Browser Sessions

Scrape authenticated content by saving and reusing login sessions

Tip:

Session data is protected using AES-256-GCM encryption with complete user isolation.

The system does not collect, store, or retain passwords, authentication secrets, or credentials at any time.

Session data is permanently and irreversibly deleted upon user-initiated session removal.

What are Browser Sessions?

Browser sessions allow you to scrape content that requires authentication. Instead of handling complex login flows programmatically, you log in once through a real browser, and we save your session for future API requests.

This is useful for scraping:

Account dashboards and order history
Subscription-based content
Social media profiles
Any page that requires a login

How It Works

There are two ways to create a session:

Option A: Interactive (Dashboard)

Create — From your dashboard, click Create Session to launch an interactive browser
Log in — Navigate to the website and log in with your credentials. Complete 2FA or captchas as needed
Save — Click Save Session to encrypt and store your cookies and localStorage

Option B: Programmatic (Browser API)

Save sessions directly from Browser API — just add ?save_session=my-name when connecting. The session auto-saves when you disconnect:

browser = await p.chromium.connect_over_cdp(
    "wss://api.anakin.io/v1/browser-connect?save_session=my-amazon-login&save_url=https://amazon.com",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your_api_key"},
)
# ... automate login with Playwright ...
await browser.close()  # session auto-saved

Use in API Requests

Include the sessionId in your scrape requests. The API will use your saved session to access authenticated pages.

Using Sessions with the API

Add the sessionId parameter to your URL Scraper request:

{
  "url": "https://amazon.com/your-orders",
  "sessionId": "session_abc123xyz",
  "country": "us"
}

When using a session, browser-based scraping is automatically enabled since sessions require a full browser environment.

curl -X POST https://api.anakin.io/v1/url-scraper \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://amazon.com/your-orders",
    "sessionId": "session_abc123xyz",
    "country": "us"
  }'

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.anakin.io/v1/url-scraper',
    headers={'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key'},
    json={
        'url': 'https://amazon.com/your-orders',
        'sessionId': 'session_abc123xyz',
        'country': 'us'
    }
)

data = response.json()
print(f"Job submitted: {data['jobId']}")

const response = await fetch('https://api.anakin.io/v1/url-scraper', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://amazon.com/your-orders',
    sessionId: 'session_abc123xyz',
    country: 'us'
  })
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.jobId);

Using Sessions with Browser API

You can also load saved sessions into Browser API for full programmatic control of an authenticated browser. Pass ?session_id or ?session_name when connecting:

import asyncio
from playwright.async_api import async_playwright

async def main():
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.connect_over_cdp(
            "wss://api.anakin.io/v1/browser-connect?session_id=session_abc123xyz",
            headers={"X-API-Key": "your_api_key"},
        )
        page = browser.contexts[0].pages[0]

        # Cookies are pre-loaded — navigate directly to authenticated pages
        await page.goto("https://amazon.com/your-orders")
        orders = await page.evaluate("document.title")
        print("Page:", orders)

        await browser.close()

asyncio.run(main())

const { chromium } = require('playwright');

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(
    'wss://api.anakin.io/v1/browser-connect?session_name=my-amazon-login',
    { headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'your_api_key' } }
  );
  const page = browser.contexts()[0].pages()[0];

  await page.goto('https://amazon.com/your-orders');
  console.log('Title:', await page.title());

  await browser.close();
})();

This is useful when:

You need to interact with authenticated pages (click, scroll, fill forms)
The URL Scraper API doesn't give you enough control
You want to combine session auth with custom Playwright/Puppeteer automation

See the Browser API docs for full details.

Managing Sessions

You can manage your sessions from the dashboard or via the API.

API Reference

All session endpoints require an X-API-Key header.

List sessions

GET /v1/sessions

Returns all sessions belonging to the authenticated user. Optionally filter by domain:

curl https://api.anakin.io/v1/sessions \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key"

# Filter by domain
curl "https://api.anakin.io/v1/sessions?domain=amazon.com" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key"

Rename a session

PATCH /v1/sessions/:id

curl -X PATCH https://api.anakin.io/v1/sessions/session_abc123 \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "new-session-name"}'

Delete a session

DELETE /v1/sessions/:id

Permanently deletes the session and its encrypted storage from S3. This action is irreversible.

curl -X DELETE https://api.anakin.io/v1/sessions/session_abc123 \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_api_key"