Puppeteer on termux

Run Puppeteer on Termux

What is Termux?

Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app that works directly with no rooting or setup required. A minimal base system is installed automatically - additional packages are available using the APT package manager.

Assumptions

• You have termux installed and have sufficient permissions
• You have logged-in as root user
• You are okay with running Puppeteer inside a container (Alpine)

Gotchas

• There is no build of Google Chrome available for ARM at this moment, so using chromium instead.
• Installing chromium on Termux directly requires snap which is another big hurdle so alternatively using alpine distro here.

Install Prerequisites

pkg install proot-distro
proot-distro install alpine
proot-distro login alpine
apk update && apk add --no-cache nmap && \
  echo @edge http://nl.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community >> /etc/apk/repositories && \
  echo @edge http://nl.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main >> /etc/apk/repositories && \
  apk update && \
  apk add --no-cache \
  chromium

• Node js v12.14+
• Yarn v1.22+

Usage

git clone https://github.com/rishabhrpg/puppeteer-on-termux.git
cd puppeteer-on-termux
yarn install
node index.js

• If you see a message "screenshot saved" then puppeteer is successfully configured to run on termux
• Use this repo as starting point as it has correct args included to successfully run chromium on termux
• To view screenshot on your device you can run npx http-server and aceess the screenshot directory from a browser.

References

• Puppeteer running as root without --no-sandbox is not supported
• Set up Headless Chrome Node.js server in Docker
• Enjoyable browser automation with Puppeteer
• Set Chrome Flags in Puppeteer

License

MIT