I need to build an automated solution that can perform specific tasks on websites without opening a visible browser window. The goal is to schedule these operations to run automatically at certain times.
I’m looking for options that work well with PowerShell, JavaScript (Node.js), or any framework built on .NET. The key requirement is that everything must be controllable from the terminal or command line interface.
I’ve been exploring different approaches and came across browser automation tools, but I’m not sure which direction to take. Another question I have is about network activity recording - can you capture web interactions in some kind of replay format and then execute those recorded steps later? Or are those recording formats only meant for analysis and debugging purposes?
Any suggestions for the best tools or libraries to accomplish this kind of web automation would be really helpful.
Been doing headless automation for years - skip the recording approach. HAR files and browser recordings break constantly with dynamic content and CSRF tokens. Write scripts from scratch instead. For PowerShell, use Selenium WebDriver. It integrates perfectly with PowerShell modules, setup’s easy, and you can manage Chrome/Firefox drivers through PowerShell cmdlets. Works great with Windows Task Scheduler. One thing people miss - handle timeouts and errors properly. Headless browsers hang forever if pages don’t load right, and you won’t see it happening. Always use explicit waits and have backup logic when elements don’t show up.
Playwright’s my go-to for headless automation - way better than Puppeteer. The biggest win is cross-browser support. Same code works on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. If you’re in .NET, the bindings are solid and play nice with PowerShell.
For network recording, skip the raw logs and use Playwright Inspector instead. It captures everything as actual code, not just debug info. The scripts it generates are production-ready and run without tweaking. This beats trying to replay network logs since most sites use dynamic tokens and session states that’ll break simple replays.
For scheduling, I just throw these into Windows Task Scheduler or cron jobs. Being headless makes them perfect for servers where you need stuff running without babysitting.
puppeteer is pretty cool for node.js taskz - it runs chrome without a ui & can b used with schedulers. if ur into .NET, then selenium webdriver is also a good option with powershell. u can record actions, but they r mainly for debug purposes. coding it out is better for consistent results.