How to Use Lightpanda in 2025

Ever feel like Chrome headless is sucking the life out of your server and slowing everything down? You're not alone. Web automation has outgrown the clunky tools of the past, and that’s exactly why Lightpanda exists. It’s an AI-native headless browser built specifically for machines—streamlined, efficient, and lightning-fast.

Forget retrofitting desktop browsers to do server-side work. Lightpanda was built from scratch in Zig—a systems programming language laser-focused on speed and efficiency. The team behind it knows the pain firsthand; they spent years wrestling with Chrome's performance bottlenecks while scraping millions of pages per day.

Need numbers? Here's what benchmark tests on an AWS EC2 m5.large instance revealed:

• Lightpanda used just 24MB of memory. Chrome? A bloated 207MB.
• Task completion time: Lightpanda clocked in at 2.3 seconds; Chrome took a sluggish 25.2 seconds.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how to get up and running with Lightpanda—from installation to integration and scaling—so you can scrape smarter, not harder.

Why You Should Use Lightpanda (The Performance Revolution)

Before we dive into setup, let’s talk about why Lightpanda is changing the game for web automation.

The Problem

Remember when web scraping meant simple HTTP requests? Those days are gone. Modern websites lean heavily on JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular. That means developers are often forced to run full-blown headless browsers just to load a page.

The problem? Chrome headless wasn’t built for this. It’s essentially a GUI browser duct-taped to behave like a server app, and it burns through memory and CPU like there’s no tomorrow.

The Solution

Lightpanda changes everything. It’s a purpose-built headless browser designed to render modern JavaScript-heavy websites without the extra baggage.

The Proof

Real-world tests tell the story:

• 9x less memory (24MB vs. 207MB)
• 11x faster execution (2.3s vs. 25.2s)
• Instant startup, unlike Chrome’s clunky initialization
• Plug-and-play compatibility with Puppeteer and Playwright

Step 1: Install Lightpanda on Your System

Lightpanda offers nightly builds for Linux (x86_64) and macOS (Apple Silicon). Setup is quick and painless—just follow the steps below for your OS.

For Linux Users:

# Download the binary
curl -L -o lightpanda https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser/releases/download/nightly/lightpanda-x86_64-linux

# Make it executable
chmod a+x ./lightpanda

# Verify installation
./lightpanda -h

For macOS Users (Apple Silicon):

# Download for Apple Silicon
curl -L -o lightpanda https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser/releases/download/nightly/lightpanda-aarch64-macos

# Make it executable  
chmod a+x ./lightpanda

# Test the installation
./lightpanda -h

For Windows Users:
Lightpanda works on Windows via WSL2. Once WSL2 is installed, follow the Linux instructions inside your WSL environment. Pro tip: install Puppeteer on the Windows host for better performance.

Want easier access from anywhere?

sudo mv ./lightpanda /usr/local/bin/

Step 2: Test Your Installation with Basic Fetch

Let’s make sure everything’s running properly with a quick test.

./lightpanda fetch --dump https://lightpanda.io

What you’ll see:

• HTTP response details
• JavaScript execution logs
• Fully rendered HTML output

It’s like cURL—but with JavaScript support. Ideal for checking how dynamic websites load behind the scenes.

Troubleshooting Tips:

• Getting permission errors? Double-check that the binary is executable: chmod a+x
• Some websites might not load as expected—Lightpanda is still in Beta, so some quirks are expected.

Step 3: Set Up the CDP Server for Automation

Lightpanda comes with a built-in Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) server, which means it can plug right into your Puppeteer or Playwright setup.

Start the CDP server with:

./lightpanda serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 9222

Or customize it:

./lightpanda serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --timeout 30

Available Server Options:

• --host: IP address to bind to (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port: Port to listen on (default: 9222)
• --timeout: Time before the connection closes (default: 10s)

Once running, leave the terminal open. Your automation scripts will use this connection to control Lightpanda.

Step 4: Integrate with Puppeteer for Advanced Scraping

This is where the magic happens. Lightpanda supports Puppeteer out of the box, so you can reuse your existing scripts with just a minor tweak.

Basic Puppeteer Integration:

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';

// Connect to Lightpanda instead of launching Chrome
const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: "ws://127.0.0.1:9222",
});

// Everything else stays the same!
const context = await browser.createBrowserContext();
const page = await context.newPage();

await page.goto('https://wikipedia.com/');
console.log(await page.title());

// Clean up
await page.close();
await context.close();  
await browser.disconnect();

Advanced Scraping Example:

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: "ws://127.0.0.1:9222",
});

const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');

// Extract all links from the page
const links = await page.evaluate(() => {
  return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('a')).map(link => ({
    href: link.getAttribute('href'),
    text: link.textContent.trim()
  }));
});

console.log('Found links:', links);
await browser.disconnect();

Migration Tip:
Replace puppeteer.launch() with puppeteer.connect() and use Lightpanda’s WebSocket endpoint. That’s it.

Step 5: Optimize for Production Workflows

Ready to go from local scripts to large-scale automation? Here’s how to production-proof your Lightpanda setup.

Turn Off Telemetry:

export LIGHTPANDA_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true
./lightpanda serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 9222

Use Lightpanda Cloud for Scale:

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer';

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: "wss://cloud.lightpanda.io/ws?token=YOUR_TOKEN",
});

// Rest of your script remains unchanged

Handle Concurrent Sessions:

// Create multiple browser contexts for parallel processing
const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: "ws://127.0.0.1:9222",
});

const contexts = await Promise.all([
  browser.createBrowserContext(),
  browser.createBrowserContext(),
  browser.createBrowserContext()
]);

// Process multiple pages simultaneously
const results = await Promise.all(
  contexts.map(async (context, index) => {
    const page = await context.newPage();
    await page.goto(`https://example.com/page${index}`);
    return await page.title();
  })
);

Scale horizontally with multiple contexts or Lightpanda instances, and run them in parallel without hitting memory walls.

Step 6: Monitor and Scale Your Implementation

If you're deploying Lightpanda at scale, visibility is key. Here’s how to keep things smooth and efficient.

Monitor Performance:

const startTime = Date.now();
const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: "ws://127.0.0.1:9222",
});

const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');

const endTime = Date.now();
console.log(`Page loaded in ${endTime - startTime}ms`);

// Monitor memory usage (Linux/macOS)
const memUsage = process.memoryUsage();
console.log(`Memory usage: ${Math.round(memUsage.rss / 1024 / 1024)}MB`);

Scaling Tips:

• Lightpanda’s ultra-low memory footprint means you can run more instances on the same machine.
• Less memory = smaller cloud instances = lower costs.
• Run multiple Lightpanda nodes in parallel to maximize throughput.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Every tool has its quirks. Here are a few things to watch out for and how to deal with them:

1. Website Compatibility
   • Lightpanda is still in Beta. Not every site plays nice yet.
   • Start with simpler sites, keep Chrome headless as a backup, and monitor updates from the zig-js-runtime project.
2. Playwright Gotchas
   • Playwright might misbehave as Lightpanda evolves.
   • Stick with Puppeteer for now and thoroughly test scripts after updates.
3. Bot Detection
   • Lightpanda doesn’t yet have full bot evasion.
   • Use real-looking user agents, delay your requests, and rotate proxies where needed.
   • Don’t forget to close your pages, contexts, and browser sessions.

Memory Management

// Always clean up resources
try {
  // Your automation code
} finally {
  if (page) await page.close();
  if (context) await context.close();  
  if (browser) await browser.disconnect();
}

Final Thoughts

Lightpanda isn’t just another headless browser. It’s a complete rethink—built from the ground up to give developers what they actually need: speed, efficiency, and simplicity.

Here’s what you’re getting:

• Massive resource savings — 9x less memory means your infra bill drops
• Speed that scales — 11x faster means more done in less time
• Seamless migration — your Puppeteer scripts just work
• A future-ready foundation — purpose-built for AI-driven automation

Still in Beta, sure. But it’s already delivering serious wins for developers who need fast, reliable scraping without Chrome’s baggage.