Run Browser Use or Playwright With Real Chrome in a Cloud VM

id=$(sbx new --json | jq -r 'select(.event == "ready") | .id')
sbx exec $id "which google-chrome; google-chrome --version"

/usr/bin/google-chrome
Google Chrome 155.0.8059.39

# shot.py
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(channel="chrome", headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto("https://example.com")
    print(browser.version, "|", page.title())
    page.screenshot(path="example.png")
    browser.close()

sbx scp shot.py $id:/home/user/shot.py
sbx exec $id "uv venv -q bu && . bu/bin/activate && uv pip install -q playwright"
sbx exec $id ". bu/bin/activate && python shot.py && file example.png"

155.0.8059.39 | Example Domain
example.png: PNG image data, 1280 x 720, 8-bit/color RGB, non-interlaced

// shot.mjs
import { chromium } from "playwright";

const browser = await chromium.launch({ channel: "chrome", headless: !process.env.HEADED });
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto("https://example.com");
console.log(browser.version(), "|", await page.title());
await page.screenshot({ path: "example.png" });
await browser.close();

155.0.8059.39 | Example Domain

$ sbx exec $id "cd pw && HEADED=1 DISPLAY=:1 node shot.mjs"
browserType.launch: Target page, context or browser has been closed
…ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/x11/ozone_platform_x11.cc:257] Missing X server or $DISPLAY

sbx desktop $id --no-open --json

{"ok":true,"type":"desktop.url","desktopUrl":"https://ocean-curious-panda-6080.box.sandboxer.com/vnc.html?_token=…&autoconnect=true&path=websockify&reconnect=true&resize=remote", …,"message":"WebRTC streaming is not available yet; streaming over VNC.","mode":"vnc", …}

sbx exec $id "pgrep -a Xvfb"

760 /usr/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1920x1080x24 -noreset -nolisten tcp +extension RANDR

# keep.py: a headed browser with a profile on the disk
import time
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    ctx = p.chromium.launch_persistent_context(
        "/data/chrome-agent", channel="chrome", headless=False, no_viewport=True)
    page = ctx.pages[0]
    page.goto("https://httpbin.org/cookies/set?session=signed-in")
    print("cookies:", [c["name"] + "=" + c["value"] for c in ctx.cookies()], flush=True)
    while True:          # keep the browser open; your agent works here
        print(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S"), page.url, flush=True)
        time.sleep(5)

sbx exec $id "sudo mkdir -p /data && sudo chown user /data"
sbx scp keep.py $id:/home/user/keep.py
sbx exec $id --detach ". bu/bin/activate && DISPLAY=:1 python keep.py > keep.log 2>&1"
sbx exec $id "head -2 keep.log"

cookies: ['session=signed-in']
02:24:39 https://httpbin.org/cookies