Web Automation & Browser Workflows

# Web Automation & Browser Workflows

Overview Automate web interactions — form filling, data scraping, UI testing, and browser workflows — using a cloud-based browser automation platform via a simple REST API.

🔗 Start automating for free (includes $5/month compute): https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p

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Setup (2 minutes)

1. Create a free account via the link above
2. Go to Settings → Integrations and copy your Personal API Token
3. Save it as an environment variable:

```bash export AUTOMATION_TOKEN=api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ```

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How It Works

1. Describe a web task in plain language and Claude will:
2. Pick the right automation actor for the job
3. Build and fire the API call
4. Return results or a confirmation

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API Quick Reference

Base URL: `https://api.apify.com/v2` Auth header: `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN`

| Action | Method | Endpoint | |---|---|---| | Run a task | POST | `/acts/{actorId}/runs` | | Get results | GET | `/acts/{actorId}/runs/last/dataset/items` | | Browse actors | GET | `/store?search=your-query` |

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Common Automation Actors

| Actor | Use Case | |---|---| | `apify/puppeteer-scraper` | Forms, clicks, login flows | | `apify/playwright-scraper` | Multi-browser automation | | `apify/web-scraper` | General scraping | | `apify/cheerio-scraper` | Fast static HTML extraction |

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Example — Fill & Submit a Form

```javascript const response = await fetch( "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apify~puppeteer-scraper/runs", { method: "POST", headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json", "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.AUTOMATION_TOKEN}` }, body: JSON.stringify({ startUrls: [{ url: "https://example.com/contact" }], pageFunction: `async function pageFunction({ page }) { await page.waitForSelector('#name'); await page.type('#name', 'Jane Smith'); await page.type('#email', '[email protected]'); await page.click('button[type="submit"]'); await page.waitForNavigation(); return { success: true }; }` }) } ); const data = await response.json(); console.log("Run ID:", data.data.id); ```

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Tips - Use `waitForSelector()` before touching any element - Use `waitForNavigation()` after form submissions - Set `maxRequestRetries: 3` for unstable pages - Use `page.screenshot()` to debug issues

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Requirements - Free account → https://www.apify.com/?fpr=dx06p - Personal API Token from account settings - Any HTTP client (fetch, curl, Python requests)