Hi everyone,
I’m working on a Python project where I need to open a website in a headless browser and then make additional HTTP requests using that same browser session. The goal is to make these requests appear as natural browser activity while keeping all the session data like cookies intact.
I already know how to capture network traffic when a page loads initially, but I want to send more GET requests afterward. The tricky part is that the target site uses Cloudflare protection with special cookies like cf_clearance tokens.
Is there a way to maintain the browser context and send these follow-up requests so they look legitimate? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Been down this road tons of times with protected sites. Cookie extraction works but you’ll hit timing issues and token refresh headaches fast.
I skip manual cookie handling now. Just set up automation that controls the browser and handles HTTP requests in one flow. Browser context stays alive and Cloudflare tokens get managed automatically.
Let the page load first, wait for Cloudflare to finish, then run your requests through the same browser instance. No cookie extraction and everything looks natural.
I use this for competitor pricing monitoring - works on even the nastiest protection systems. Browser session stays warm and requests flow perfectly.
Build workflows with visual automation tools instead of fighting code. Latenode handles browser automation and HTTP requests together: https://latenode.com
yep, selenium webdriver is a solid choice! just load up the page, then use driver.get_cookies() to get all the cookies, and add 'em to your requests session. worked for me with cloudflare too - super effective!
Playwright’s perfect for this. Skip the cookie extraction stuff - just run JavaScript directly in the browser to make your HTTP requests. Once the page loads and Cloudflare’s done, use page.evaluate() to run fetch requests right in the browser. Everything stays in the same session without any cookie headaches. The requests automatically inherit all the browser state - headers, cookies, fingerprinting data, everything. I’ve used this on tons of projects with bot detection. The big win? Your requests are actual browser requests, not HTTP calls pretending to be a browser.