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Overview

The keepAlive feature allows you to keep sessions alive across disconnects, permitting you to reconnect and continue using the same session. By default, Browserbase sessions terminate when a developer disconnects. With Keep Alive enabled, the session remains available for reconnection using the same connection URL.
Session keep alive is only available on paid plans.

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Why use Keep Alive?

  • Survive disconnects: Network issues or client restarts won’t terminate your session
  • Reconnect to existing sessions: Continue where you left off without starting fresh
  • Reuse sessions for performance: Reconnecting is faster than creating a new session

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Creating a Keep Alive Session

Setting keepAlive to true will keep the session available for later use. You can reconnect to the session using the same connection URL. 
import Browserbase from "browserbase";

const bb = new Browserbase({ apiKey: process.env.BROWSERBASE_API_KEY! });
const session = await bb.sessions.create({
  projectId: process.env.BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID!,
  keepAlive: true,
});

console.log("Session ID:", session.id);
// Reconnect later using the same session ID

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Stopping a Keep Alive Session

Keep alive sessions must be explicitly stopped when you’re done with them. Use the API or SDK to release the session. 
import Browserbase from "browserbase";

const bb = new Browserbase({
  apiKey: process.env.BROWSERBASE_API_KEY!,
});

// Stop the session by setting status to REQUEST_RELEASE
await bb.sessions.update(session.id, {
  status: "REQUEST_RELEASE",
  projectId: process.env.BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID!,
});
We recommend stopping keep alive sessions explicitly when no longer needed. They will eventually time out, but you will be charged for all browser minutes used.

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Keep Alive and Timeouts

Keep alive sessions still respect session timeouts. If you need a session that both survives disconnects and runs for an extended period, configure both options: 
const session = await bb.sessions.create({
  projectId: process.env.BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID!,
  keepAlive: true,
  timeout: 3600, // 1 hour
});

Session Timeouts

Learn how to extend session duration beyond the default timeout.