Firefox Sandbox

A live, remote-controlled Firefox browser you drive from your own browser window — no local install, no extension. Start the actor, open the link, and you're looking at a real Linux desktop with Firefox running on it, streamed over VNC.

Useful for: manual testing/QA in a clean disposable browser, poking at sites that block headless/automation, a scratch browser for tasks you don't want touching your real machine, or just showing someone a running session live.

Quick start

1. Run the Actor (optionally set startUrl in the input to open a specific page).
2. Once it's running in Standby mode, open its Standby URL in your own browser.
3. You'll land on the noVNC client — click Connect and you're looking at the live desktop. Use your mouse/keyboard as normal; it's a real screen.

The session stays up as long as the Actor run is active. Closing the browser tab doesn't stop it — stop the run from the Apify console when you're done.

Input options

Field	What it does	Default
startUrl	Page Firefox opens with on launch	about:blank
vncPassword	Password to view/control the session	none (open access)
screenWidth / screenHeight	Resolution of the virtual screen	1360 x 768
proxyConfiguration	Route Firefox through Apify Proxy or a custom proxy URL	none (direct connection)

Set vncPassword unless the run is short-lived and private — without one, anyone with the Standby URL can drive the browser.

Note on Standby input: for vncPassword/proxyConfiguration to actually reach the container, enable Settings → Standby → "Validate and pass Actor input" on the Actor (it's off by default).

How it works

Under the hood: a Linux container runs a virtual display (Xvfb) with a minimal window manager (fluxbox) and Firefox. x11vnc serves that display over VNC, and noVNC translates VNC into something a plain web browser can render — so viewing/controlling it needs nothing installed on your end, just a browser tab.

The Actor runs in Apify's Standby mode: it stays warm and serves requests directly instead of running once and exiting, which is what makes "open a link, get a live desktop" possible.

Based on: https://www.trickster.dev/post/running-gui-apps-within-docker-containers/