Unexpected Puppeteer crashes during web scraping

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

Hey everyone, I’m having trouble with a Puppeteer script I wrote. It’s supposed to grab info from a website, go through pages, and print data. But it keeps crashing randomly with a ‘Target Close’ error. I’ve tried adding delays and using different Node versions, but no luck.

Here’s a simplified version of what I’m working with:

const scraper = async () => {
  const browser = await launchBrowser();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com/list');

  const parseContent = async () => {
    const items = await page.$$('.item');
    for (const item of items) {
      const title = await item.$eval('.title', el => el.textContent);
      const details = await item.$eval('.details', el => el.textContent);
      console.log({ title, details });
    }
  };

  for (let i = 1; i <= 50; i++) {
    await parseContent();
    if (i < 50) {
      await page.click('#nextPage');
      await page.waitForSelector('.item');
    }
  }

  await browser.close();
};

scraper();

Any ideas on what might be causing this? I think it might be related to how I’m handling pagination, but I’m not sure. Thanks for any help!

2

I’ve encountered similar issues in my web scraping projects. One effective solution I found was implementing a retry mechanism. When a ‘Target Close’ error occurs, have your script wait for a short period (e.g., 5-10 seconds) and then attempt to relaunch the browser and continue from where it left off. This approach helped me handle intermittent connection issues or temporary resource constraints.

Additionally, consider implementing a more robust page navigation strategy. Instead of relying solely on clicking ‘#nextPage’, try using page.evaluate() to check if the next page button is present and clickable before attempting navigation. This can prevent errors caused by slow-loading elements or unexpected page structures.

Lastly, monitor your system resources during scraping. If you’re hitting memory limits, you might need to adjust your script to process data in smaller batches or implement a queue system to manage concurrent scraping tasks more efficiently.

3

I’ve experienced similar issues and found that handling errors more proactively can improve stability. In my own work, I wrapped the main scraping logic in try-catch blocks and restarted the browser when needed to avoid unexpected terminations. I switched to alternatives like Puppeteer-cluster on long sessions, which provided better performance. Allowing extra time for page transitions helped prevent race conditions, and periodically closing and reopening the browser made a noticeable difference. Finally, ensuring a stable network connection and, if necessary, using a proxy further reduced crashes.

4

yo, had similar probs. try adding error handling with try-catch. also give each action more time, like waiting for page load after clicking next. network delays and high ram usage can cause issues. hope it helps!