Installation

Requirements#

Rollberry requires Node.js 18 or later. You can check your current Node.js version by running:

node --version

If you need to install or update Node.js, visit nodejs.org or use a version manager like nvm:

# Install Node.js 18+ using nvm
nvm install 18
nvm use 18

Rollberry uses Playwright to manage the Chromium browser automatically. There is no need to install Chrome or Chromium separately — Playwright handles the browser binary download on first run.

Zero-install with npx (recommended)#

The easiest way to use Rollberry is with npx, which comes bundled with Node.js. This approach requires no installation at all:

npx rollberry capture https://example.com

On the first run, npx will download the rollberry package and its dependencies (including the Chromium browser binary). Subsequent runs will use the cached version.

This is the recommended approach for most users because:

• No global packages to manage or update
• Always runs the latest version (or specify a version explicitly)
• Clean environment with no side effects on your system
• Works immediately in CI/CD pipelines

To pin a specific version:

npx rollberry@0.1.3 capture https://example.com

Global installation#

If you use Rollberry frequently, you can install it globally for faster startup:

npm install -g rollberry

After global installation, the rollberry command is available directly:

rollberry capture https://example.com

To update to the latest version:

npm update -g rollberry

To uninstall:

npm uninstall -g rollberry

Verifying the installation#

After installation, verify that Rollberry is working correctly:

# Check the version
npx rollberry --version

Expected output:

rollberry v0.1.3

You can also run a quick test capture to confirm everything is set up properly:

npx rollberry capture https://example.com --duration 3

This should produce an MP4 file in the ./rollberry-output directory within a few seconds.

Platform support#

Rollberry works on all platforms supported by Playwright:

On Linux, you may need to install additional system dependencies for Chromium. Playwright provides a command to install them:

npx playwright install-deps chromium

CI/CD environments#

Rollberry works in CI/CD pipelines out of the box. For headless environments like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins, no additional configuration is needed since Rollberry runs the browser in headless mode by default.

For Docker-based CI environments, you may need to install Chromium's system dependencies. See the Common Issues page for details on CI/CD setup.

Next steps#

With Rollberry installed, head to the Quick Start guide to capture your first page.