rod
Rod is a high-level Go library for browser automation built on the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). It provides a simpler and more intuitive API compared to chromedp, making it easier to write browser automation and web scraping scripts in Go.
Key features include:
- Simple API Rod's API is designed to be intuitive and requires less boilerplate than chromedp. Common operations like clicking, typing, and waiting are straightforward single-line calls.
- Auto-wait Automatically waits for elements to be ready before interacting with them, reducing the need for explicit wait statements and making scripts more reliable.
- Page pool Built-in page pool for managing multiple browser pages efficiently, useful for concurrent scraping tasks.
- Stealth mode Includes a stealth plugin (rod/lib/launcher/flags) that can disable common automation detection vectors.
- Element screenshots Can take screenshots of specific elements, not just full pages.
- Network interception Supports hijacking network requests and responses for modification or monitoring.
- Input emulation Realistic mouse and keyboard input emulation for interacting with complex web applications.
Rod is the recommended choice for new Go browser automation projects due to its simpler API and active maintenance. It is comparable to Playwright in terms of developer experience but native to the Go ecosystem.
Highlights
Example Use
```go package main
import ( "fmt" "github.com/go-rod/rod" "github.com/go-rod/rod/lib/launcher" )
func main() { // Launch browser url := launcher.New().Headless(true).MustLaunch() browser := rod.New().ControlURL(url).MustConnect() defer browser.MustClose()
// Navigate and auto-wait for the page to load
page := browser.MustPage("https://example.com")
page.MustWaitStable()
// Find elements and extract text - auto-waits for element
title := page.MustElement("h1").MustText()
fmt.Println("Title:", title)
// Fill in a form
page.MustElement("input[name='search']").MustInput("web scraping")
page.MustElement("button[type='submit']").MustClick()
// Wait for results and extract
page.MustWaitStable()
results := page.MustElements(".result-item")
for _, el := range results {
text := el.MustText()
href := el.MustElement("a").MustProperty("href").String()
fmt.Printf("Result: %s (%s)\n", text, href)
}
// Take screenshot of specific element
page.MustElement(".results").MustScreenshot("results.png")
} ```