How to Retrieve Automatically/Periodically the WSS URLs that the Tab/Browser is Using and Save them to a File?

The Solution: Using the Browser’s DevTools and a Script

To retrieve WSS URLs automatically, we’ll use the browser’s DevTools and a script. We’ll use Chrome as our example browser, but the steps can be adapted to other browsers as well.

Step 1: Enable DevTools Protocol

In Chrome, navigate to chrome://inspect and click on “Enable” under “Enable DevTools protocol”. This will allow us to use the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) to interact with the browser.

Step 2: Create a Script to Retrieve WSS URLs

const fs = require('fs');
const { chromium } = require('playwright');

(async () => {
  // Launch the browser
  const browser = await chromium.launch();

  // Create a new page
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  // Enable WebSocket debugging
  await page.evaluate(() => {
    window.WebSocket = class WebSocket extends WebSocket {
      constructor(...args) {
        super(...args);
        this.addEventListener('open', () => {
          console.log(`WebSocket connection established: ${this.url}`);
        });
      }
    };
  });

  // Navigate to the desired URL
  await page.goto('https://example.com');

  // Wait for the WebSocket connection to establish
  await page.waitForFunction(() => document.querySelector('websocket') !== null);

  // Get the WSS URLs
  const wssUrls = await page.evaluate(() => {
    return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('websocket')).map(ws => ws.url);
  });

  // Save the WSS URLs to a file
  fs.writeFileSync('wss-urls.txt', wssUrls.join('\n'));

  // Close the browser
  await browser.close();
})();

This script uses the Playwright library to launch a new browser instance, navigate to a desired URL, and enable WebSocket debugging. It then retrieves the WSS URLs and saves them to a file named “wss-urls.txt”. You can modify the script to suit your specific needs.

Step 3: Automate the Script Using a scheduler

To automate the script, you can use a scheduler like `cron` on Linux/macOS or the Task Scheduler on Windows. This will allow you to run the script periodically, retrieving the WSS URLs at regular intervals.

Step 4: Review and Refine the Results

Once the script has run, review the contents of the “wss-urls.txt” file to ensure the WSS URLs have been retrieved correctly. You can refine the script further to filter out unnecessary URLs, sort the results, or perform additional processing as needed.

Alternative Solutions

If you’re not comfortable with writing scripts or using DevTools, there are alternative solutions available:

• Browser Extensions**: There are several browser extensions available that can retrieve WSS URLs, such as WebSocket Sniffer or WebSocket Debugger.
• WebSocket Inspection Tools**: Tools like WebSocket Inspector or WebSocket Logger can be used to inspect and log WebSocket traffic, including WSS URLs.
• Network Traffic Analyzers**: Tools like Wireshark or Fiddler can be used to capture and analyze network traffic, including WebSocket connections and WSS URLs.