WebSS API v1.0.5

Released: August 5, 2025

• Split main.py into focused modules in src/core/ directory
• Enhanced image loading for YouTube and The Verge
• Added block_images parameter for better compatibility
• Improved code organization and maintainability

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Docker Images

• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.5
• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:latest

Installation

docker pull ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.5

WebSS API v1.0.4

Released: August 5, 2025

New Features

• Smart waiting for heavy sites (YouTube, Facebook, Reddit)
• 4 new API parameters: smart_wait, wait_for_network_idle, aggressive_wait, extra_wait_time
• Framework detection for React/Angular/Vue
• Progressive retry system with 6 strategies

Performance

• Better timeout handling and error recovery
• Improved resource blocking

Other

• Simplified README
• Moved API docs to separate API.md file
• Default delay increased to 8000ms

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Docker Images

• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.4
• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:latest

Installation

docker pull ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.4

Full Changelog: v1.0.3...v1.0.4

WebSS API v1.0.3

Released: August 5, 2025

🚀 Enhanced navigation reliability with multi-strategy retry logic and improved bot detection evasion

🆕 New Features

• Multi-Strategy Navigation System: Implemented robust page loading with 4 different wait strategies:
  • networkidle - Wait for network activity to cease
  • domcontentloaded - Wait for DOM to be fully loaded
  • load - Wait for all resources to load
  • commit - Wait for navigation to commit
• Ultimate Fallback Navigation: Added final fallback attempt with no wait conditions and 10-second timeout for extremely problematic sites
• Enhanced Bot Detection Evasion: Added advanced browser arguments to bypass detection:
  • --disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled - Hide automation indicators
  • --disable-component-update - Prevent component updates that may reveal automation
  • --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages - Disable background extensions
  • Additional stealth mode improvements

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Intelligent Timeout Management: Dynamic timeout adjustment for retry attempts (50% reduction on retries)
• Enhanced Retry Logic: Up to 2 retry attempts with 4 strategies each (8 total attempts before final fallback)
• Comprehensive Navigation Logging: Detailed logging for each navigation attempt with strategy, attempt number, and timeout information
• Improved Error Recovery: Better handling of navigation failures with graceful degradation
• Updated API Documentation: Refined delay parameter description to reflect current behavior

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Navigation Timeout Resolution: Significantly improved success rate for sites that previously failed to load
• Heavy Site Compatibility: Better handling of resource-intensive websites with multiple fallback strategies
• Error Messaging: More informative error messages when all navigation attempts fail

📈 Performance Improvements

• Faster Failure Detection: Reduced timeout on retry attempts for quicker failover
• Optimized Loading Strategies: Prioritized loading strategies for better success rates
• Resource Management: Improved cleanup and error handling for failed navigation attempts

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Docker Images

• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.3
• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:latest

Installation

docker pull ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.3

WebSS API v1.0.2

Released: August 4, 2025%0A%0A🚀 Improved performance and reliability for heavy websites with enhanced blocking and fallback strategies%0A%0A### 🆕 New Features%0A- Facebook Domain Unblocked: Removed Facebook from blocked domains to allow proper loading of Facebook widgets and social media content%0A- Enhanced Ad/Tracker Blocking: Added comprehensive blocking for analytics and tracking domains including:%0A - scorecardresearch.com, quantserve.com, chartbeat.com, parsely.com%0A - krxd.net, adsystem.com, ads.yahoo.com, advertising.com%0A - hotjar.com, fullstory.com, mouseflow.com%0A- Pattern-Based Blocking: Added intelligent blocking for URLs containing 'analytics', 'tracking', 'advertisement', 'doubleclick'%0A%0A### 🔧 Technical Improvements%0A- Fallback Navigation Strategy: Implemented robust timeout handling with automatic fallback from networkidle to domcontentloaded when pages timeout%0A- Enhanced Error Handling: Better logging and recovery for slow-loading websites like The Verge%0A- Improved Blocking Performance: More aggressive resource blocking for faster page loading%0A- Dual Navigation Modes: Applied fallback strategy to both base64 and binary screenshot endpoints%0A%0A### 🐛 Bug Fixes%0A- Timeout Resolution: Fixed timeout issues with heavy websites that previously failed to load within 30 seconds%0A- Facebook Content Loading: Facebook widgets, login buttons, and social media elements now load correctly in screenshots%0A%0A---%0A

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Docker Images

• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.2
• ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:latest

Installation

docker pull ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:v1.0.2

1.0.1

Version 1.0.1 - Heavy Site Optimization

Released: August 4, 2025

🚀 Improved support for heavy sites with automatic delay optimization

🆕 New Features

• Automatic Delay for Heavy Sites: Added 5-second minimum delay before screenshots to ensure sites like YouTube fully load
• Smart Delay Logic: Uses maximum of user-specified delay or default minimum (5000ms)
• Enhanced Logging: Detailed logging of applied delays for debugging
• Configurable Default: New DEFAULT_DELAY environment variable for customization

🔧 Technical Improvements

• Updated configuration system with new default_delay setting
• Enhanced delay application in both base64 and binary response paths
• Improved API documentation with delay behavior explanation
• Updated setup scripts and environment templates

1.0.0

WebSS Release Notes

Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release

Released: August 4, 2025

🎉 First stable release of WebSS - Website Screenshot API

WebSS is a Python API for capturing website screenshots using Playwright, built with FastAPI for high performance and reliability.

🚀 Live Demo

• API Base URL: https://webss-latest.onrender.com
• Interactive Documentation: https://webss-latest.onrender.com/docs
• Health Check: https://webss-latest.onrender.com/health

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✨ Key Features

Screenshot Capabilities

• Multiple Output Formats: PNG, JPEG, WebP with quality control
• Flexible Output: Base64 encoded strings or raw binary data
• Full Page Screenshots: Capture entire page content beyond viewport
• Element-Specific Screenshots: Target specific CSS selectors
• Mobile Viewport Support: Device simulation with touch and scale factor
• Custom Viewport Sizes: Configurable from 320x240 to 3840x2160 pixels

Advanced Browser Control

• Custom User Agents: Simulate different browsers and devices
• HTTP Headers: Set custom headers for authentication or API keys
• Cookie Management: Set cookies for authenticated sessions
• JavaScript Control: Configurable JavaScript execution
• Animation Disabling: Speed up captures by disabling CSS animations
• Network Timing: Wait for network idle or custom delays (0-30s)

Performance & Security

• Built-in Ad Blocking: Block ads, trackers, and unnecessary resources
• Rate Limiting: Configurable request throttling (default: 10 req/sec)
• Concurrent Control: Manage multiple browser instances
• Memory Optimization: In-memory processing, no file storage
• SSL Support: Handle HTTPS errors gracefully
• Timeout Management: Configurable page load timeouts (5s-120s)

Production Features

• FastAPI Framework: High-performance async API with automatic OpenAPI docs
• Structured Logging: JSON-formatted logs with request tracing
• Health Monitoring: Detailed health checks including browser status
• CORS Support: Configurable cross-origin resource sharing
• Environment Configuration: Full .env support with Pydantic validation
• Docker Ready: Multi-architecture container support (amd64/arm64)
• CI/CD Pipeline: Automated builds and deployments via GitHub Actions

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🔧 Technical Specifications

API Endpoints

• POST /screenshot - Capture website screenshots
• GET / - Basic health check
• GET /health - Detailed health check with browser status

Supported Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Range	Description
url	string	required	HTTP/HTTPS	Target website URL
width	integer	1920	320-3840	Viewport width
height	integer	1080	240-2160	Viewport height
format	string	"png"	png/jpeg/webp	Image format
quality	integer	null	1-100	JPEG quality
full_page	boolean	false	-	Capture full page
delay	integer	0	0-30000	Wait time (ms)
timeout	integer	30000	5000-120000	Load timeout (ms)
mobile	boolean	false	-	Mobile simulation
block_ads	boolean	true	-	Block ads/trackers
output_format	string	"base64"	base64/binary	Response format

Browser Engine

• Playwright: Latest Chromium with full JavaScript support
• Security: Sandboxed execution, no file system access
• Performance: Optimized browser arguments for container environments

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📦 Distribution

Docker Images

• Registry: GitHub Container Registry (GHCR)
• Base Image: ghcr.io/burhancodes/webss:latest
• Architectures: linux/amd64, linux/arm64
• Size: ~800MB (includes Chromium browser)

Python Package

• Requirements: Python 3.8+
• Dependencies: FastAPI, Playwright, Uvicorn, Pydantic, Pillow
• Installation: pip install -r requirements.txt && playwright install chromium

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🚀 Deployment Options

Cloud Platforms

• ✅ Render (Live demo deployment)
• ✅ Railway
• ✅ Fly.io
• ✅ Google Cloud Run
• ✅ AWS App Runner
• ✅ DigitalOcean App Platform

Container Orchestration

• ✅ Docker Compose
• ✅ Kubernetes
• ✅ Docker Swarm

Local Development

• ✅ Virtual Environment
• ✅ Development Scripts
• ✅ Auto-reload Support

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🧪 Testing & Quality

Test Coverage

• ✅ Basic screenshot functionality
• ✅ Multiple output formats (PNG, JPEG, WebP)
• ✅ Binary and base64 responses
• ✅ Health check endpoints
• ✅ Error handling and validation
• ✅ Mobile viewport simulation
• ✅ Element-specific screenshots
• ✅ Custom headers and cookies

Code Quality

• Type Hints: Full typing support with mypy
• API Validation: Pydantic models for request/response validation
• Error Handling: Comprehensive exception handling
• Documentation: Auto-generated OpenAPI/Swagger docs

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🔒 Security Features

Input Validation

• URL validation (HTTP/HTTPS only)
• Parameter range validation
• CSS selector sanitization
• Header and cookie validation

Browser Security

• Sandboxed browser execution
• No file system access
• Blocked external downloads
• Disabled plugins and extensions

Container Security

• Non-root user execution
• Minimal attack surface
• Regular security scanning in CI/CD

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📖 Documentation & Support

Resources

• README: Comprehensive setup and usage guide
• API Docs: Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI documentation
• Python Client: Both async and sync client libraries included
• Examples: Real-world use cases and code samples

Support Channels

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• Documentation: Live API Docs

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🛠️ Known Limitations

1. Memory Usage: ~200MB per concurrent browser instance
2. Browser Startup: Initial cold start may take 2-3 seconds
3. Resource Blocking: Ad blocking rules are predefined (not customizable)
4. File Storage: No persistent storage - all processing in-memory

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🔮 Roadmap

Planned Features

• 🌍 Internationalization support
• 🔌 Plugin system for custom processing
• 📊 Metrics and monitoring endpoints
• 🚀 Performance optimizations
• 📝 Enhanced documentation
• 🧪 Additional test coverage

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• Playwright Team: For the excellent browser automation framework
• FastAPI: For the high-performance web framework
• Render: For hosting the live demo
• Contributors: All community members who provided feedback

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📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤️ by Burhanverse

WebSS v1.0.0 provides a modern solution for website screenshot automation with a focus on performance, reliability, and ease of use.