Browser watching

Browser watching shows live frames from a browser running in your subshell.

Before you start

Complete Preview prerequisites and setup for web previews on a Linux node. You'll also need Chrome or Chromium with its Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) remote-debugging interface enabled.

Enable remote debugging using your browser's supported configuration. Chrome requires a separate user data directory when using --remote-debugging-port; see Chrome's remote debugging requirements. Keep the debugging listener on loopback and use a dedicated testing profile; don't publish it to your network. Installing a browser or opening a website alone doesn't enable CDP.

You need view access to watch the browser discovered for the subshell. A view-only share can't choose another browser port on the node.

Open and stop watching

1. Start the browser from the subshell with remote debugging enabled.
2. Use the Web previews & screens icon in the subshell header to open Open web preview or screen.
3. Select Browser when it appears. Its live frames open in a workspace tab.
4. Close the preview tab when you're done watching. The browser and subshell keep running.

If no browser appears, check that it belongs to the selected subshell and its remote-debugging interface is available on the node's loopback address. The viewer reports when it's waiting for frames or has no recent frames.

Screencast limits

This is a read-only screencast at up to five frames per second. It doesn't send keyboard or pointer input to the browser. Use Linux virtual displays when you need to control it.

See Arrange and refresh views for workspace controls. The server can read browser frames; review Preview security before sharing a subshell.

Edit on GitHub