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Puppeteer HTTP Server

This guide shows you how to use Puppeteer, a Node.js library which provides a high-level API to control browsers, including the option to run them headless (no UI).

To run it, follow these steps:

1. Install the CLI. Use the unikraft CLI or the legacy kraft CLI. You need a BuildKit builder. The easiest way to get one is via Docker. Alternatively, you can also directly set up and use BuildKit, see the quick start.

2. Clone the examples repository and cd into the examples/httpserver-node-express-puppeteer/ directory:

Code
git clone https://github.com/unikraft-cloud/examples
cd examples/httpserver-node-express-puppeteer/

Make sure to log into Unikraft Cloud and pick a metro close to you. This guide uses fra (Frankfurt, 🇩🇪):

The UKC_TOKEN and UKC_METRO environment variables are only supported by the legacy CLI.

When done, invoke the following command to deploy this app on Unikraft Cloud:

The output shows the instance address and other details:

In this case, the instance name is httpserver-node-express-puppeteer-7afg3. They're different for each run.

Use a browser to access the landing page of the Puppeteer (that uses ExpressJS). The app and the landing page are part of this repository.

In the example run above the landing page is at https://nameless-fog-0tvh1uov.fra.unikraft.app. You can use the landing page to generate the PDF version of a remote page.

You can list information about the instance by running:

When done, you can remove the instance:

Customize your deployment

The current deployment uses an ExpressJS service that uses the PDF generating functionality of Puppeteer. Customizing the deployment means updating the service, such as adding new functionalities provided by Puppeteer. You can update the service to provide a REST-like interface.

Learn more

Use the --help option for detailed information on using Unikraft Cloud:

Code
kraft cloud --help

Or visit the CLI Reference or the legacy CLI Reference.