Puppeteer Stealth + Proxies: The 2026 Engineer's Guide

By Marcus Reiner 2026-05-15 8 min read Engineering

puppeteerstealthcode

Puppeteer-extra-stealth + residential proxies = the workhorse anti-detection stack of 2026. Here's the setup.

Install

```bash npm i puppeteer-extra puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth ```

Basic setup with proxy

```js const puppeteer = require('puppeteer-extra'); const Stealth = require('puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth'); puppeteer.use(Stealth()); const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ args: ['--proxy-server=http://gate.provider.com:7777'] }); const page = await browser.newPage(); await page.authenticate({ username: 'user', password: 'pass' }); ```

What stealth actually patches

Navigator.webdriver, chrome.runtime, permissions.query, plugin/mime types, WebGL vendor, hairline fix, iframe.contentWindow.

When stealth isn't enough

Cloudflare Turnstile, DataDome challenge, Akamai sensor. For those, you need a managed Web Unlocker or full Scraping Browser.

Performance tips

Block images/CSS/fonts to cut bandwidth 60%. Reuse browser instances across contexts. Close pages aggressively to avoid leaks.

Read more on ToptierProxy Blog or see our Best Proxies 2026 guide.