go-rod/rod

★ 6,917GoAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Rod))
    What it does
      Browser automation
      Web scraping
      Screenshot capture
    Key features
      Auto element wait
      Request intercept
      Thread safe
    Built on
      Chrome DevTools
      Go standard context
    Use cases
      E2E testing
      Data scraping
      CI pipelines

mindmap root((Rod)) What it does Browser automation Web scraping Screenshot capture Key features Auto element wait Request intercept Thread safe Built on Chrome DevTools Go standard context Use cases E2E testing Data scraping CI pipelines

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Write a Go program to scrape data from a JavaScript-rendered website that requires a real browser to load content

USE CASE 2

Build end-to-end browser tests in Go that click buttons, fill forms, and assert page content without a separate testing framework

USE CASE 3

Take automated screenshots of web pages as part of a CI pipeline using Rod's screenshot helpers

USE CASE 4

Intercept and mock HTTP responses during automated browser tests to isolate frontend behavior

Tech stack

GoChrome DevTools Protocol

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Chrome or Chromium installed on the machine, Rod downloads a compatible version automatically if none is found.

In plain English

Rod is a Go library for controlling a Chrome browser programmatically. It is built directly on the Chrome DevTools Protocol, which is the same low-level interface that powers Chrome's built-in developer tools. Rod uses it to automate a browser for tasks like web scraping, end-to-end testing, taking screenshots, or any workflow that involves loading and interacting with web pages without a human at the keyboard. The library is aimed at Go developers who need browser automation at either a high or low level. High-level helpers handle common tasks: waiting for an element to appear before interacting with it, detecting when a page has stopped making network requests, intercepting HTTP traffic, and managing file downloads. For developers who need more control, the lower-level packages used internally are also accessible directly. A few design points stand out in the README. Rod uses Go's standard context system for timeouts and cancellation, so you can attach a deadline to any browser operation and it will stop cleanly when time runs out. All operations are thread-safe. Elements are automatically waited on before interaction, which reduces the kind of timing failures common in browser automation. If a browser process crashes, Rod is designed not to leave behind orphaned browser processes. The README points to an examples file in the repository and to the GitHub issues and discussions as the primary places to find usage patterns. Rod is compared in the documentation to Chromedp, another Go browser automation library, with a side-by-side example. A Discord community is available for questions and support.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Using Rod in Go, write a script that navigates to a URL, waits for a specific CSS selector to appear, reads its text content, and prints it to stdout.

Prompt 2

I want to write an end-to-end test in Go with Rod that fills in a login form, submits it, and verifies a dashboard heading is visible. Show me the full test code.

Prompt 3

How do I use Rod to intercept an outgoing HTTP request during a browser test and return a mock JSON response instead?

Prompt 4

Show me how to attach a context deadline to a Rod browser operation so it cancels cleanly after 30 seconds if the page never loads.

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