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C

chromote

INFRA · APIS
Velocity0.0

Drive headless Chrome from R using the Chrome DevTools Protocol

github.com/rstudio/chromote ↗

chromote turned the browser itself into a pinned, downloadable dependency.

headless chromebrowser automationreproducibilitydevtools protocolr testing
◆Current state
chromote drives headless Chrome from R over the DevTools Protocol and underpins the R screenshot and app-testing stack. The visible history is shaped almost entirely by Chrome's own changes: old headless mode removed, DevTools URLs moved, viewport APIs deprecated. Version 0.5.0 answered that by letting chromote fetch and pin specific Chrome builds itself.
◆Where it's heading
The package has moved from reacting to Chrome upgrades to controlling them. The 0.3.0 and 0.4.0 pair tracked the headless-mode transition by first adding an option and then flipping the default; 0.5.0 removed the need to track it at all by managing versioned binaries through Chrome for Testing. Alongside that, the session API keeps accumulating helpers that collapse multi-step DevTools call sequences, such as $go_to() and $set_viewport_size().
◆Prediction
The version-management features shipped marked experimental, so the likely next step is stabilizing that API and extending the session helpers that wrap common DevTools sequences.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1y ago

    $go_to() helper added; DevTools view fixed for Chrome 135

    Adds $go_to(), which reliably waits for page load instead of pairing Page$navigate() with Page$loadEventFired(), and updates $view() for the DevTools frontend URL Chrome 135 introduced. Both continue the pattern of wrapping fragile protocol sequences.

    View source ↗
  2. 1y ago

    Versioned Chrome downloads and viewport control arrive

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release that made the browser a managed dependency rather than an ambient one, adding versioned Chrome downloads, per-block version pinning, viewport sizing and mobile emulation. Everything since has been refinement on this base.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    Default switches to new headless mode for Chrome v132+

    Drops the --headless=old default now that Chrome v132 no longer supports it, and adds chromote_info() for debugging plus consistent log file naming. Completes the headless transition that 0.3.0 opened.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    Headless mode now selectable via option or env var

    Exposes the headless mode as a chromote.headless option or CHROMOTE_HEADLESS variable while keeping the old mode as the default, letting users test Chrome v128's new engine ahead of the switch. A deliberately staged migration.

    View source ↗
  5. 1y ago

    Fix launch_chrome() error caused by a typo

    A same-day patch for a typo that made launch_chrome() throw. No functional change beyond the repair.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    is_active() redefined; adds respawn() and screenshot options

    A broad session-API pass with a breaking redefinition of Chromote$is_active() to mean connection rather than liveness, a new is_alive() taking the old meaning, session $respawn() via a recorded targetId, and screenshot format inference plus a pass-through options argument.

    View source ↗