# link-preview-generator

> Get preview data (a title, description, image, domain name, favicon) from a url. Library uses puppeteer headless browser to scrape the web site.

Latest version **1.1.0** (published 2022-03-03) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install link-preview-generator
pnpm add link-preview-generator
yarn add link-preview-generator
bun add link-preview-generator
```

## Health

**Score 25/100 (F)** — status: abandoned.

Positive: has types; no vulnerabilities; high quality score.

Warnings: low downloads; no esm support.

Negative: abandoned; low maintenance score.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.1.0 |
| Published | 2022-03-03 |
| First published | 2019-11-12 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | MIT |
| TypeScript types | bundled |
| Module format | CommonJS |
| Node | >=8.16.0 |
| Dependencies | 6 |
| Unpacked size | 12.2 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 (+1 in 1 direct dependencies) |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 265 |
| Author | Andrej Gajdos |
| Maintainers | andrejgajdos |
| Keywords | link, url, preview, open, graph, link, preview, url, preview, link-previewer, data, extraction |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/link-preview-generator
- Repository: https://github.com/AndrejGajdos/link-preview-generator
- Homepage: https://github.com/AndrejGajdos/link-preview-generator#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/AndrejGajdos/link-preview-generator/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/link-preview-generator

## Dependencies (6)

- [request](https://npm.io/package/request.md) ^2.88.2
- [get-urls](https://npm.io/package/get-urls.md) ^10.0.0
- [is-base64](https://npm.io/package/is-base64.md) ^1.1.0
- [puppeteer](https://npm.io/package/puppeteer.md) ^8.0.0
- [puppeteer-extra](https://npm.io/package/puppeteer-extra.md) ^3.1.18
- [puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth](https://npm.io/package/puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth.md) ^2.7.6

## Alternatives

- [base64url](https://npm.io/package/base64url.md) — 6.1M weekly downloads
- [get-installed-path](https://npm.io/package/get-installed-path.md) — 502.9K weekly downloads
- [@uppy/url](https://npm.io/package/@uppy/url.md) — 185.8K weekly downloads
- [@d3fc/d3fc-shape](https://npm.io/package/@d3fc/d3fc-shape.md) — 16.2K weekly downloads
- [localizer](https://npm.io/package/localizer.md) — 226 weekly downloads

## Recent versions

- 1.1.0 (latest) — 2022-03-03
- 1.0.7 — 2021-10-03
- 1.0.6 — 2021-07-01
- 1.0.5 — 2021-03-28
- 0.0.5 — 2021-02-13
- 0.0.4 — 2020-04-14
- 0.0.3 — 2019-11-17
- 0.0.2 — 2019-11-13
- 0.0.1 — 2019-11-13
- 0.0.0 — 2019-11-12

## README

# link-preview-generator

![NPM Downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/link-preview-generator)
![NPM License](https://img.shields.io/npm/l/link-preview-generator)
[![Twitter](https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/Andrej_Gajdos.svg?style=social&label=@Andrej_Gajdos)](https://twitter.com/Andrej_Gajdos)

> Get preview data (a title, description, image, domain name) from a url. Library uses puppeteer headless browser to scrape the web site.

[BLOG POST](https://andrejgajdos.com/how-to-create-a-link-preview/) and [DEMO](https://link-preview-generator.herokuapp.com/)

## Install

```
$ npm install link-preview-generator
```

## Usage

```js
const linkPreviewGenerator = require("link-preview-generator");

const previewData = await linkPreviewGenerator(
  "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqqY2Ji7_g"
);
console.log(previewData);
/*
{
  title: 'Kiteboarding: Stylish Backroll in 4 Sessions - Ride with Blake: Vlog 20',
  description: 'The backroll is a staple in your kiteboarding trick ' +
    'bag. With a few small adjustments, you can really ' +
    'improve your style and make this basic your own. ' +
    'Sessio...',
  domain: 'youtube.com',
  img: 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8mqqY2Ji7_g/hqdefault.jpg',
  favicon: 'https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/d3411c39/img/favicon.ico'
}
*/
```

## API

### linkPreviewGenerator(url, puppeteerArgs?, puppeteerAgent?)

Accepts a `url`, which is scraped and optional parameters `puppeteerArgs` -- browser options and `puppeteerAgent` -- browser user agent.

Returns an object with preview data of `url`.

#### url

Type: `string`

Scraped url.

#### puppeteerArgs

Type: `array`

Options to set on the Chrome browser.

#### puppeteerAgent

Type: `string`

Specific user agent to use.

## Troubleshooting
If you need to deploy this library (Puppeteer) on Heroku, follow [these steps](https://stackoverflow.com/a/55090914/968379).

If you want to run this library from within a Docker container:
1. pass the following puppeteer arguments as second argument
```json
// Required for Docker version of Puppeteer
'--no-sandbox',
'--disable-setuid-sandbox',
// This will write shared memory files into /tmp instead of /dev/shm,
// because Docker’s default for /dev/shm is 64MB
'--disable-dev-shm-usage'
```
2. make sure your Docker image has all needed dependencies for headless chrome or just go straight away with [buildkite/puppeteer](https://hub.docker.com/r/buildkite/puppeteer/dockerfile)
3. done

## License

MIT © [Andrej Gajdos](http://andrejgajdos.com)

---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/link-preview-generator · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._