I’ve hit a snag while trying to use a web automation tool on a cloud platform. My script works perfectly on my local Windows machine, but when I deploy it to the cloud, it crashes. The error logs suggest there might be some missing dependencies.
Here’s a simplified version of my code:
const webAutomation = require('web-auto-tool');
async function capturePage() {
const instance = await webAutomation.start();
const tab = await instance.createTab();
await tab.navigate('https://example.com');
await tab.saveAsPDF('output.pdf');
await instance.shutdown();
}
capturePage();
The error message mentions something about a missing shared library. Does anyone know how to get this working on a cloud environment? I’m not sure if I need to install additional packages or modify my deployment settings. Any help would be appreciated!
I’ve been down this road before, and it can be frustrating. The missing shared library error usually points to Chrome dependencies not being present on your cloud environment. Here’s what worked for me:
First, make sure you’re using a Linux-based cloud instance. Then, you’ll need to install the necessary dependencies. I found that using a shell script to set up the environment before running your Node.js app works well.
Create a setup.sh file with something like this:
#!/bin/bash
apt-get update && apt-get install -y wget gnupg
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add -
echo ‘deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main’ >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list
apt-get update && apt-get install -y google-chrome-stable
Run this script before deploying your app. Also, consider using a library like Puppeteer instead of ‘web-auto-tool’ - it’s designed to work with headless Chrome and often handles these issues more gracefully.
If you’re still stuck, check your cloud provider’s documentation. They might have specific instructions for running headless browsers in their environment.
I’ve encountered similar issues when deploying Chrome-based automation scripts to cloud environments. The problem often stems from missing system dependencies that Chrome relies on. To resolve this, you’ll likely need to install these dependencies on your cloud instance.
For most Linux-based cloud environments, you can try installing the following packages:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y gconf-service libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libc6 libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libfontconfig1 libgcc1 libgconf-2-4 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libglib2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libnspr4 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1-0 libstdc++6 libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxss1 libxtst6 ca-certificates fonts-liberation libappindicator1 libnss3 lsb-release xdg-utils wget
Additionally, ensure your cloud instance has enough RAM and CPU allocated to run Chrome. If issues persist, consider using a headless browser like Puppeteer, which often has better compatibility with cloud environments.
hey mate, i’ve had similar probs. try using docker - it can package everything u need. create a Dockerfile with all the chrome deps, then build and run ur container on the cloud. it’s a bit of work but once set up, it’ll save u headaches. good luck!