Stop scraping the page when the data is already in the network tab

Short summary

Most modern websites fetch their content via background API requests, not rendered HTML. Before building DOM-based scrapers with Playwright or Puppeteer, open DevTools, inspect the Network tab to find the underlying API request, and call it directly instead—it's faster, more maintainable, and avoids brittle selector dependencies. Reserve browser automation for user-flow testing or flows where data emerges only after complex client-side interactions.

• •Modern websites load data via background APIs, not rendered HTML
• •Inspect Network tab in DevTools to discover the API before building a scraper
• •Direct API calls are faster, more resilient, and avoid brittle selector dependencies

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.