Today, we are excited to extend Zyte’s headless browser capabilities with new features that support modern browser automation workflows, without requiring developers to rewrite how they already work.
Our new support for Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) lets teams run Playwright and Puppeteer browser automation workflows on Zyte’s best-in-class infrastructure.
Browser automation is an inevitable part of modern web data collection. Data may appear on a page only after JavaScript execution. Zyte’s State of Web Access research shows 40.6% of the top visited websites worldwide require JavaScript rendering in a browser.
CDP is the underlying protocol that lets compatible tools drive a Chromium-based browser, whether to open a tab, navigate, click or read the Document Object Model (DOM). Playwright and Puppeteer both use CDP under the hood.
Zyte API, our web scraping API, boasts its own browser automation actions - handy commands for performing on-page actions. But we know some customers want to run their existing browser automation scripts while also benefiting from infrastructure that brings unrivalled access to websites.
Now, through our new WebSocket-enabled CDP connection, they can. Zyte manages browser sessions, smart proxy routing, and anti-blocking behind the scenes, letting customers focus only on their automation scripts.
Infrastructure advantage for unblocking
According to Proxyway’s independent Web Scraping API Report for 2025, the infrastructure underpinning Zyte API is the industry’s #1 vendor for accessing challenging sites, as well as for speed.
By bringing CDP support, the goal is to simplify browser-based scraping while improving reliability, scalability, and ease of use.
For existing users who love Zyte API’s headless browser, there is no change; our REST API keeps on trucking, with browser actions and the same great underlying infrastructure.
In fact, Zyte’s target-aware intelligence only invokes a typical browser session when absolutely necessary, ensuring customers always pay only the lowest possible cost.
How it works
Users can connect to a Zyte-managed browser session through the WebSocket transport protocol via the endpoint https://browser.zyte.com/
From there, Zyte infrastructure, rather than your own environment, takes the strain. Zyte’s platform provides scraping-specific unblocking capabilities for browser sessions.
Observability comes in as standard. CDP usage reports and logs are available via our Zyte dashboard interface. Screenshots, network capture and logging are all supported via Playwright and Puppeteer.
Who is this for?
This launch is built for data-gathering engineers who want to scale browser automation into production without the pain of infrastructure, bans, or code rewrites.
It’s also ideal for teams building agentic workflows or integrating browser automation into AI-powered agents.
This is a major leap for teams who want to “lift and shift” their browser automation from local machines or fragile infrastructure to Zyte’s managed, resilient cloud environment.
Zyte’s managed CDP browser sessions are robust enough for even the most demanding use cases.
Benefits
- Unblocking excellence: Harness Zyte’s #1 infrastructure, with adaptive, self-healing unblocking and a huge, always up-to-date library of access strategies.
- Zero rewrite: No need to change your selectors, flows, or automation logic. Just point to the new WebSocket API endpoint.
- Production-grade reliability: Zyte manages browser orchestration, IP rotation, and anti-bot logic for you.
- Scalability: Instantly run concurrent sessions without building your own fleet.
- Cost control: Pay only for the session time you use, with transparent browser unit billing.
- Future-proof: CDP is the industry standard for browser automation, compatible with all major frameworks.
Try it now
Ready to take your browser automation to the next level? Check out Zyte’s CDP headless browser docs for endpoint details, code samples, and integration guides.
Onboarding and quickstart code generation is on-hand in the Zyte Playground.
Pay only for the session time you use, with transparent browser unit billing.
If you’re migrating from local or legacy infrastructure, our support team can help you get up and running in minutes.
