Rod

Rod is an open-source Go library for driving browsers through the Chrome DevTools Protocol. It is aimed at developers who need web automation and scraping, and it supports both high-level helpers and low-level protocol access. The project is MIT licensed and its latest listed release is v0.116.2.

What It Is

Rod is a high-level driver based directly on the DevTools Protocol. According to its documentation, it can automate most things that can be done manually in a browser: capturing page screenshots, scraping client-side rendered pages, auto-filling forms, running end-to-end tests, and hijacking requests. Developers can use the low-level packages to customize or build their own version of Rod, while the high-level functions serve as a default build.

Automation Workflow and Design

The README describes a chained context design that makes it intuitive to time out or cancel long-running tasks. Elements are auto-waited until they are ready. Helpers such as WaitStable, WaitRequestIdle, HijackRequests and WaitDownload cover common page-state needs. A two-step WaitEvent design is meant to ensure events are not missed. Nested iframes and shadow DOMs are handled, and all operations are thread-safe.

Browser Management and Debugging

Rod can automatically find or download a browser. It documents input tracing and remote monitoring of a headless browser for debugging, and states that no zombie browser processes remain after a crash. The documentation site covers custom browser launch, selectors, events, input, emulation, network, page resources, JavaScript runtime, custom WebSocket and end-to-end testing guides.

Learning Resources

The docs include a Get Started guide, FAQ, API reference, examples, and a comparison of examples between Rod and Chromedp. The documentation is available in several languages, and community help is offered through a Discord chat room and GitHub issues and discussions.