Can I log in to a website while recording my task?

Yes, your robot can log into a website on your behalf using your session cookies or your login credentials.

There are two ways to have the robot log into a website on your behalf:

A. Have the robot use your logged-in session cookies.

Before starting to record, turn "This website needs logging in" ON. Your session cookies will be safely encrypted and stored on Browse AI AWS infrastructure. Then capture the data you are looking to scrape or monitor.

This works on most websites, but more secure sites may not accept the session cookies if they come from a different IP address. In those cases, approach B may be the only option.

B. Have the robot log in with your username and password.

Before starting to record, turn "This website needs logging in" OFF. While recording, log in like you normally would. The robot will record those actions and securely encrypt and store your credentials on Browse AI AWS infrastructure. Then capture the data you are looking to scrape or monitor.

After you finish recording and building the robot, it will perform the same steps and log in as you did.

A warning: Cloud automations that log in can potentially be detected.

Browse AI leverages many techniques to avoid being detected by websites. This includes opening the site in a regular browser, scrolling down and clicking on elements like a person would, using proxy servers to change the IP address, and more.

That being said, when you use a cloud automation software to log into a site, the site can always detect that you are logging in from different IP addresses. Popular sites that have advanced bot detection can get suspicious because of this, and potentially send you a warning or block your account.

If you believe this is a risk with an automation you need, we recommend using local automation so it uses the same IP address as yours. We have plans to enable running tasks locally in the future, but we do not have an estimated release date yet.