Browser Sessions

A browser session is a cloud Chromium instance you control over CDP (Playwright, Puppeteer) or Anchor’s APIs. Create one, automate, then end it when done.

What you get back

Every successful create returns:

Field	Use it for
`id`	Session identity — reconnect, run tasks, fetch recordings
`cdp_url`	Connect Playwright or Puppeteer over Chrome DevTools Protocol
`live_view_url`	Embed or share a live view of the browser — see Embedded Browser Live UI

By default sessions start headful with recording enabled. See Start Browser Session for defaults and full schema.

How to create

Guide	When to use
Create a Session	Standard create — blocks until the browser is ready. Best for scripts and single sessions.
Async Session	Returns immediately; poll until ready. Best for parallel provisioning or long proxy/stealth setups.
Batch Browser Sessions	Many sessions in one call (up to 5,000). Best for large-scale scraping or load tests.

Configure at create

Pass optional session and browser blocks in the create request body. The shape is the same for sync, async, and batch creates. Full schema: Start Browser Session.

{
  "session": {
    "initial_url": "https://app.example.com"
  },
  "browser": {
    "headless": { "active": true }
  },
  "identities": [{ "id": "your-identity-id" }]
}

Attach identities to start signed in, or set browser.profile to load a saved browser state — see the auth rows below. Setup for each option lives on its own page — this section only links there:

Configurable at create	Learn more
Proxy, VPN, sticky IP	Proxy, Anchor VPN, Dedicated sticky IP
Stealth, captcha, web bot auth	Stealth, CAPTCHA solving, Web Bot Auth
Extensions, adblock, popups, sensitive data masking, timeouts, tags, CA certs	Customize in the sidebar
Profiles (`browser.profile`)	Managed Authentication — Browser profiles
Identities (`identities[]`)	Managed Authentication
Email OTP, Custom MFA, 1Password	Email MFA, Custom MFA, 1Password
Live view / embed (`live_view_url`)	Embedded Browser Live UI

Rate limits

POST /v1/sessions and POST /v1/sessions/async each have their own per-minute budget. The caps match:

Plan	Sessions per minute
Free	5
Starter	25
Team	50
Growth	100
Enterprise	200+

A higher cap is an account override. The per-minute limiter returns 429 before a session exists. That response includes RateLimit, RateLimit-Policy, and Retry-After, so retrying it does not create a second session. A 429 with no Retry-After is a concurrency cap: the API key’s concurrent-browser limit, which clears when a session ends, or too many session creations in flight at once. The API does not read an Idempotency-Key header. Retrying a 5xx or 409 can create a second session. 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 412, and 422 are terminal. GET /v1/sessions/{session_id}/recordings/{recording_id}/fetch is capped at 2,000 requests per team per hour and sends the same rate-limit headers.

Next steps

Create a session

SDK quick start — create, connect with Playwright or Puppeteer, automate.

Async sessions

Non-blocking create and poll until ready.

Batch sessions

Create many sessions in one API call.

Session recordings

Record and replay sessions after they end.

Introduction

Platform

Integrations

Account

What you get back

How to create

Configure at create

Rate limits

Next steps

Create a session

Async sessions

Batch sessions

Session recordings

​What you get back

​How to create

​Configure at create

​Rate limits

​Next steps

Create a session

Async sessions

Batch sessions

Session recordings

What you get back

How to create

Configure at create

Rate limits

Next steps