How to Set Up Proxies with Playwright (Configuration Tutorial)

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Being able to configure proxies within Playwright is a very useful skill for anyone looking to scale up their web automation, testing, scraping, and botting projects. Proxies allow you to rotate IPs, bypass geographic restrictions, avoid blocks and captchas, and more. In this comprehensive tutorial, we will cover everything you need to know to get proxies integrated with Playwright on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

Introduction to Playwright and Proxies

Playwright is a Node.js library that allows for browser automation and interactions such as navigating URLs, entering text, clicking elements, and extracting data. It supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browsers.

Proxies act as intermediaries between your Playwright code and target websites. Using proxies provides several key benefits:

Rotating IPs – Proxies allow you to rotate IP addresses with each request constantly. This avoids getting detected and blocked by targets.
Bypassing geographic restrictions – Proxies can spoof locations so you can access region-restricted content.
Avoiding blocks – Rotating proxies helps avoid IP blocks, CAPTCHAs, and other bot detection measures.
Scalability – Proxies allow you to scale up to thousands of concurrent sessions.

In this guide, we will cover proxy providers BrightData, Smartproxy, Proxy-Seller, and Soax, which all offer datacenter and residential rotating proxies suitable for use with Playwright.

Configuring Proxy Authentication in Playwright

To use proxies with Playwright, you need to configure the proxy authentication within your Node.js code. This involves specifying the proxy IP/port and credentials. The process is very similar across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Windows Playwright Proxy Setup

On Windows, you'll first need to install Node.js if you don't already have it, as well as the Playwright NPM package.

js

// Import Playwright
const playwright = require('playwright'); 

// Launch browser
const browser = await playwright.chromium.launch({
  headless: false,
  
  // Configure proxy  
  proxy: {
    server: 'proxy_ip:proxy_port',
    username: 'username', 
    password: 'password'
  }
});

// Create context, page and navigate
const context = await browser.newContext();
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('http://whatsmyip.org');

macOS Playwright Proxy Setup

For macOS, install Node.js via Homebrew if needed, then install Playwright. Proxy authentication setup is the same:

js

const playwright = require('playwright');

const browser = await playwright.webkit.launch({
  headless: false, 
  
  proxy: {
    server: 'proxy_ip:proxy_port',
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password' 
  }
});

//...rest of script

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) Playwright Proxy Setup

On Linux, use apt to install Node.js if needed. Proxy authentication code remains the same:

js

const playwright = require('playwright');

const browser = await playwright.firefox.launch({
  headless: false,

  proxy: {
    server: 'proxy_ip:proxy_port', 
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password'
  }  
});

//...rest of script

As you can see, the proxy configuration code is virtually identical across operating systems. Next, let's look at the specific authentication details for each proxy provider.

Proxy Provider Authentication Details

The proxy IP/port and credential formats will differ depending on which proxy provider you use. Here are the details for each:

BrightData Proxy

BrightData offers both datacenter and residential proxies.

Datacenter proxies are in the format user-dc.brightdata.com:port

Residential proxies follow user-pr.brightdata.com:port

Replace user with your actual username, and port with your assigned port number.

Smartproxy Proxy

For datacenter proxies, use user-smartproxy.com:port

For residential proxies, use user-pr.smartproxy.com:port

Substitute your username and port.

Proxy-Seller Proxy

Datacenter – user_dc.proxy-seller.com:port

Residential – user_pr.proxy-seller.com:port

Insert your assigned username and port.

Soax Proxy

Datacenter – user-dc.soax.com:port

Residential – user-pr.soax.com:port

Replace user with your username, and port with your assigned port.

This covers the basics of authenticating with each of the major proxy providers. You can also configure country-specific exit nodes, sticky sessions, and more using variations of these authentication formats – refer to your provider's documentation for specifics.

Troubleshooting Common Proxy Issues

When working with proxies, you may encounter certain problems like authentication failures, blocks, captchas, and timeouts. Here are some tips for troubleshooting:

If you get authentication errors, double-check your username, password, IP, and port. Make sure they match the formats shown above.
If you need to rotate IPs manually, restart the Playwright browser or redeploy your code.
Adjust built-in Playwright timeouts and retry intervals to bypass blocks.
Completing occasional CAPTCHAs and adding proxies to whitelist services can help maintain access.
Residential proxies can help avoid IP blocks, while datacenter proxies provide faster speeds. Using both helps optimize performance.
Implement delays and retries to mimic natural browsing patterns and avoid bot detections.
Regularly rotating proxies is better than reusing the same IPs excessively.
Completing occasional CAPTCHAs can maintain access if your proxies get flagged.
Scale up proxy usage gradually and monitor for failures to avoid wide-scale blocks.
Consider using proxy manager tools like Stormproxy for easier IP rotation at scale.
With trial and error, you can fine-tune a stable proxy configuration for your Playwright scripts.

With trial and error, you can fine-tune a stable proxy configuration for your Playwright scripts.

Example Use Cases

Here are just a few examples of how proxies integrated with Playwright can be useful:

Web scraping – Scrape sites that block individual IPs by rotating proxies each request.
Automated testing – Run integration and load tests from different geographic endpoints.
Social media bots – Automate posting, following, and engagement across accounts.
Sneaker bots – Cop limited release sneakers from multiple locations simultaneously.

The possibilities are endless!

Conclusion

Configuring proxy authentication in Playwright is straightforward once you know the required format for your chosen proxy provider. Proxies are essential for unlocking the full capabilities of Playwright while avoiding blocks and captchas. This guide covered the complete setup process on Windows, macOS, and Linux along with troubleshooting advice. With the power of Playwright and proxies combined, you can build robust web automation and testing tools.