Show HN: PyDoll – Async Python scraping engine with native CAPTCHA bypass

4 months ago 6

Documentation • Getting Started • Advanced Features • Contributing • Support • License

🔹 Zero Webdrivers! Say goodbye to webdriver compatibility nightmares
🔹 Native Captcha Bypass! Smoothly handles Cloudflare Turnstile and reCAPTCHA v3*
🔹 Async Performance for lightning-fast automation
🔹 Human-like Interactions that mimic real user behavior
🔹 Powerful Event System for reactive automations
🔹 Multi-browser Support including Chrome and Edge

Picture this: you need to automate browser tasks. Maybe it's testing your web application, scraping data from websites, or automating repetitive processes. Traditionally, this meant dealing with external drivers, complex configurations, and a host of compatibility issues that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

But there's another challenge that's even more frustrating: modern web protection systems. Cloudflare Turnstile captchas, reCAPTCHA v3, and sophisticated bot detection algorithms that can instantly identify and block traditional automation tools. Your perfectly written automation script fails not because of bugs, but because websites can tell it's not human.

Pydoll was born to change that.

Built from the ground up with a different philosophy, Pydoll connects directly to the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), eliminating the need for external drivers entirely. More importantly, it incorporates advanced human behavior simulation and intelligent captcha bypass capabilities that make your automations virtually indistinguishable from real human interactions.

We believe that powerful automation shouldn't require you to become a configuration expert or constantly battle with anti-bot systems. With Pydoll, you focus on what matters: your automation logic, not the underlying complexity or protection bypassing.

What Makes Pydoll Special

Intelligent Captcha Bypass: Built-in automatic solving for Cloudflare Turnstile and reCAPTCHA v3 captchas without external services, API keys, or complex configurations. Your automations continue seamlessly even when encountering protection systems.
Truly Human Interactions: Advanced algorithms simulate authentic human behavior patterns - from realistic timing between actions to natural mouse movements, scroll patterns, and typing rhythms that fool even sophisticated bot detection systems.
Genuine Simplicity: We don't want you wasting time configuring drivers or dealing with compatibility issues. With Pydoll, you install and you're ready to automate, even on protected sites.
Native Async Performance: Built from the ground up with asyncio, Pydoll doesn't just support asynchronous operations - it was designed for them, enabling concurrent processing of multiple protected sites.
Powerful Network Monitoring: Intercept, modify, and analyze all network traffic with ease, giving you complete control over requests and responses - perfect for bypassing additional protection layers.
Event-Driven Architecture: React to page events, network requests, and user interactions in real-time, enabling sophisticated automation flows that adapt to dynamic protection systems.
Intuitive Element Finding: Modern find() and query() methods that make sense and work as you'd expect, even with dynamically loaded content from protection systems.
Robust Type Safety: Comprehensive type system for better IDE support and error prevention in complex automation scenarios.

pip install pydoll-python

That's it. No drivers to download, no complex configurations. Just install and start automating.

Let's start with something simple. The code below opens a browser, navigates to a website, and interacts with elements:

import asyncio from pydoll.browser import Chrome async def my_first_automation(): # Create a browser instance async with Chrome() as browser: # Start the browser and get a tab tab = await browser.start() # Navigate to a website await tab.go_to('https://example.com') # Find elements intuitively button = await tab.find(tag_name='button', class_name='submit') await button.click() # Or use CSS selectors/XPath directly link = await tab.query('a[href*="contact"]') await link.click() # Run the automation asyncio.run(my_first_automation())

Sometimes you need more control. Pydoll offers flexible configuration options:

from pydoll.browser import Chrome from pydoll.browser.options import ChromiumOptions async def custom_automation(): # Configure browser options options = ChromiumOptions() options.add_argument('--proxy-server=username:password@ip:port') options.add_argument('--window-size=1920,1080') options.add_argument('--disable-web-security') options.binary_location = '/path/to/your/browser' async with Chrome(options=options) as browser: tab = await browser.start() # Your automation code here await tab.go_to('https://example.com') # The browser is now using your custom settings asyncio.run(custom_automation())

Intelligent Captcha Bypass

One of Pydoll's most revolutionary features is its ability to automatically handle modern captcha systems that typically block automation tools. This isn't just about solving captchas - it's about making your automations completely transparent to protection systems.

Supported Captcha Types:

Cloudflare Turnstile - The modern replacement for reCAPTCHA
reCAPTCHA v3 - Google's invisible captcha system
Custom implementations - Extensible framework for new captcha types

import asyncio from pydoll.browser import Chrome async def advanced_captcha_bypass(): async with Chrome() as browser: tab = await browser.start() # Method 1: Context manager (waits for captcha completion) async with tab.expect_and_bypass_cloudflare_captcha(): await tab.go_to('https://site-with-cloudflare.com') print("Cloudflare Turnstile automatically solved!") # Continue with your automation - captcha is handled await tab.find(id='username').type('[email protected]') await tab.find(id='password').type('password123') await tab.find(tag_name='button', text='Login').click() # Method 2: Background processing (non-blocking) await tab.enable_auto_solve_cloudflare_captcha() await tab.go_to('https://another-protected-site.com') # Captcha solved automatically in background while code continues # Method 3: Custom captcha selector for specific implementations await tab.enable_auto_solve_cloudflare_captcha( custom_selector=(By.CLASS_NAME, 'custom-captcha-widget'), time_before_click=3, # Wait 3 seconds before solving time_to_wait_captcha=10 # Timeout after 10 seconds ) await tab.disable_auto_solve_cloudflare_captcha() asyncio.run(advanced_captcha_bypass())

Why This Matters:

No External Dependencies: No need for captcha solving services or API keys
Cost Effective: Eliminate monthly captcha solving service fees
Reliable: Works consistently without depending on third-party availability
Fast: Instant solving without network delays to external services
Seamless Integration: Captcha bypass happens transparently in your automation flow

Pydoll offers multiple intuitive ways to find elements. No matter how you prefer to work, we have an approach that makes sense for you:

import asyncio from pydoll.browser import Chrome async def element_finding_examples(): async with Chrome() as browser: tab = await browser.start() await tab.go_to('https://example.com') # Find by attributes (most intuitive) submit_btn = await tab.find( tag_name='button', class_name='btn-primary', text='Submit' ) # Find by ID username_field = await tab.find(id='username') # Find multiple elements all_links = await tab.find(tag_name='a', find_all=True) # CSS selectors and XPath nav_menu = await tab.query('nav.main-menu') specific_item = await tab.query('//div[@data-testid="item-123"]') # With timeout and error handling delayed_element = await tab.find( class_name='dynamic-content', timeout=10, raise_exc=False # Returns None if not found ) # Advanced: Custom attributes custom_element = await tab.find( data_testid='submit-button', aria_label='Submit form' ) asyncio.run(element_finding_examples())

One of the great advantages of Pydoll's asynchronous design is the ability to process multiple tasks simultaneously:

import asyncio from pydoll.browser import Chrome async def scrape_page(url): """Extract data from a single page""" async with Chrome() as browser: tab = await browser.start() await tab.go_to(url) title = await tab.execute_script('return document.title') links = await tab.find(tag_name='a', find_all=True) return { 'url': url, 'title': title, 'link_count': len(links) } async def concurrent_scraping(): urls = [ 'https://example1.com', 'https://example2.com', 'https://example3.com' ] # Process all URLs simultaneously tasks = [scrape_page(url) for url in urls] results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks) for result in results: print(f"{result['url']}: {result['title']} ({result['link_count']} links)") asyncio.run(concurrent_scraping())

React to page events and user interactions in real-time. This enables more sophisticated and responsive automations:

import asyncio from pydoll.browser import Chrome from pydoll.protocol.page.events import PageEvent async def event_driven_automation(): async with Chrome() as browser: tab = await browser.start() # Enable page events await tab.enable_page_events() # React to page load async def on_page_load(event): print("Page loaded! Starting automation...") # Perform actions after page loads search_box = await tab.find(id='search-box') await search_box.type('automation') # React to navigation async def on_navigation(event): url = event['params']['url'] print(f"Navigated to: {url}") await tab.on(PageEvent.LOAD_EVENT_FIRED, on_page_load) await tab.on(PageEvent.FRAME_NAVIGATED, on_navigation) await tab.go_to('https://example.com') await asyncio.sleep(5) # Let events process asyncio.run(event_driven_automation())

Pydoll provides seamless iframe interaction through the get_frame() method. This is especially useful for dealing with embedded content:

import asyncio from pydoll.browser.chromium import Chrome async def iframe_interaction(): async with Chrome() as browser: tab = await browser.start() await tab.go_to('https://example.com/page-with-iframe') # Find the iframe element iframe_element = await tab.query('.hcaptcha-iframe', timeout=10) # Get a Tab instance for the iframe content frame = await tab.get_frame(iframe_element) # Now interact with elements inside the iframe submit_button = await frame.find(tag_name='button', class_name='submit') await submit_button.click() # You can use all Tab methods on the frame form_input = await frame.find(id='captcha-input') await form_input.type('verification-code') # Find elements by various methods links = await frame.find(tag_name='a', find_all=True) specific_element = await frame.query('#specific-id') asyncio.run(iframe_interaction())

For comprehensive documentation, detailed examples, and deep dives into Pydoll's features, visit our official documentation site.

The documentation includes:

Getting Started Guide - Step-by-step tutorials
API Reference - Complete method documentation
Advanced Techniques - Network interception, event handling, performance optimization
Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
Best Practices - Patterns for reliable automation

We'd love your help making Pydoll even better! Check out our contribution guidelines to get started. Whether it's fixing bugs, adding features, or improving documentation - all contributions are welcome!

Please make sure to:

Write tests for new features or bug fixes
Follow coding style and conventions
Use conventional commits for pull requests
Run lint and test checks before submitting

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