/functions

Browserbase Functions Reference

Table of Contents

• Invoking Deployed Functions
• Common Patterns
• Troubleshooting

Invoking Deployed Functions

Via curl

# Start invocation
curl -X POST "https://api.browserbase.com/v1/functions/FUNCTION_ID/invoke" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-bb-api-key: $BROWSERBASE_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"params": {"url": "https://example.com"}}'

# Response: {"id": "INVOCATION_ID"}

# Poll for result
curl "https://api.browserbase.com/v1/functions/invocations/INVOCATION_ID" \
  -H "x-bb-api-key: $BROWSERBASE_API_KEY"

Via Code

async function invokeFunction(functionId: string, params: object) {
  // Start invocation
  const invokeRes = await fetch(
    `https://api.browserbase.com/v1/functions/${functionId}/invoke`,
    {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'x-bb-api-key': process.env.BROWSERBASE_API_KEY!,
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({ params }),
    }
  );
  const { id: invocationId } = await invokeRes.json();

  // Poll until complete
  while (true) {
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));

    const statusRes = await fetch(
      `https://api.browserbase.com/v1/functions/invocations/${invocationId}`,
      { headers: { 'x-bb-api-key': process.env.BROWSERBASE_API_KEY! } }
    );
    const result = await statusRes.json();

    if (result.status === 'COMPLETED') return result.results;
    if (result.status === 'FAILED') throw new Error(result.error);
  }
}

Common Patterns

Parameterized Scraping

defineFn("scrape", async ({ session, params }) => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);
  const page = browser.contexts()[0]!.pages()[0]!;

  await page.goto(params.url);
  await page.waitForSelector(params.selector);

  const items = await page.$$eval(params.selector, els =>
    els.map(el => el.textContent?.trim())
  );

  return { url: params.url, items };
});

With Authentication

defineFn("authenticated-action", async ({ session, params }) => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);
  const page = browser.contexts()[0]!.pages()[0]!;

  // Login
  await page.goto("https://example.com/login");
  await page.fill('[name="email"]', params.email);
  await page.fill('[name="password"]', params.password);
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  await page.waitForURL('**/dashboard');

  // Do authenticated work
  const data = await page.textContent('.user-data');
  return { data };
});

Error Handling

defineFn("safe-scrape", async ({ session, params }) => {
  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);
  const page = browser.contexts()[0]!.pages()[0]!;

  try {
    await page.goto(params.url, { timeout: 30000 });
    await page.waitForSelector(params.selector, { timeout: 10000 });

    const data = await page.textContent(params.selector);
    return { success: true, data };
  } catch (error) {
    return {
      success: false,
      error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'
    };
  }
});

Troubleshooting

"Missing API key"

# Check .env file has credentials
cat .env

# Or set for current shell
export BROWSERBASE_API_KEY="your_key"

Dev server won't start

# Make sure SDK is installed
pnpm add @browserbasehq/sdk-functions

# Or use npx
npx @browserbasehq/sdk-functions dev index.ts

Function times out

• Max execution time is 15 minutes
• Add specific timeouts to page operations
• Use waitForSelector instead of sleep

Can't connect to browser

• Check session.connectUrl is being used correctly
• Ensure you're using chromium.connectOverCDP() not chromium.launch()