A lightweight automated remote browser system built with Playwright, SignalR, and JPEG frame capture. ColorSun lets you view and control a live browser session from any web client without the overhead of VNC.
ColorSun spins up an isolated Playwright browser instance per session, captures frames as JPEG images, and streams them to the frontend in real time over SignalR. Mouse and keyboard events are sent back through the same connection, giving you full interactive control.
It was built to solve a particular problem web scrapers face : handling anti-bot systems (Cloudflare, CAPTCHAs, login walls) during web scraping workflows. Instead of fully automating past these checks and getting blocked, you can pause automation, take manual control in the live browser stream, solve the challenge yourself, then hand back to automation. All without leaving your workflow.
- Real-time browser streaming — JPEG frames delivered over SignalR
- Full input control : mouse and keyboard events synced back to the browser
- Isolated sessions : each client gets its own Playwright instance
- Hybrid automation : switch between full automation and manual control mid-session
- Automatic cleanup : idle sessions are terminated after 7 minutes to prevent memory leaks
- Low bandwidth : streams only browser frames, not a full desktop
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | ASP.NET Core (MVC) |
| Real-time transport | SignalR + MessagePack |
| Browser automation | Playwright |
| Frame format | JPEG |
| Session management | Singleton + Background Worker |
Prerequisites: .NET 8+, Node.js (for Playwright browsers)
git clone https://github.com/beez6239/ColorSun.git
cd ColorSun
# Install Playwright browsers
pwsh bin/Debug/net8.0/playwright.ps1 install
# or: playwright install
dotnet runThe app runs on:
https://localhost:7246http://localhost:5182
Web scraping with anti-bot handling : automate what you can, manually solve challenges only when needed, then resume automation.
Remote browser operations : run a browser on a VPS or cloud server and control it from anywhere through a web interface.
Hybrid workflows : monitor automation live, intervene at any point, then step back out.
demo.mov
- Persistent sessions across reconnects
- Proxy support
- Docker deployment
- Multi-node scaling
- Advanced browser configuration options
Disclaimer: This project is provided for educational and legitimate automation purposes only. The authors are not responsible for any misuse. Always ensure your usage complies with the target website's terms of service and relevant laws.
MIT