> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.obscura.sh/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.obscura.sh/readme.md).

# Introduction

Obscura is an open-source headless browser engine written in Rust. It runs JavaScript via V8, speaks the Chrome DevTools Protocol, and works as a drop-in replacement for headless Chrome with Puppeteer and Playwright.

### Versus headless Chrome

| Metric      | Obscura  | Headless Chrome |
| ----------- | -------- | --------------- |
| Memory      | 30 MB    | 200+ MB         |
| Binary size | \~70 MiB | 300+ MB         |
| Startup     | Instant  | \~2s            |
| Page load   | 85 ms    | \~500 ms        |
| Anti-detect | Built-in | None            |
| Puppeteer   | Yes      | Yes             |
| Playwright  | Yes      | Yes             |

Rendering and stealth are both first-class capabilities. Release builds support screenshots, scroll-aware layout, activity-driven CDP screencasting, and raster PDF export; stealth builds retain all of those surfaces while adding the wreq/BoringSSL transport and browser-identity protections.

### Quickstart

* [Installation](/quickstart/installation.md)
* [Your first fetch](/quickstart/your-first-fetch.md)
* [Extract data](/quickstart/extract-data.md)
* [Connect Puppeteer or Playwright](/quickstart/connect-puppeteer-or-playwright.md)

### Guides

* [Build from source](/guides/build-from-source.md)
* [Configure stealth and proxies](/guides/configure-stealth-and-proxies.md)
* [Markdown extraction](/guides/markdown-extraction.md)
* [Use with Puppeteer](/guides/use-with-puppeteer.md)
* [Use with Playwright](/guides/use-with-playwright.md)
* [Use the MCP server](/guides/use-the-mcp-server.md)
* [Use as a Rust library](/guides/use-as-a-rust-library.md)
* [Persist cookies and storage](/guides/persist-cookies-and-storage.md)
* [Intercept and modify requests](/guides/intercept-and-modify-requests.md)
* [Run in production at scale](/guides/run-in-production-at-scale.md)

### Reference

* [CLI reference](/reference/cli-reference.md)
* [Environment variables](/reference/environment-variables.md)

### Contributing

* [Architecture overview](/contributing/architecture-overview.md)
* [Adding a CDP method or Web API](/contributing/adding-a-cdp-method-or-web-api.md)
* [Testing and debugging](/contributing/testing-and-debugging.md)

### Links

* Source: <https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura>
* Releases: <https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura/releases>
* Issues: <https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura/issues>

License: Apache-2.0.


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