> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apostate.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Linux servers
> Run Apostate on a Linux server with no GPU and no display: libraries, fonts, headless and headed launches, root, and how the server's size shapes the persona.
Apostate runs on a Linux server with no GPU and no display. The persona's WebGL values are served whatever the server renders with. The WebGPU adapter is served only in a headed launch as a regular user, as [Headless or headed](#headless-or-headed) shows. The default persona on Linux is Windows, so a server needs the Windows fonts as well as the browser.
## Set up the server
The `lib` packages are the libraries the browser links against. `fontconfig` and `git` are for the fonts, `xvfb` is for headed launches, `zstd` lets Python below 3.14 unpack the browser archive, and `python3-venv` is for the next step.
```bash theme={null}
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends \
libasound2t64 libatk-bridge2.0-0t64 libatk1.0-0t64 libatspi2.0-0t64 \
libcairo2 libcups2t64 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libgbm1 libglib2.0-0t64 \
libnspr4 libnss3 libpango-1.0-0 libx11-6 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 \
libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxkbcommon0 libxrandr2 \
ca-certificates fontconfig git xvfb zstd python3-venv
```
```bash theme={null}
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends \
libasound2 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk1.0-0 libatspi2.0-0 \
libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libgbm1 libglib2.0-0 \
libnspr4 libnss3 libpango-1.0-0 libx11-6 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 \
libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxkbcommon0 libxrandr2 \
ca-certificates fontconfig git xvfb zstd python3-venv
```
The libraries are what `ldd` reports missing for the 0.4.3 browser on a minimal image. With them, the browser started headless on Debian 12, Debian 13, Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 (arm64 containers, 2026-09-27).
```bash Python theme={null}
python3 -m venv ~/apostate-venv
. ~/apostate-venv/bin/activate
pip install apostate
apostate install
```
```bash Node theme={null}
npm install @heretic-tech/apostate
npx apostate install
```
On Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04, `pip install` outside a virtual environment fails with `externally-managed-environment`. The Node package needs Node 22 or later. [Installation](/installation) covers the cache and offline installs.
```bash Python theme={null}
apostate fonts install windows
```
```bash Node theme={null}
npx apostate fonts install windows
```
A Windows persona shows only the Windows fonts installed on the host. The command installs them for the current user, so run it as the user that runs the browser. [Fonts](/guides/fonts) explains what it installs. To present the server's own OS instead, pass `fingerprint_platform="linux"` (Node: `fingerprintPlatform: "linux"`), which needs no fonts installed.
## Headless launches
`headless=True` (Node: `headless: true`) is the default and needs no display. The package passes `--headless=new`. The browser leaves `HeadlessChrome` out of the User-Agent, where stock Chromium writes it in headless mode.
## Headed launches
With `headless=False` on a host where `WAYLAND_DISPLAY` is unset and `DISPLAY` names no X server that answers, the package starts Xvfb, gives its display to the browser, and stops it when the browser closes. It takes the first free display from `:99` up and sets `DISPLAY` only in the browser's environment.
```python Python theme={null}
from apostate import launch
browser = launch(
fingerprint=42,
fingerprint_platform="windows",
locale="en-US",
timezone="America/New_York",
headless=False,
)
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")
print(page.evaluate("[navigator.platform, screen.width, screen.height, outerHeight - innerHeight]"))
browser.close()
```
```javascript Node theme={null}
import { launch } from "@heretic-tech/apostate";
const browser = await launch({
fingerprint: 42,
fingerprintPlatform: "windows",
locale: "en-US",
timezone: "America/New_York",
headless: false,
});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto("https://example.com");
console.log(await page.evaluate(() => [navigator.platform, screen.width, screen.height, outerHeight - innerHeight]));
await browser.close();
```
```text theme={null}
['Win32', 1920, 1080, 143]
```
The 143 includes a 56-pixel bar on the first tab, which [Headless or headed](#headless-or-headed) explains. The display is the size of the screen you set with `--fingerprint-screen-width` and `--fingerprint-screen-height`, or that a profile names, and 3840x2160 otherwise. Each headed launch has its own Xvfb, which used 37 MiB at 3840x2160 (PSS, Debian 13 container). Without Xvfb installed, a headed launch fails with:
```text theme={null}
Xvfb is not installed; install it (apt install xvfb) or pass headless=True
```
To run the browser binary headed without the packages, start it under `xvfb-run`, which needs the `xauth` package, and pass `--no-first-run` for a new user data directory. [Raw binary](/guides/raw-binary#headed-without-a-display) has the command.
### Headless or headed
Two values a page can read differ between the modes. Measured on 2026-09-27 with 0.4.3 in a Debian 13 container (linux-arm64, no GPU), seed 42, Windows persona, run as a regular user:
| Value | Headless | Headed under Xvfb |
| -------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `navigator.gpu.requestAdapter()` | `null` | the persona's adapter (`intel`, `gen-12lp`) |
| `outerHeight - innerHeight` | 87 | 143 |
The same launches in an amd64 container gave the same WebGPU result. [Known gaps](/known-gaps#webgpu-in-headless-mode-on-linux) tracks it. On a Mac, headless also read 87 for `outerHeight - innerHeight` and served the adapter.
The headed 143 is the same 87 plus Chromium's bar for `--no-sandbox`, 56 pixels high, which the headed launch showed on its first tab. The packages pass that flag as root and in a container, where the sandbox cannot start. Google Chrome never shows the bar. [A bar on the first tab](/known-gaps#a-bar-on-the-first-tab) has the workaround, and [Browser chrome height](/known-gaps#browser-chrome-height) compares 87 with real Windows.
Run headed on a server when the pages you visit use WebGPU.
## Run as a regular user
Under root, `navigator.gpu.requestAdapter()` returned `null` in headed launches too (same container and date). Run the browser as a regular user. Run `apostate install` and `apostate fonts install windows` as that user too, because both install into the user's home directory.
If you run as root anyway:
* The packages work as they are. Their driver, Patchright or Playwright, passes `--no-sandbox` on every launch.
* The browser binary run on its own exits with `Running as root without --no-sandbox is not supported. See https://crbug.com/638180.` Add `--no-sandbox` to its switches.
## Server size
A persona never claims more cores or memory than the host has. The browser counts the logical CPUs its process may run on and the physical memory the kernel reports. `--fingerprint-explain` prints both:
```bash theme={null}
apostate run -- --fingerprint=42 --fingerprint-platform=windows --fingerprint-explain | grep "^ host"
```
```text theme={null}
host platform linux
host cores 2
host memory 16818978816 bytes
host backend swiftshader (no DRM render node on this host, not probed)
```
On this 2-CPU host, seed 42 presents 2 cores. On a 14-core host the same seed presents 12. [Hosts](/concepts/hosts#cores-and-memory) shows how many seeds keep their own cores and memory on each server size.
## x86 or arm64
Use an x86 server for Windows and Linux personas. On an arm64 server they report `arm` in `Sec-CH-UA-Arch` next to a desktop Intel or NVIDIA GPU. No real Windows machine has that pair, and iphey.com flags it. [Hosts](/concepts/hosts#arm-hosts) explains why.
## Check the server
[Verify](/guides/verify) has a script that prints what a page, a worker and the request headers show. Run it on the server, with `--headed` for a headed launch.