Puppeteer Screen Recorder

Record a website using Puppeteer and puppeteer-screen-recorder
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Overview

This node allows you to capture a website either by recording a video or taking a screenshot using Puppeteer and the puppeteer-screen-recorder library. It launches a headless browser, navigates to the specified URL, and performs the chosen capture mode.

Common scenarios:

  • Creating tutorial or demo videos of web pages.
  • Automatically capturing screenshots for monitoring website changes.
  • Archiving visual states of websites at specific times.
  • Generating media content for reports or presentations.

Practical examples:

  • Record a 10-second video walkthrough of a landing page to share with marketing teams.
  • Take a full-page screenshot of a news site homepage every day for archival.
  • Capture a screenshot of a dynamically generated dashboard for automated reporting.

Properties

Name Meaning
Mode Choose between "Video Recording" or "Screenshot".
URL The website URL to record or capture.
Width Viewport width in pixels.
Height Viewport height in pixels.
Duration (Video only) Length of the video recording in seconds.
Frame Rate (Video only) Frames per second for the video recording.
Image Format (Screenshot only) Format of the screenshot image: PNG, JPEG, or WEBP.
Full Page (Screenshot only) Whether to capture the entire scrollable page or just the viewport.
Output File Name Desired name of the output file. If empty, a timestamp-based name is used.
Video Format (Video only) Format of the output video file: MP4, AVI, WEBM, or MOV.
Video Quality (Video only) Quality setting for the video from 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest).
Follow New Tabs (Video only) Whether to follow and record new tabs opened during recording.
Initial Delay Time in seconds to wait before starting the capture or recording.
Scale Scale factor for the browser viewport, e.g., "100%", "125%", "75%" or numeric equivalents like 1, 1.25.

Output

The node outputs an array of items, each containing:

  • json: Metadata about the capture:

    • success: Boolean indicating if the operation succeeded.
    • mode: Either "video" or "screenshot".
    • file: The output filename including extension.
    • format: The file format (video or image).
    • duration: (Video only) Duration in seconds.
    • width and height: Dimensions of the viewport.
    • frameRate: (Video only) Frame rate used.
    • initialDelay: Delay before capture started.
    • scale: Scale factor applied.
    • url: The captured URL.
    • fullPage: (Screenshot only) Whether full page was captured.

  • binary.data: The actual media file data (video or image) encoded as binary, ready for further use or saving.

Dependencies

  • Requires Puppeteer to launch and control a headless Chromium browser.
  • Uses the puppeteer-screen-recorder package for video recording functionality.
  • Node.js environment must have access to /tmp directory or equivalent for temporary file storage.
  • Optional environment variable PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH can specify a custom Chromium executable path.
  • No explicit API keys or external services are required.

Troubleshooting

  • Invalid scale factor error: Occurs if the scale property is not a valid positive number or percentage string. Ensure scale is set correctly (e.g., "100%", "1", "1.25").
  • Timeout navigating to URL: If the page does not load within 10 seconds, the operation fails. Check URL correctness and network connectivity.
  • File write/read errors: Temporary files are stored in /tmp. Ensure the process has write permissions and sufficient disk space.
  • Video recording issues: If the video codec or format is unsupported on your system, try changing the video format or quality settings.
  • Headless browser launch failures: May require additional dependencies or sandbox disabling flags depending on the environment (Docker, Linux servers).

Links and References

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