bright-data-best-practices

# Bright Data APIs Bright Data provides infrastructure for web data extraction at scale. Four primary APIs cover different use cases — always pick the most specific tool for the job. ## Choosing the Right API | Use Case | API | Why | |----------|-----|-----| | Scrape any webpage by URL (no interaction) | Web Unlocker | HTTP-based, auto-bypasses bot detection, cheapest | | Google / Bing / Yandex search results | SERP API | Specialized for SERP extraction, returns structured data | | Structured data from Amazon, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc. | Web Scraper API | Pre-built scrapers, no parsing needed | | Click, scroll, fill forms, run JS, intercept XHR | Browser API | Full browser automation | | Puppeteer / Playwright / Selenium automation | Browser API | Connects via CDP/WebDriver | ## Authentication Pattern (All APIs) All APIs share the same authentication model: ```bash export BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY="your-api-key" # From Control Panel > Account Settings export BRIGHTDATA_UNLOCKER_ZONE="zone-name" # Web Unlocker zone name export BRIGHTDATA_SERP_ZONE="serp-zone-name" # SERP API zone name export BROWSER_AUTH="brd-customer-ID-zone-NAME:PASSWORD" # Browser API credentials ``` REST API authentication header for Web Unlocker and SERP API: ``` Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY ``` --- ## Web Unlocker API HTTP-based scraping proxy. Best for simple page fetches without browser interaction. **Endpoint:** `POST https://api.brightdata.com/request` ```python...