Fix bot detection causing blank page from Goodreads

Goodreads returns an empty HTML page to headless browsers it identifies
as automated (navigator.webdriver=true, AutomationControlled feature).
This caused the Export Library button to never be found.

- Launch Chromium with --disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled
- Set a realistic user agent and viewport on the browser context
- Strip navigator.webdriver via an init script
- Guard the logged_in check so a blank page isn't mistaken for a session
- Wait for networkidle before querying the export button, and use
  wait_for(visible) instead of is_visible() to tolerate JS render delay
- Add CSS class fallback (button.js-LibraryExport) if role lookup fails
- Add AGENTS.md documenting the bot detection pattern and export flow

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Edward Betts 2026-02-18 11:53:42 +00:00
parent ae932b26b9
commit 56dff875e7
2 changed files with 88 additions and 18 deletions

48
AGENTS.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
# Agent Notes
## Bot detection (blank page symptom)
Goodreads returns `<html><head></head><body></body></html>` to headless browsers
it identifies as automated. Symptoms:
- `page.content()` → bare empty HTML skeleton
- `page.title()` → empty string
- Screenshot is fully white
- `.exportBooks` div count is 0
**Root cause:** Playwright's default headless Chromium exposes `navigator.webdriver = true`
and announces itself via the `AutomationControlled` Blink feature.
**Fix applied:**
- Launch with `--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled`
- Set a realistic `user_agent` and `viewport` on the context
- `context.add_init_script(...)` to set `navigator.webdriver = undefined`
- Guard the `logged_in` check: a blank page must not be treated as "logged in"
## Goodreads Import/Export page (`/review/import`)
The "Export Library" button is present in the static HTML as:
```html
<button class='gr-form--compact__submitButton js-LibraryExport'
data-fileListId='exportFile'
data-statusId='exportStatusText'
data-userid='...'>Export Library</button>
```
### Why `get_by_role("button", name="Export Library")` can fail
`page.goto()` only waits for the `load` event. JavaScript may still be running
(React hydration, etc.) when the button is queried, so `count()` can return 0
or `is_visible()` can return `False` even though the button exists in the DOM.
**Fix applied:** call `page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")` after `goto`,
then use `wait_for(state="visible", timeout=10s)` instead of `is_visible()`.
A CSS-class fallback (`button.js-LibraryExport`) is also tried in case the
accessible-name lookup fails.
### Export flow
1. Click "Export Library" → Goodreads POSTs to `/review_porter/export/<userid>`
2. The `#exportFile` div is cleared while generation is in progress.
3. When done, a download link reappears inside `#exportFile a`.
4. The CSV is fetched via `/review_porter/export/<userid>/goodreads_export.csv`.
Expect repeated 404s before the 200 arrives (Goodreads generates it async).

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@ -44,11 +44,23 @@ def run_backup(page: Page) -> None:
"""Run backup.""" """Run backup."""
import_url = "https://www.goodreads.com/review/import" import_url = "https://www.goodreads.com/review/import"
page.goto(import_url) page.goto(import_url)
page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")
if refresh_backup: if refresh_backup:
print("backup requested") print("backup requested")
export_button = page.get_by_role("button", name="Export Library") export_button = page.get_by_role("button", name="Export Library")
if export_button.count() > 0 and export_button.first.is_visible(): # Fall back to CSS class in case accessible name lookup fails
if export_button.count() == 0:
export_button = page.locator("button.js-LibraryExport")
found = False
if export_button.count() > 0:
try:
export_button.first.wait_for(state="visible", timeout=10 * 1000)
found = True
except TimeoutError:
pass
if found:
export_button.first.click() export_button.first.click()
print("waiting for export to be ready...") print("waiting for export to be ready...")
@ -105,27 +117,37 @@ def run(
mode: str = "backup", mode: str = "backup",
) -> int: ) -> int:
"""Download export.""" """Download export."""
browser = playwright.chromium.launch(headless=headless) browser = playwright.chromium.launch(
headless=headless,
args=["--disable-blink-features=AutomationControlled"],
)
# Spoof user agent and viewport to look like a regular desktop browser.
context_kwargs: dict = dict(
user_agent=(
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) "
"AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) "
"Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
),
viewport={"width": 1280, "height": 800},
)
auth_json = os.path.join(script_dir, "auth.json") auth_json = os.path.join(script_dir, "auth.json")
if has_auth(auth_json) and har_path: if has_auth(auth_json):
context = browser.new_context( context_kwargs["storage_state"] = auth_json
storage_state=auth_json, if har_path:
record_har_path=har_path, context_kwargs["record_har_path"] = har_path
record_har_mode="minimal", context_kwargs["record_har_mode"] = "minimal"
) context = browser.new_context(**context_kwargs)
elif has_auth(auth_json): # Remove the navigator.webdriver flag that headless Chrome exposes.
context = browser.new_context(storage_state=auth_json) context.add_init_script(
elif har_path: "Object.defineProperty(navigator, 'webdriver', {get: () => undefined})"
context = browser.new_context( )
record_har_path=har_path,
record_har_mode="minimal",
)
else:
context = browser.new_context()
page = context.new_page() page = context.new_page()
page.goto("https://www.goodreads.com/") page.goto("https://www.goodreads.com/")
logged_in = not page.get_by_role("link", name="Sign In").is_visible() page.wait_for_load_state("domcontentloaded")
# A blank page (bot-detection response) has no body content; treat as not logged in.
page_has_content = page.locator("body").inner_text().strip() != ""
logged_in = page_has_content and not page.get_by_role("link", name="Sign In").is_visible()
if mode == "check_login": if mode == "check_login":
print("logged in" if logged_in else "not logged in") print("logged in" if logged_in else "not logged in")