Browser Cookie & Session Health Monitor

Validate whether an existing browser session still reaches authenticated content. The Actor loads one permitted public page with encrypted cookie input, evaluates explicit active and logged-out signals, reports cookie expiry risk, and optionally saves one failure screenshot.

Why use it

Scheduled scrapers and automations fail when sessions expire. This Actor gives a small, repeatable health check before an expensive workflow runs. It never asks for a password, never returns cookie names or values, and does not attempt CAPTCHA or access-control bypass.

Input

Provide exactly one encrypted cookie source:

• Cookie header: name=value; name2=value2
• Cookies JSON: an array exported from Playwright or a browser cookie tool

Then configure one or more active-session signals:

• a CSS selector visible only when logged in;
• visible page text;
• a substring in the final URL.

Optional logged-out signals make the result more precise.

{
  "checkName": "Customer portal session",
  "url": "https://example.com/account",
  "cookieHeader": "session=REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_COOKIE",
  "successSelector": "[data-testid='account-menu']",
  "loggedOutUrlIncludes": "/login",
  "expiryWarningHours": 72,
  "screenshotOnFailure": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": false }
}

The Console encrypts cookieHeader and cookiesJson because both fields use isSecret: true.

Results

Each run writes one sanitized dataset row and an OUTPUT record:

• ACTIVE: at least one configured active signal matched;
• LOGGED_OUT: no active signal matched and a logged-out signal matched;
• INDETERMINATE: neither set of signals matched;
• ERROR: navigation or browser evaluation failed.

Cookie values and names are excluded. Persistent-cookie expiry is summarized as counts and an earliest expiry timestamp. A failure screenshot is optional and may contain private page content.

Pricing

Recommended Store pricing: $0.02 per completed session check ($20 per 1,000). Invalid input, unsafe destinations, navigation errors, and checks blocked by the customer's maximum charge are not billed. A completed ACTIVE, LOGGED_OUT, or INDETERMINATE result is billable after its dataset row is saved.

Safety and limits

• One session check per run.
• Up to 100 cookies.
• Public HTTP(S) destinations on ports 80 and 443 only.
• DNS, redirects, browser resources, and proxy traffic are checked against local, private, metadata, link-local, multicast, and reserved networks.
• 48 MiB browser transfer limit and 250 proxied connection limit.
• Downloads and service workers are disabled; popups are closed.
• No password collection, automated login, CAPTCHA solving, or access-control bypass.
• Use only sessions and websites you are authorized to access.
• Review failure screenshots before long retention because they can contain authenticated content.

Scheduling

Create an Apify Task with encrypted cookie input and run it before a dependent scraper or on a regular schedule. Route LOGGED_OUT, INDETERMINATE, and ERROR results to a webhook or notification integration.

Local development

npm install
npm test
apify actor:start

Local test input belongs in storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json. Never commit real cookies.