Persistent Profiles

By default, each strike() call creates a fresh browser profile. Persistent profiles let you reuse cookies, localStorage, and session state across launches.

UserDataDir

Point to a directory that persists between sessions:

const session = await strike({
  userDataDir: "/path/to/my-profile",
});

On the next launch with the same directory, the browser picks up where it left off — cookies, session tokens, localStorage all preserved.

Why This Matters

Detection Evasion

Detection sites like pixelscan check for incognito/temp profiles. Headed mode with launchPersistentContext() uses a real user data directory, which avoids this flag.

Session Continuity

// Session 1: Log in
const s1 = await strike({ userDataDir: "./profiles/site-a" });
await s1.goto("https://example.com/login");
await s1.fill("#email", "user@example.com");
await s1.fill("#password", "password123");
await s1.click("button[type=submit]");
await s1.close();

// Session 2: Still logged in
const s2 = await strike({ userDataDir: "./profiles/site-a" });
await s2.goto("https://example.com/dashboard"); // Still authenticated

Multi-Account Management

Each profile is isolated:

const account1 = await strike({ userDataDir: "./profiles/account-1" });
const account2 = await strike({ userDataDir: "./profiles/account-2" });
// Completely separate cookies, sessions, state

Best Practices

• Use descriptive directory names: ./profiles/twitter-us, ./profiles/linkedin-eu
• One profile per use case — don't share profiles across unrelated sites
• Clean up old profiles periodically to avoid disk bloat
• Profiles are tied to a specific binary version — after upgrading, test that profiles still work

Headed vs Headless

For persistent headed sessions, the userDataDir option is the recommended approach.