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How to Configure reg-suit with Puppeteer

Puppeteer captures the images; reg-suit compares them. Configure a shared output directory, select snapshot keying and storage plugins, then run capture before reg-suit in local development or CI.
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Use Puppeteer to create the screenshots and reg-suit to compare them: the connection between the two is the directory where the screenshots are saved. Configure core.actualDir in reg-suit to match Puppeteer’s output path, then run capture before npx reg-suit run.

How Puppeteer and reg-suit fit together

Puppeteer automates a browser and writes screenshot files. reg-suit reads those files as actual images, obtains the expected snapshots through its configured key-generator and publisher plugins, compares the images, and creates an HTML report. The actual-image directory is the handoff point between the tools. See the reg-suit project documentation and the reg-puppeteer-demo.

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Install the tools and capture a screenshot

Install Puppeteer and a directory-creation helper as development dependencies. The example below uses mkdirp, as does the project demo. Add reg-suit and the plugins you intend to use separately; plugin configuration and requirements depend on the selected plugin versions.

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npm install --save-dev puppeteer mkdirp reg-suit

Create capture.js. This example captures a local file and saves a PNG in screenshot/. Replace the file URL, viewport and readiness check with the route and conditions your application needs.

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
const path = require('path');

(async () => {
  const outputDir = path.resolve(__dirname, 'screenshot');
  await mkdirp(outputDir);

  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  try {
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.setViewport({ width: 1280, height: 800 });
    await page.goto('file://' + path.resolve(__dirname, 'index.html'), {
      waitUntil: 'networkidle0'
    });
    await page.screenshot({
      path: path.join(outputDir, 'home.png'),
      fullPage: true
    });
  } finally {
    await browser.close();
  }
})().catch(error => {
  console.error(error);
  process.exitCode = 1;
});

For an application page, a network-idle event may not mean that the screen is visually ready: polling, analytics, animations or delayed data can keep requests active or change the page after navigation. Prefer an application-specific readiness signal where possible, such as waiting for a stable selector, and use deterministic test data. Keep the viewport and output filenames consistent between runs.

Point reg-suit at the screenshot directory

Initialize the CLI with npx reg-suit init, or write regconfig.json yourself. This illustrative configuration uses Git-hash keying and an S3 publisher, following the project examples; it is not a guarantee that every plugin version accepts only these fields.

{
  "core": {
    "workingDir": ".reg",
    "actualDir": "screenshot",
    "thresholdRate": 0.05
  },
  "plugins": {
    "reg-keygen-git-hash-plugin": {},
    "reg-publish-s3-plugin": {
      "bucketName": "your-aws-s3-bucket"
    }
  }
}

Install the chosen key-generator and publisher packages as development dependencies, then check each installed plugin’s README for supported options and credential setup. The reg-suit README also lists a simple key-generator and a Google Cloud Storage publisher. The Git-hash plugin associates snapshots with revisions; the publisher handles snapshot storage and retrieval.

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Choose actualDir and workingDir

core.actualDir must point to the directory containing the files generated by your capture task. In this example, Puppeteer writes to screenshot/, so reg-suit uses "actualDir": "screenshot". You can choose another path, but both sides must agree. The documented default for workingDir is .reg.

Set comparison sensitivity deliberately

reg-suit documents thresholdRate as a value from 0 to 1 and also supports thresholdPixel as an absolute-pixel alternative. The documented default thresholds are zero. A higher permitted difference can reduce noise from minor rendering variation, but it can also let small visual changes pass unnoticed. Choose and review the threshold based on the changes your tests need to catch rather than copying the sample’s 0.05 value as a universal recommendation. The documented default concurrency is 4.

Run capture before comparison

  1. Run the Puppeteer script to generate files in the configured actual-image directory.
  2. Run npx reg-suit run. The CLI syncs expected snapshots, compares them with the actual images, publishes results through configured plugins and can notify through installed plugins.
  3. Inspect the HTML report and resolve new or changed images according to your review process.

The demo’s first execution marks its images as new because no expected snapshots exist yet; in that illustrated workflow, the initial publication establishes the baseline. Do not treat the demo’s old CI commands as current boilerplate: its sample log identifies reg-suit 0.6.1, and its CI example uses Node 8 and CircleCI 2 syntax.

Run the workflow in CI

Make screenshot capture and reg-suit comparison separate, ordered steps in the same job, or otherwise ensure the actual-image directory survives between them. Provide cloud credentials to the job through the CI platform’s secure secret mechanism, not committed config files. If using a Git-graph-based key-generator, ensure checkout includes the branch and history information it needs to identify the revision. Align the Node runtime, Puppeteer version, browser installation, CI image and reg-suit plugin versions.

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Puppeteer’s configuration is separate from regconfig.json. Its guide lists configuration filenames including .puppeteerrc.json, .puppeteerrc.js, puppeteer.config.js and package.json. Puppeteer downloads a specific Chrome version by default and supports configuring another executable path. Its guide says Puppeteer config files and environment variables are ignored by puppeteer-core; when changing browser download settings, it documents npx puppeteer browsers install to apply installation configuration. See the Puppeteer configuration guide.

reg-suit’s v0.13.0 release notes say its S3 publisher switched to @aws-sdk/client-s3 and removed the prepare option that created an S3 bucket. Therefore, create and configure storage using the current provider and plugin instructions rather than expecting the historical demo wizard to provision it. See the reg-suit release notes. The demo also uses --no-sandbox and --disable-setuid-sandbox in its historical launch example; do not copy those flags as a general default without evaluating the security model of your container.

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Troubleshoot common failures

  • reg-suit finds no actual images: Confirm the capture script completed successfully, its output path matches core.actualDir, and it wrote supported screenshot files before the CLI started.
  • Screenshots vary between runs: Fix viewport dimensions, test data, locale and page state; wait for the application’s real readiness condition and avoid capturing while animations or asynchronous content are changing.
  • CI cannot find the browser: Align Puppeteer and the installed browser. Check whether the project uses puppeteer or puppeteer-core, the configured executable path, and whether the browser installation step ran.
  • Expected snapshots cannot be retrieved or published: Check the key-generator and publisher package versions, provider credentials, storage configuration and the CI checkout history required by the selected key strategy.
  • Every pixel change fails, or small changes slip through: Review whether the threshold is zero or configured too permissively; choose either rate-based or absolute-pixel tolerance with the visual risk understood.
  • Browser launch fails in a container: Diagnose the runtime and container permissions first. The sources here do not establish a universal secure container recipe, and disabling the sandbox is not a safe default for every environment.

Or skip the browser setup

For a standalone screenshot capture, ScreenshotNeo offers a single-request API and an MCP server. It is not a replacement for reg-suit’s baseline management and visual comparison; use it when you want the capture delivered without maintaining a browser script. Before capture, it accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets; each of those steps can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits are not billed, and responses identify the page verdict and billing status in headers.

One GET request returns an image or PDF. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.

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

Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info and capture_pdf for Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients. The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month with no card.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does reg-suit take screenshots with Puppeteer?

No. Puppeteer captures the browser page; reg-suit consumes the resulting files and compares them with expected snapshots.

Can I use a directory other than screenshot/?

Yes. Set Puppeteer’s output path and reg-suit’s core.actualDir to the same directory.

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