Implementing Puppeteer with Vue.js framework

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

I want to add Puppeteer functionality to my Vue.js project for creating PDF documents and taking screenshots. I created a method that uses Puppeteer to capture screenshots and it runs fine on its own.

export const DocumentGenerator = {
    captureScreenshot: async function(targetElement, identifier) {
        const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
        const browserInstance = await puppeteer.launch();
        const newPage = await browserInstance.newPage();
        // Screenshot logic here
    }
}

When I try to use this method in my Vue component, Puppeteer fails to load properly. The require statement works without errors, but calling puppeteer.launch() gives me this error:

TypeError: nodeFunction is undefined

I heard that Puppeteer might not be compatible with client-side applications. Am I going in the wrong direction here?

What’s the best way to make this work? If Puppeteer won’t work, what other options do I have for generating PDFs and screenshots in Vue.js?

Any help would be appreciated.

2

yep, puppeteer is a node tool, not meant for the browser. u should set up a node backend and call it via API from vue. alternatively, html2canvas and jsPDF are easier for client-side PDF and screenshots.

3

That nodeFunction error happens because you’re trying to run Node.js code in a browser. Puppeteer uses Node.js APIs that browsers don’t have - I’ve hit this same issue in production apps. Best fix is to create a backend endpoint that handles the Puppeteer stuff. Your Vue app sends the data to this endpoint, which generates the PDF/screenshot and sends it back. Plus it keeps the heavy processing off your client. If you really need client-side generation, look into browser-compatible alternatives to Puppeteer, but they’re pretty limited. The backend route gives you full Puppeteer power and keeps things clean.

4

You’re running into this because Puppeteer is a Node.js library that only works server-side, not in the browser where Vue components run. It’s trying to access Node.js features that don’t exist on the client side. I hit the same problem before. What worked for me was setting up a separate Node.js backend API to handle the PDF generation and screenshots, then calling it from Vue using axios or fetch. If you want a client-side solution, check out jsPDF for PDFs or html2canvas for screenshots - though both have their limitations.