MCPInstall

lightpanda-browser

Expert skill for Lightpanda — the headless browser built in Zig for AI agents and automation. 9x less memory, 11x faster than Chrome. Installation, CLI, CDP server, Playwright/Puppeteer integration, and web scraping.

Installs
1.5K
Last 24h
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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/reason-machines/trending-skills --skill lightpanda-browser
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads lightpanda-browser automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Lightpanda — Headless Browser for AI & Automation

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection

Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed for AI agents, web scraping, and automation. It uses 9x less memory and runs 11x faster than Chrome headless.

Key facts:

  • Not based on Chromium, Blink, or WebKit — clean-slate Zig implementation
  • JavaScript execution via V8 engine
  • CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) compatible — works with Playwright, Puppeteer, chromedp
  • Respects robots.txt via --obey_robots flag
  • Beta status, actively developed
  • License: AGPL-3.0

Installation

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -L -o lightpanda https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser/releases/download/nightly/lightpanda-aarch64-macos
chmod a+x ./lightpanda

Linux (x86_64)

curl -L -o lightpanda https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser/releases/download/nightly/lightpanda-x86_64-linux
chmod a+x ./lightpanda

Docker

# Supports amd64 and arm64
docker run -d --name lightpanda -p 9222:9222 lightpanda/browser:nightly

CLI Usage

Fetch a URL (dump rendered HTML)

./lightpanda fetch --obey_robots --log_format pretty --log_level info https://example.com

Start CDP Server

./lightpanda serve --obey_robots --log_format pretty --log_level info --host 127.0.0.1 --port 9222

This launches a WebSocket-based CDP server for programmatic control.

CLI Flags

FlagDescription
--obey_robotsRespect robots.txt rules
--log_format prettyHuman-readable log output
--log_level infoLog verbosity: debug, info, warn, error
--host 127.0.0.1Bind address for CDP server
--port 9222Port for CDP server
--insecure_disable_tls_host_verificationDisable TLS verification (testing only)

Playwright Integration

Start the CDP server, then connect Playwright to it:

import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP('http://127.0.0.1:9222');
const context = await browser.contexts()[0] || await browser.newContext();
const page = await context.newPage();

await page.goto('https://example.com', { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });
const title = await page.title();
const content = await page.content();

console.log(`Title: ${title}`);
console.log(`HTML length: ${content.length}`);

await browser.close();

Puppeteer Integration

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: 'ws://127.0.0.1:9222',
});

const context = await browser.createBrowserContext();
const page = await context.newPage();

await page.goto('https://example.com', { waitUntil: 'networkidle0' });

const title = await page.title();
const text = await page.evaluate(() => document.body.innerText);

console.log(`Title: ${title}`);
console.log(`Body text: ${text.substring(0, 200)}`);

await page.close();
await browser.close();

Go (chromedp) Integration

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/chromedp/chromedp"
)

func main() {
    allocCtx, cancel := chromedp.NewRemoteAllocator(context.Background(), "ws://127.0.0.1:9222")
    defer cancel()

    ctx, cancel := chromedp.NewContext(allocCtx)
    defer cancel()

    var title string
    err := chromedp.Run(ctx,
        chromedp.Navigate("https://example.com"),
        chromedp.Title(&title),
    )
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Println("Title:", title)
}

Python Integration

import asyncio
from playwright.async_api import async_playwright

async def main():
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.connect_over_cdp("http://127.0.0.1:9222")
        context = browser.contexts[0] if browser.contexts else await browser.new_context()
        page = await context.new_page()

        await page.goto("https://example.com", wait_until="networkidle")
        title = await page.title()
        content = await page.content()

        print(f"Title: {title}")
        print(f"HTML length: {len(content)}")

        await browser.close()

asyncio.run(main())

Web Scraping Patterns

Batch Page Fetching

import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP('http://127.0.0.1:9222');
const context = await browser.newContext();

const urls = [
  'https://example.com/page1',
  'https://example.com/page2',
  'https://example.com/page3',
];

for (const url of urls) {
  const page = await context.newPage();
  await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });

  const data = await page.evaluate(() => ({
    title: document.title,
    text: document.body.innerText,
    links: [...document.querySelectorAll('a[href]')].map(a => a.href),
  }));

  console.log(JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
  await page.close();
}

await browser.close();

Extract Structured Data

const data = await page.evaluate(() => {
  const items = document.querySelectorAll('.product-card');
  return [...items].map(item => ({
    name: item.querySelector('h2')?.textContent?.trim(),
    price: item.querySelector('.price')?.textContent?.trim(),
    link: item.querySelector('a')?.href,
  }));
});

Docker Compose (with your app)

services:
  lightpanda:
    image: lightpanda/browser:nightly
    ports:
      - "9222:9222"
    restart: unless-stopped

  scraper:
    build: .
    depends_on:
      - lightpanda
    environment:
      - BROWSER_WS_ENDPOINT=ws://lightpanda:9222

Supported Web APIs

Lightpanda supports (partial, expanding):

  • DOM tree manipulation and querying
  • JavaScript execution (V8)
  • XMLHttpRequest (XHR)
  • Fetch API
  • Cookie management
  • Network interception
  • Proxy support

Configuration

Environment VariableDescription
LIGHTPANDA_DISABLE_TELEMETRYSet to true to opt out of usage metrics

Performance Comparison

MetricLightpandaChrome Headless
Memory~9x lessBaseline
Speed~11x fasterBaseline
Binary sizeSmall (Zig)Large (Chromium)
RenderingNo visual renderingFull rendering engine

When to Use Lightpanda

Use Lightpanda when:

  • Running AI agents that need to browse the web
  • Batch scraping at scale (memory/CPU savings matter)
  • Automating form submissions and data extraction
  • Running in containers where resources are limited
  • You need CDP compatibility but not full visual rendering

Use Chrome/Playwright instead when:

  • You need pixel-perfect screenshots or PDF generation
  • You need full Web API coverage (Lightpanda is still partial)
  • Visual regression testing
  • Testing browser-specific rendering behavior

Building from Source

Requires: Zig 0.15.2, Rust, CMake, system dependencies.

# Ubuntu/Debian dependencies
sudo apt install xz-utils ca-certificates pkg-config libglib2.0-dev clang make curl

# Build
git clone https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser.git
cd browser
zig build

# Optional: pre-build V8 snapshot for faster startup
zig build snapshot_creator -- src/snapshot.bin
zig build -Dsnapshot_path=../../snapshot.bin

Troubleshooting

Connection refused on port 9222:

  • Ensure ./lightpanda serve is running
  • Check --host 0.0.0.0 if connecting from Docker/remote

Playwright script breaks after update:

  • Lightpanda is beta — Playwright's capability detection may behave differently across versions
  • Pin your Lightpanda version or use nightly consistently

Missing Web API support:

Links

FAQ

What does the lightpanda-browser skill do?

Expert skill for Lightpanda — the headless browser built in Zig for AI agents and automation. 9x less memory, 11x faster than Chrome. Installation, CLI, CDP server, Playwright/Puppeteer integration, and web scraping.

How do I install lightpanda-browser?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/reason-machines/trending-skills --skill lightpanda-browser in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/lightpanda-browser/ (personal) or .claude/skills/lightpanda-browser/ (project).

Which AI agents can use lightpanda-browser?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is lightpanda-browser safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains lightpanda-browser?

It is published by reason-machines in reason-machines/trending-skills. It has 1,541 recorded installs.

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