session.md

wc session

Captures an authenticated browser session so wc scrape can access pages behind a login.

Usage

wc session <url>
wc session <url> --output my-session.json

Options

Option	Description	Default
<url>	URL to open (login page or any protected page)	—
-o, --output <file>	Path to save the session file	session.json

How it works

1. Opens a visible browser window at the given URL
2. You log in manually in the browser
3. Press Enter in the terminal when done
4. The session (cookies + localStorage) is saved to the output file

wc session https://docs.example.com/login
# → browser opens, you log in, press Enter
# → session saved to session.json

Using the session with scrape

Set storage_state in your config.json under playwright_config:

{
  "scrape": {
    "playwright_config": {
      "storage_state": "session.json"
    }
  }
}

With Playwright (playwright: true)

The session is loaded into the Playwright browser context. Use this when the site requires JavaScript rendering in addition to authentication.

Without Playwright (playwright: false)

Cookies from the session file are extracted and injected as a Cookie header into native fetch requests. This is faster — no browser overhead — and works for sites that only need the auth cookie, not JS rendering.

{
  "scrape": {
    "playwright": false,
    "playwright_config": {
      "storage_state": "session.json"
    }
  }
}

Refreshing a session

Sessions expire when the site's cookies expire. Re-run wc session to capture a fresh one:

wc session https://docs.example.com/login