
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.
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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- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads lightpanda-browser automatically when relevant.
- 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.txtvia--obey_robotsflag - 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
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--obey_robots | Respect robots.txt rules |
--log_format pretty | Human-readable log output |
--log_level info | Log verbosity: debug, info, warn, error |
--host 127.0.0.1 | Bind address for CDP server |
--port 9222 | Port for CDP server |
--insecure_disable_tls_host_verification | Disable 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 Variable | Description |
|---|---|
LIGHTPANDA_DISABLE_TELEMETRY | Set to true to opt out of usage metrics |
Performance Comparison
| Metric | Lightpanda | Chrome Headless |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | ~9x less | Baseline |
| Speed | ~11x faster | Baseline |
| Binary size | Small (Zig) | Large (Chromium) |
| Rendering | No visual rendering | Full 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 serveis running - Check
--host 0.0.0.0if 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:
- Check the zig-js-runtime repo for current API coverage
- File issues at lightpanda-io/browser
Links
- GitHub: https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser
- Runtime APIs: https://github.com/lightpanda-io/zig-js-runtime
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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