Company
Date Published
Author
Antonello Zanini
Word count
2151
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

curl_cffi is a Python library that provides bindings for the curl-impersonate fork via CFFI, enabling users to bypass TLS fingerprint-based bot detection by impersonating browser TLS/JA3/HTTP2 fingerprints. This makes it an effective tool for web scraping, as it helps simulate browser-like requests and avoid anti-bot measures. The library supports features such as JA3/TLS and HTTP2 fingerprint impersonation, asynchronous HTTP requests, proxy rotation, and WebSocket connections. Compared to other HTTP clients like Requests, AIOHTTP, and HTTPX, curl_cffi offers high speed, advanced fingerprint spoofing, and both synchronous and asynchronous APIs, making it a versatile choice for web scraping tasks. While curl_cffi provides a manual approach suitable for simpler sites, alternatives like Bright Data offer automated and scalable solutions with managed browser instances and APIs for more complex scraping needs. Despite its advantages, using curl_cffi may expose users' IP addresses, suggesting the use of proxy servers for enhanced privacy and anonymity.