How to Get Request Headers and Cookies from Headless Chrome

To see the request headers and cookies Chrome actually sends, enable the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) Network domain before navigation and listen for Network.requestWillBeSentExtraInfo. Join that event to Network.requestWillBeSent by requestId; the extra-info event may arrive first or later. For a page’s current cookie jar, query Network.getCookies with the page URL. Playwright and Puppeteer can expose this data too, but browser-managed headers such as Cookie may be added immediately before transmission.

Choose the right way to inspect traffic

Use CDP when you need the most detailed view of Chrome’s network activity, including raw transmitted request headers, response metadata, and cookies considered for a particular request. Use Playwright’s cookie APIs when the question is “what cookies apply to this URL?” Use Playwright or Puppeteer request and response events when you want an automation-friendly view without implementing the protocol yourself.

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Headless is a runtime mode, not a separate kind of cookie store: Chrome can run without a visible window and still maintain cookies for its browser context or profile. Attaching to an already running browser is a different workflow; it can expose that session’s active login state, so use a dedicated profile and protect the captured values.

Capture headers and cookies with Playwright and CDP

This runnable Node.js example uses Playwright’s Chromium CDP session. It enables Network before navigating, stores events by request ID, joins extra-info records regardless of arrival order, prints request headers and cookie details, and then asks Chrome for cookies applicable to the page URL.

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Install and run

1. Install Node.js, then create a project and add Playwright: npm init -y followed by npm install playwright.

2. Save the script below as inspect-traffic.js.

3. Run node inspect-traffic.js https://example.com. Replace the URL with the page you are authorized to inspect.

const { chromium } = require('playwright');

const target = process.argv[2] || 'https://example.com';
const records = new Map();

function recordFor(requestId) {
  if (!records.has(requestId)) {
    records.set(requestId, { requestId, events: [] });
  }
  return records.get(requestId);
}

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
  const context = await browser.newContext();
  const page = await context.newPage();
  const cdp = await context.newCDPSession(page);

  cdp.on('Network.requestWillBeSent', event => {
    const record = recordFor(event.requestId);
    record.request = event;
    record.events.push('requestWillBeSent');
    if (event.redirectResponse) {
      record.redirectResponse = event.redirectResponse;
      console.log('nRedirect response for', event.request.url,
        event.redirectResponse.status);
    }
    console.log('nRequest:', event.request.method, event.request.url);
  });

  cdp.on('Network.requestWillBeSentExtraInfo', event => {
    const record = recordFor(event.requestId);
    record.requestExtraInfo = event;
    record.events.push('requestWillBeSentExtraInfo');
    console.log('nRaw request headers for requestId', event.requestId);
    console.log(event.headers);
    console.log('Associated cookies:', event.associatedCookies);
  });

  cdp.on('Network.responseReceived', event => {
    const record = recordFor(event.requestId);
    record.response = event;
    record.events.push('responseReceived');
    console.log('nResponse:', event.response.status, event.response.url);
  });

  cdp.on('Network.responseReceivedExtraInfo', event => {
    const record = recordFor(event.requestId);
    record.responseExtraInfo = event;
    record.events.push('responseReceivedExtraInfo');
    console.log('nRaw response headers for requestId', event.requestId);
    console.log(event.headers);
    console.log('Blocked Set-Cookie records:', event.blockedCookies);
  });

  await cdp.send('Network.enable');
  try {
    await page.goto(target, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded', timeout: 30000 });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Navigation did not complete:', error.message);
  }

  try {
    const result = await cdp.send('Network.getCookies', { urls: [target] });
    console.log('nCookies applicable to', target);
    console.log(result.cookies);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Could not read cookies:', error.message);
  }

  console.log('nCaptured request IDs:', [...records.keys()]);
  await browser.close();
})().catch(error => {
  console.error(error);
  process.exitCode = 1;
});

CDP describes the Network domain as tracking page network activity, including requests and responses, headers, bodies, and timing. The script logs header objects as Chrome exposes them. Treat them as sensitive: request headers may include authorization credentials, and cookies often grant access to an account.

Understand the event join

requestWillBeSent provides the request URL, method, and request ID. requestWillBeSentExtraInfo provides the headers transmitted and associatedCookies, including cookies that Chrome considered but blocked from sending. The two events are not guaranteed to arrive in a fixed order, which is why the example stores each by ID rather than assuming the extra-info event immediately follows the request event.

Redirects need special care. Chrome can report a redirect response on a later requestWillBeSent event for the same request ID; the example prints that response status. Don’t treat one ID as necessarily one URL for the entire lifecycle. Keep the URL and redirect information from each event if you need a complete redirect chain.

The response events are useful when the question includes what the server returned. responseReceived provides response details; responseReceivedExtraInfo can expose raw response headers and blocked Set-Cookie records. A blocked cookie is not equivalent to a cookie stored in the jar.

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Get the cookie jar or inspect one request?

These are related but different questions. Network.getCookies with a URL returns cookies applicable to that URL from the current browser context. The associatedCookies field on a request’s extra-info event describes cookie candidates associated with that request and includes blocked-cookie reasons when applicable. Use the latter to understand a particular outgoing request; use the former to examine the current jar’s URL-scoped cookies.

In Playwright, the browser context cookie API is another convenient option:

const cookies = await context.cookies(['https://example.com']);
console.log(cookies);

Call it after navigation or after setting cookies if you want the current context state. The result is not a substitute for examining a particular request’s actual transmitted headers: domain and path scope, secure rules, expiry, partitioning, and browser policy can all affect whether a stored cookie is sent in a given situation.

Use Playwright request events or routing when CDP detail is unnecessary

Playwright’s request and response events are often the simpler choice for application-level logging. For example, register listeners before navigation:

page.on('request', request => {
  console.log('Request:', request.method(), request.url());
  console.log('Playwright request headers:', request.headers());
});
page.on('response', response => {
  console.log('Response:', response.status(), response.url());
});
await page.goto('https://example.com');

These APIs are convenient, but do not assume that a request’s early header view contains every browser-managed header as transmitted. Playwright documents that headers including Cookie, Host, and Accept-Encoding can be attached by the network stack immediately before sending. Its network guide also specifies that a cookie header passed to route.continue() is ignored in favor of the browser’s cookie store. Set cookies through the context or browser cookie APIs when you need Chrome to send them; use CDP extra-info events when you need to observe what was actually sent.

Use Puppeteer for a JavaScript-first Chrome workflow

Puppeteer is a JavaScript library for automating Chrome and Firefox over CDP and WebDriver BiDi. Its documented capabilities include intercepting and modifying network requests and responses, which makes it a reasonable choice when your existing automation is built around Puppeteer. For a quick lifecycle log, add page listeners before navigation:

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page.on('request', request => {
  console.log(request.method(), request.url(), request.headers());
});
page.on('response', response => {
  console.log(response.status(), response.url());
});
await page.goto('https://example.com');

For CDP-level request and cookie metadata in Puppeteer, create a CDP session for the page target, enable Network, and subscribe to the same CDP events described above. Event names and payloads are protocol concepts rather than a Puppeteer-specific abstraction, so the request-ID correlation and late-arriving extra-info handling still matter.

Run headless Chrome or attach to an existing session

Launch a new headless browser

Chrome’s configuration documentation uses the --headless flag to run without a visible browser window. Playwright and Puppeteer also offer headless launch modes, as shown in the examples. Start with a fresh context for reproducibility; it avoids unintentionally mixing the test with another browser profile’s logins and cookies.

Attach to a browser that is already running

Chrome can be connected to through a remote debugging endpoint, and its documentation also describes connecting with --browser-url. An attached browser session can carry its existing cookies and login state. Only attach to a browser you control, restrict access to its debugging endpoint, and avoid printing or sharing session values. If the task is to inspect an existing authenticated session, use a dedicated profile and close or disconnect it when finished.

Common problems and fixes

• No request extra-info event appears: confirm Network.enable ran before navigation and that the CDP session is attached to the page target generating the traffic. Verify that the navigation reached the request stage rather than failing before any request.

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• The extra-info event arrived before the request event: this is allowed. Buffer both events by requestId; don’t discard an extra-info record just because its matching request has not appeared yet.

• A cookie is in the jar but absent from the request: inspect associatedCookies and any blocked reasons. Check URL scope and applicable browser policy; presence in a cookie listing alone does not prove that Chrome sent it on a particular request.

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• A manually supplied Cookie header does not take effect: with Playwright routing, its documented behavior is to prefer the browser cookie store over a cookie header passed to route.continue(). Set the cookie in the browser context and inspect the outgoing request instead.

• Response headers or Set-Cookie are missing: listen to responseReceivedExtraInfo as well as responseReceived. Blocked Set-Cookie information is not the same thing as a cookie accepted into the jar.

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• Redirects make the log look duplicated: preserve each event and inspect redirectResponse. A redirect can produce multiple URL transitions associated with a request ID; don’t collapse the chain to a single URL.

• Traffic seems absent or incomplete: service workers, cache, redirects, HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, partitioned cookies, and browser policy can affect what you observe. If isolating a test, use a fresh browser context and compare the CDP event stream with the final page behavior.

• Navigation times out: the example catches navigation failure so that captured events and cookies can still be printed. Check the target URL and browser network access; a timeout does not establish that the page successfully loaded.

Performance, reliability, and safe logging

Network listeners can record many requests, including scripts, images, analytics, and subresources. Filter output to the host, path, or request type you need, and avoid retaining full event payloads longer than necessary. The sample prints data for clarity; for production logs, redact Cookie, Authorization, and other credentials, and consider recording only selected headers and status data.

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For repeatable captures, use a fresh context, enable Network before the first navigation, and retain request IDs with timestamps and URLs. Don’t rely on event order, and don’t assume that a browser cache hit or service worker path will look like a new network exchange with an origin server. If results differ between visible and headless runs, compare the browser version, context state, navigation timing, and policies rather than assuming headless mode itself determines cookie behavior.

Or skip the browser setup

If your goal is a clean rendered screenshot rather than inspecting request headers or cookies, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. It is not a replacement for CDP when you need request or cookie data. A single GET request captures a URL as an image or PDF; see the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com -o shot.webp

import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://example.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://example.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);

• Cookie-consent banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot; each cleanup step can be turned off.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does headless Chrome have a different cookie jar from visible Chrome?

Headless is a way to run Chrome without a visible window; cookie state belongs to the browser context or profile being used. A new context starts separate from an attached, already authenticated session.

Can ScreenshotNeo show the headers Chrome sent?

No. ScreenshotNeo captures rendered page images or PDFs; use CDP or browser automation APIs when you need network request headers or cookie details.

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