firefox-browser

Firefox Browser Automation with Playwright

Always use the user's real Firefox profile instead of launching a fresh automated instance. Fresh automated browsers get flagged by bot detection (Google login bans, CAPTCHAs, account locks). Using the real profile inherits cookies, extensions, and fingerprint.

Uses Playwright's Firefox engine. Install with npx playwright install firefox.

Setup: Find Your Firefox Profile

# macOS
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/
# Look for: xxxxxxxx.default-release

# Linux
ls ~/.mozilla/firefox/

Set the FIREFOX_PROFILE env var for convenience:

# macOS
export FIREFOX_PROFILE="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/YOUR_PROFILE.default-release"

# Linux
export FIREFOX_PROFILE="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/YOUR_PROFILE.default-release"

Core Pattern — Use Real Profile

Copy the user's profile to a temp directory (avoids lock conflicts with running Firefox) and launch with it:

node <<'SCRIPT'
const { firefox } = require('playwright');
const { execSync } = require('child_process');
const os = require('os');
const path = require('path');

(async () => {
  const sourceProfile = process.env.FIREFOX_PROFILE;
  const tempProfile = path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'firefox-automation-profile');

  // Copy profile (preserves cookies, extensions, history)
  execSync(`rm -rf "${tempProfile}" && cp -R "${sourceProfile}" "${tempProfile}"`);
  // Remove lock files and compatibility markers (Playwright's Firefox is a different version)
  execSync(`rm -f "${tempProfile}/lock" "${tempProfile}/.parentlock" "${tempProfile}/parent.lock" "${tempProfile}/compatibility.ini"`);

  const context = await firefox.launchPersistentContext(tempProfile, {
    headless: false,
  });

  const page = context.pages()[0] || await context.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  await page.waitForLoadState('domcontentloaded');

  console.log('Title:', await page.title());
  console.log('URL:', page.url());
  await page.screenshot({ path: '/tmp/firefox-screenshot.png' });

  await context.close();
})();
SCRIPT