jsEasy

jsEasy (jseasy) is a lightweight Python runtime for scraping and testing HTML pages that need JavaScript execution, but not a full browser.

It gives Python code a browser-like DOM, executes page scripts with QuickJS, supports common network APIs such as fetch() and XMLHttpRequest, and returns the final DOM for extraction.

requests + BeautifulSoup
< jsEasy
< Playwright / Selenium / real browsers

jsEasy is designed for the middle ground: pages where JavaScript mutates the DOM, loads JSON, runs timers, or executes small modules, but where layout, pixels, GPU APIs, and browser fingerprint parity are unnecessary.

Highlights

• No browser process: no Chromium download, no WebDriver, no browser startup cost.
• Python-first API: Page.open(), Page.from_html(), select(), select_all(), eval(), html().
• Browser-like runtime: DOM, events, timers, storage, history, location, CSSOM, fetch, XHR, module scripts.
• Scraper-friendly behavior: failed third-party scripts are collected in diagnostics instead of aborting the whole page.
• Typed package: ships py.typed.
• PyPI-ready: wheel/sdist build, docs, examples, tests, and release checklist.

Installation

pip install jseasy

Python 3.10+ is supported.

Quick Start

from jseasy import Page

page = Page.from_html("""
<main id="app"></main>
<script>
  const title = document.createElement("h1");
  title.textContent = "Loaded without Chrome";
  document.querySelector("#app").appendChild(title);
</script>
""")

print(page.select("#app h1").text)

Output:

Loaded without Chrome

Loading A Real Page

from jseasy import Page

with Page.open("https://example.com") as page:
    print(page.select("h1").text)
    print(len(page.html()))

Page.open() fetches the URL, parses HTML, loads stylesheets, executes scripts, drains pending work, and gives you the current DOM.

Fetch And XHR

import httpx
from jseasy import Page

def handler(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
    return httpx.Response(200, json={"name": "Ada"})

client = httpx.Client(transport=httpx.MockTransport(handler))

page = Page.from_html(
    """
    <div id="name"></div>
    <script>
      fetch("/api")
        .then((response) => response.json())
        .then((data) => {
          document.querySelector("#name").textContent = data.name;
        });
    </script>
    """,
    url="https://example.test",
    client=client,
)

print(page.select("#name").text)

Module Scripts

import httpx
from jseasy import Page

def handler(request: httpx.Request) -> httpx.Response:
    if request.url.path == "/app.js":
        return httpx.Response(
            200,
            text="""
            import { label } from "./labels.js";
            document.querySelector("#app").textContent = label;
            """,
        )
    return httpx.Response(200, text='export const label = "module loaded";')

client = httpx.Client(transport=httpx.MockTransport(handler))

page = Page.from_html(
    '<div id="app"></div><script type="module" src="/app.js"></script>',
    url="https://example.test",
    client=client,
)

print(page.select("#app").text)

Diagnostics

jsEasy is intentionally tolerant by default. A tracking script, analytics widget, or unsupported browser feature should not necessarily prevent scraping the rest of the DOM.

with Page.open("https://example.com") as page:
    print(page.logs)            # console.log/warn/error output
    print(page.script_errors)   # script exceptions collected during load
    print(page.resource_errors) # stylesheet/resource failures

Set raise_script_errors=True during development when you want the first script failure to raise immediately.

page = Page.from_html(html, raise_script_errors=True)

Browser API Coverage

jsEasy implements a pragmatic subset of browser APIs:

Area	Supported
DOM	Document, Element, Node, Text, DocumentFragment
Selection	querySelector, querySelectorAll, matches, closest
Mutation	appendChild, removeChild, insertBefore, innerHTML, textContent, basic MutationObserver
Events	Event, CustomEvent, MouseEvent, KeyboardEvent, addEventListener, dispatchEvent
Runtime	setTimeout, setInterval, requestAnimationFrame, Promise draining, performance.now
Network	fetch, XMLHttpRequest, Request, Response, Headers, navigator.sendBeacon
State	localStorage, sessionStorage, document.cookie, history, location
CSSOM	document.styleSheets, CSSStyleSheet, CSSStyleRule, CSSStyleDeclaration, getComputedStyle
Modules	classic scripts, type="module", simple static local imports
Utilities	atob, btoa, console

See docs/api.md for details.

When To Use jsEasy

Use jsEasy when:

• you need DOM extraction after simple or moderate JavaScript execution;
• content is loaded via fetch() or XHR;
• scripts manipulate the DOM but do not require layout;
• you want fast startup in CLI jobs, tests, CI, workers, or small containers;
• Playwright/Selenium feels too heavy for the target page.

Use a real browser when:

• the site depends on layout metrics, canvas, WebGL, media, Shadow DOM, or complex framework hydration;
• the target is fingerprint-sensitive;
• you need browser DevTools, screenshots, or user interaction fidelity;
• the page presents CAPTCHAs, payment walls, login walls, or other access controls.

Security And Ethics

jsEasy is intended for legitimate scraping, testing, research, and data extraction where you are allowed to access the content. Respect site terms, robots policies, rate limits, copyright, privacy, and access controls.

Do not use jsEasy to bypass CAPTCHAs, authentication, payment walls, or other security mechanisms. For security challenge pages, use a human-in-the-loop checkpoint.

Examples

See examples/:

• basic.py
• network_page.py
• fetch_and_xhr.py
• modules_and_cssom.py
• manual_checkpoint.py

Documentation

• API Reference
• Limitations
• Recipes
• Troubleshooting
• Release Checklist

Development

python -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
python -m build
twine check dist/*

Status

Alpha. jsEasy is useful today for small to medium JavaScript-enhanced scraping workflows, but the API may change before 1.0.

License

MIT