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Tutorial: Authenticated Crawl

Goal​

Crawl protected routes after login to generate deeper POM coverage. AutoPOM provides three main ways to handle authenticated applications.

If your application requires Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or complex manual steps:

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m autopom.cli.main \
  --interactive \
  --pom-language "typescript"
  • AutoPOM will launch a visible browser and pause.
  • You perform the login and MFA manually.
  • Press ENTER in the terminal when ready.
  • AutoPOM captures the current state and continues the crawl from there.

2. Chrome Profile Mode​

If you are already logged in to your application in your regular Google Chrome browser:

# Ensure all Chrome instances are closed first
PYTHONPATH=src python3 -m autopom.cli.main \
  --chrome-profile \
  --base-url "https://app.example.com/dashboard"

AutoPOM will inherit your existing cookies and sessions, often bypassing the login screen entirely.

3. Environment Variables (Headless/CI)​

For automated pipelines or simple login forms:

Tips​

  • Use non-production credentials.
  • Keep same_origin_only=true.
  • Restrict depth for faster iterations during tuning.