Can Node.js invoke Chrome?

Question

Is it possible for Node.js running on a desktop to spawn a Chrome Browser window? I would like to start a Chrome Browser providing the window size and location when Node.js rece

Answer 1

Checkout https://www.npmjs.com/package/chrome-launcher:

Launch chrome:

const chromeLauncher = require('chrome-launcher');

chromeLauncher.launch({
  startingUrl: 'https://google.com'
}).then(chrome => {
  console.log(`Chrome debugging port running on ${chrome.port}`);
});

Launching headless chrome:

const chromeLauncher = require('chrome-launcher');

chromeLauncher.launch({
  startingUrl: 'https://google.com',
  chromeFlags: ['--headless', '--disable-gpu']
}).then(chrome => {
  console.log(`Chrome debugging port running on ${chrome.port}`);
});

chrome-launcher opens a remote debugging port so you can also control browser instance using the DevTools protocol.

Puppeteer is another way to launch Chrome and interact with it using high level APIs.

Answer 2

Yeah, I would think you would need to escape out to shell and then open up chrome.