Browser automation

How to use proxies with Puppeteer

Puppeteer takes the proxy as a Chromium launch flag, --proxy-server, and handles credentials separately through page.authenticate(). Because the flag is process-wide, running several exit IPs means launching several browser instances.

Recommended for Puppeteer

Residential proxies — Full-browser automation is usually aimed at defended targets, where residential IPs get through and datacenter ranges do not.

See residential proxies

Setup

1
Install Puppeteer
Install the package, which downloads a matching Chromium build.
```
npm i puppeteer
```
2
Launch with the proxy flag
Pass the proxy as a Chromium argument. Credentials cannot go in this flag — they are supplied in the next step. Replace PROXY_HOST, PROXY_PORT, USERNAME and PASSWORD with the endpoint and credentials shown in your seamless dashboard.
```
const puppeteer = require("puppeteer");

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
  args: ["--proxy-server=http://PROXY_HOST:PROXY_PORT"],
});
```

Authenticate the page

Call page.authenticate() before the first navigation, otherwise Chromium answers the proxy's auth challenge with nothing and the request fails.

const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.authenticate({ username: "USERNAME", password: "PASSWORD" });
await page.goto("https://example.com", { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });

4
Cut bandwidth by blocking assets
Residential proxies are billed per gigabyte and a rendered page pulls in images, fonts and trackers you almost never need. Blocking them routinely cuts consumption by an order of magnitude.
```
await page.setRequestInterception(true);
page.on("request", (req) => {
  const blocked = ["image", "font", "media", "stylesheet"];
  blocked.includes(req.resourceType()) ? req.abort() : req.continue();
});
```

Puppeteer proxy FAQ

How do I use an authenticated proxy with Puppeteer?

Pass the host and port with --proxy-server at launch, then call page.authenticate({ username, password }) on each page before navigating. Credentials in the --proxy-server URL are ignored by Chromium.

Can Puppeteer use a different proxy per page?

No. --proxy-server is a browser-level flag, so every page in a browser instance shares it. To use several exit IPs at once, launch one browser per proxy, or switch to Playwright, which supports per-context proxies.

How do I reduce proxy bandwidth in Puppeteer?

Enable request interception and abort image, font, media and stylesheet requests. On image-heavy sites this often reduces bandwidth by 80% or more, which directly reduces what you pay per page.