browserkit is a client-neutral Rust runtime for Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) connections, built on cdpkit. Its public lifecycle is BrowserRuntime -> BrowserSession -> Page -> Frame, with typed APIs for browser work on top of that ownership spine.
- Rust 1.88+
- A Chromium browser with a CDP endpoint, or a locally installed Chromium executable that browserkit can discover or that you supply to
LaunchOptions
BrowserRuntime::connect attaches to an existing browser and never owns its process. BrowserRuntime::launch starts a browser that the runtime owns. Launch uses a temporary private profile by default; LaunchOptions::user_data_dir selects an explicit profile directory. Both modes return the same runtime API.
runtime.cdp(), page.cdp_session(), and frame.cdp_session() are explicit protocol escape hatches. They retain the CDP connection and Session scope selected by the lifecycle SDK.
An attached page is detached by explicit close; a page created by the SDK is closed. An isolated session owns its BrowserContext, while the default session does not. Every explicit close() returns a CloseReport; inspect it instead of assuming cleanup completed. Close is cancellation-safe: once started, one cleanup task continues and later calls await the same report. Dropping a child handle performs no protocol I/O, but the root runtime retains remote ownership and cleans created targets and isolated BrowserContexts during BrowserRuntime::close(). Explicitly closing the default session is terminal for that runtime; later default_session() calls return an error.
See runtime_connect.rs and runtime_launch.rs for canonical, compile-checked programs.
The Runtime SDK includes lifecycle and ownership, recursive Frame/OOPIF routing and document epochs; context configuration and capability preflight; locators, interactions, navigation, expectations and waits; evaluation, dialogs and file choosers; network observation and bodies; downloads, storage and authentication state; screenshots, PDF/HTML and snapshots; diagnostics and typed event streams. These APIs remain client-neutral: browserkit does not provide workflow orchestration policy. The historical bk CLI and daemon remain a separate entry point with their existing command surface.