How to open a headless browser with AgentQL
Headless browsers are powerful tools for web automation, testing, and scraping. They let you run a browser without the need to spin up a visual interface. This can allow scripts to execute faster or in the background. AgentQL's SDKs leverage headless browsers to interact with web pages and execute queries without the need for a visible user interface.
Overview
This guide shows you how and when to use a headless browser, and how to execute queries inside one with AgentQL.
Why use a headless browser?
Headless browsers offer several advantages:
- Speed: They're faster than full browsers as they don't render visuals.
- Resource efficiency: They use less memory and CPU.
- Automation: Perfect for running tests or scripts without manual intervention.
- Server-side operation: Can run on machines without a GUI.
AgentQL and Playwright
AgentQL's SDK uses Playwright, a powerful browser automation library, to handle headless browsing. Playwright supports multiple browser engines and provides a rich API for web automation.
Running a query in a headless browser
Here's a basic example of how to use AgentQL with a headless browser:
This script does the following:
- Initializes a headless browser
- Navigates to a webpage
- Creates an AgentQL query
- Executes the query and retrieves the result
- Closes the browser
Related content
Playwright Browsers
Official Playwright documentation for handling different browser contexts, working with multiple pages, network interception and modification.
Headless browser Python example
Example code for executing AgentQL queries in a headless browser
Headless browser JavaScript example
Example code for executing AgentQL queries in a headless browser