitUntil": "networkidle0", "timeout": 25000 },
  "blockAds": true
}

Example 3 — Disable JavaScript for a static site (faster)

Static HTML sites do not need JavaScript execution. Disabling it cuts response time significantly.

{
  "operation": "content",
  "baseUrl": "http://browserless.internal:3000",
  "url": "https://blog.example.com/archive/{{ $input.slug }}",
  "setJavaScriptEnabled": false,
  "bestAttempt": true,
  "blockAds": true
}