Is it possible to run Puppeteer-Sharp on Linux and MacOS?

Yes, Puppeteer-Sharp runs natively on both Linux and macOS platforms. As a .NET Standard 2.0 library, Puppeteer-Sharp provides full cross-platform compatibility for browser automation tasks including web scraping, testing, and PDF generation.

Prerequisites

Before running Puppeteer-Sharp on Linux or macOS, ensure you have:

1. .NET Runtime/SDK: Puppeteer-Sharp supports .NET Core 2.0+, .NET 5/6/7/8, and .NET Framework 4.6.1+
2. Chromium Browser: Automatically downloaded by Puppeteer-Sharp during first run

Platform-Specific Setup

Linux Installation

Ubuntu/Debian Dependencies

Install required system libraries for Chromium:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
    libglib2.0-0 libnss3 libnspr4 libatk1.0-0 libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
    libcups2 libdrm2 libdbus-1-3 libxkbcommon0 libxcomposite1 \
    libxdamage1 libxrandr2 libgbm1 libasound2 libxss1 libgconf-2-4

CentOS/RHEL Dependencies

sudo yum install -y \
    glib2 nss nspr atk at-spi2-atk cups-libs drm libXdamage \
    libXrandr gtk3 alsa-lib

macOS Installation

macOS typically includes all necessary dependencies. Simply install .NET:

# Using Homebrew
brew install dotnet

# Verify installation
dotnet --version

Getting Started

1. Create a New Project

# Create console application
dotnet new console -n PuppeteerSharpCrossPlatform
cd PuppeteerSharpCrossPlatform

# Add Puppeteer-Sharp package
dotnet add package PuppeteerSharp

2. Basic Web Scraping Example

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using PuppeteerSharp;

class Program
{
    public static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Download Chromium if not already present
        await new BrowserFetcher().DownloadAsync();

        // Launch browser with cross-platform options
        var browser = await Puppeteer.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions
        {
            Headless = true,
            Args = new[] { "--no-sandbox", "--disable-setuid-sandbox" } // Linux compatibility
        });

        try
        {
            var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();

            // Navigate and scrape content
            await page.GoToAsync("https://example.com");

            var title = await page.GetTitleAsync();
            var content = await page.EvaluateExpressionAsync<string>(
                "document.querySelector('h1').textContent"
            );

            Console.WriteLine($"Title: {title}");
            Console.WriteLine($"Heading: {content}");

            // Take screenshot
            await page.ScreenshotAsync("example.png");
        }
        finally
        {
            await browser.CloseAsync();
        }
    }
}

3. Advanced Cross-Platform Configuration

using PuppeteerSharp;
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

public class CrossPlatformPuppeteer
{
    public static async Task<LaunchOptions> GetPlatformLaunchOptions()
    {
        var options = new LaunchOptions
        {
            Headless = true,
            DefaultViewport = new ViewPortOptions { Width = 1920, Height = 1080 }
        };

        // Platform-specific arguments
        if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Linux))
        {
            options.Args = new[]
            {
                "--no-sandbox",
                "--disable-setuid-sandbox",
                "--disable-dev-shm-usage",
                "--disable-gpu",
                "--remote-debugging-port=9222"
            };
        }
        else if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.OSX))
        {
            options.Args = new[]
            {
                "--disable-gpu",
                "--disable-dev-shm-usage"
            };
        }

        return options;
    }
}

Docker Deployment

Dockerfile for Linux Containers

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/runtime:8.0

# Install Chromium dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    libglib2.0-0 libnss3 libnspr4 libatk1.0-0 libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
    libcups2 libdrm2 libdbus-1-3 libxkbcomposite1 libxrandr2 \
    libgbm1 libasound2 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /app
COPY . .

# Run with non-root user for security
RUN useradd -ms /bin/bash puppeteer
USER puppeteer

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "YourApp.dll"]

Common Issues and Solutions

Linux Permission Issues

# If running as root (not recommended)
export PUPPETEER_SKIP_CHROMIUM_DOWNLOAD=false
export PUPPETEER_CHROMIUM_REVISION=1095492

# Better: run as non-root user
sudo useradd -m puppeteer
sudo -u puppeteer dotnet run

macOS Quarantine Issues

# Remove quarantine attribute from downloaded Chromium
sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/.local/share/puppeteer

Memory Optimization

var options = new LaunchOptions
{
    Args = new[]
    {
        "--memory-pressure-off",
        "--max_old_space_size=4096",
        "--disable-dev-shm-usage" // Use /tmp instead of /dev/shm
    }
};

Performance Considerations

• Resource Management: Always dispose browsers properly using using statements
• Parallel Execution: Limit concurrent browser instances based on system resources
• Memory Usage: Monitor memory consumption, especially in containerized environments
• Process Cleanup: Ensure Chrome processes are terminated on application exit

// Proper resource management
await using var browser = await Puppeteer.LaunchAsync(options);
await using var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();
// Browser automatically disposed at end of scope

Puppeteer-Sharp's cross-platform support makes it an excellent choice for .NET developers needing browser automation capabilities across different operating systems.