Automate everything via NodeJS and Puppeteer

How do you automate tasks on sites without a public API? See how NodeJS and Puppeteer can scrape data, publish content, and run continuous performance tests.

#1about 2 minutes

An introduction to the Puppeteer library for Node.js

Puppeteer provides a high-level API to control headless or full Chrome instances through the DevTools Protocol.

#2about 2 minutes

The history and evolution of web automation tools

Web automation has evolved from cross-language frameworks like Selenium to JavaScript-based tools like PhantomJS and now Puppeteer.

#3about 3 minutes

Understanding Puppeteer's API and common capabilities

Puppeteer's readable, action-based API can be used for scraping, testing, generating PDFs, and analyzing performance.

#4about 3 minutes

Comparing Puppeteer with alternatives like Playwright

Playwright is a strong alternative for cross-browser end-to-end testing, while Puppeteer is more of a general-purpose automation tool.

#5about 4 minutes

Exploring common Puppeteer use cases for web applications

Puppeteer is well-suited for scraping dynamic sites, automating UI and visual regression tests, and building custom development utilities.

#6about 7 minutes

Case study on scraping Skyscanner for cheap flights

A personal project demonstrates how to automate flight searches by splitting code into modular functions and intercepting API responses.

#7about 5 minutes

Automating podcast uploads from YouTube to Anchor.fm

A GitHub Action uses Puppeteer to automate converting YouTube videos to audio and publishing them on Anchor.fm, saving significant manual effort.

#8about 7 minutes

Automating Lighthouse performance tests with authentication

A professional setup uses Puppeteer to handle authentication and run Lighthouse tests on protected pages, sending metrics to Prometheus and Grafana.

#9about 9 minutes

Q&A on Puppeteer vs Cypress and cloud deployment

The discussion covers when to choose Puppeteer over Cypress, running it in the cloud using containers instead of serverless, and its use in visual testing.