changedetection.io-cloak-browser 0.1.1

CloakBrowser stealth fetcher plugin for changedetection.io.

changedetection.io-cloak-browser

Stealth browser fetcher plugin for changedetection.io powered by CloakBrowser.

• ✅ Bypasses Cloudflare Turnstile, reCAPTCHA v3, FingerprintJS, BrowserScan and more
• ✅ 33 source-level C++ patches compiled into Chromium — no JS injection tricks
• ✅ Full browser steps support (same Playwright page API)
• ✅ Full screenshot and visual selector support
• ✅ Drop-in replacement — select "CloakBrowser" per-watch in the UI
• ✅ Proxy support with optional geo-IP auto-detection
• ✅ Human-like behaviour mode to avoid timing-based detection

Requirements

• changedetection.io >= 0.54.5
• Python 3.10+
• ~200 MB disk space for the CloakBrowser Chromium binary (downloaded automatically on first run)

NOTE: - The biggest red-flag is still your IP address "quality", always use a high quality 'residential IP address' through a SOCKS style proxy - When you sign up using https://brightdata.grsm.io/n0r16zf7eivq BrightData will match any first deposit up to $150 .

Cloak Browser works by downloading a pre-compiled binary chrome-browser from CloakHQ, remember, you are running a black-box piece of software that you do not know what's inside of it.

Quick Start

1. Install the plugin

Docker (docker-compose.yml):

services:
  changedetection:
    environment:
      - EXTRA_PACKAGES=changedetection.io-cloak-browser

Local install:

pip install changedetection.io-cloak-browser
# Download the Chromium binary
python -m cloakbrowser install

2. Select CloakBrowser for a watch

In the changedetection.io UI, open any watch → Edit → Fetch tab → choose "CloakBrowser - Stealth Chromium (anti-bot bypass)" from the fetcher dropdown.

3. (Optional) Configure via environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
CLOAKBROWSER_HUMANIZE	true	Enable human-like mouse/keyboard/scroll behaviour
playwright_proxy_server	(none)	Proxy URL, e.g. http://proxy:8080
playwright_proxy_username	(none)	Proxy username
playwright_proxy_password	(none)	Proxy password
PLAYWRIGHT_SERVICE_WORKERS	allow	allow or block service workers
WEBDRIVER_DELAY_BEFORE_CONTENT_READY	5	Seconds to wait after page load
SCREENSHOT_MAX_HEIGHT	20000	Maximum screenshot height in pixels

Docker Compose Example

version: '3'

services:
  changedetection:
    image: ghcr.io/dgtlmoon/changedetection.io:latest
    container_name: changedetection
    volumes:
      - ./datastore:/datastore
    environment:
      - EXTRA_PACKAGES=changedetection.io-cloak-browser
      - CLOAKBROWSER_HUMANIZE=true
      # Optional proxy
      # - playwright_proxy_server=http://proxy.example.com:8080
      # - playwright_proxy_username=user
      # - playwright_proxy_password=pass
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    restart: unless-stopped

How It Works

CloakBrowser is a patched Chromium binary with 33 source-level C++ modifications that make it indistinguishable from a real user's Chrome browser. Unlike JavaScript-injection approaches (which detection services can identify), these patches operate at the binary level.

The Python cloakbrowser package wraps the Playwright Python library but connects to the patched binary instead of stock Chromium. This means the page API is 100% identical to Playwright — browser steps, screenshots, visual selectors, and JS execution all work unchanged.

Detection bypass results

Service	Stock Playwright	CloakBrowser
reCAPTCHA v3 score	0.1 (bot)	0.9 (human)
Cloudflare Turnstile	FAIL	PASS
FingerprintJS	DETECTED	PASS
BrowserScan	DETECTED	NORMAL
navigator.webdriver	true	false
TLS fingerprint	Mismatch	Identical to Chrome

Browser Steps

CloakBrowser fully supports all changedetection.io browser steps:

• Click element / Click element if exists
• Enter text in field
• Execute JS
• Wait for text / Wait for seconds
• Scroll down
• Check/uncheck checkbox
• Select by label
• Remove elements
• … and all others

This works because CloakBrowser pages are standard Playwright page objects — the browser steps engine requires no modification.

Troubleshooting

Plugin not loading?

from changedetectionio.pluggy_interface import plugin_manager
print([name for name, _ in plugin_manager.list_name_plugin()])
# Should include: cloak_browser

Binary not downloaded?

python -m cloakbrowser install
python -m cloakbrowser info

Test that the fetcher registers:

from changedetectionio.content_fetchers import available_fetchers
print(available_fetchers())
# Should include: ('html_cloakbrowser', 'CloakBrowser - Stealth Chromium (anti-bot bypass)')

Check for CloakBrowser updates:

python -m cloakbrowser update

License

MIT License — see LICENSE.

CloakBrowser binary: free-to-use, no redistribution. See CloakBrowser BINARY-LICENSE.