---
id: pycookiecheat
version: "0.8.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pycookiecheat — Borrow cookies from your browser's authenticated session for use in Python scripts.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 109.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Pycookiecheat reads and decrypts cookies stored by your browser, allowing Python scripts to reuse an authenticated session without manual login. It works with Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and Slack on macOS and Linux, and can be used as either a command-line tool or imported as a library. The package handles browser-specific cookie storage formats and encryption, using cryptography and keyring to access stored credentials.

The main use case is automating requests that require browser authentication—for example, downloading files from a site where you're already logged in, or scraping pages that require a session. You pass a URL to get_cookies(), which returns decrypted cookies for that domain. The CLI can also output cookies in Netscape format for use with other tools.

Use it for:

- Automate downloads from authenticated websites by reusing your browser's session cookies
- Scrape web pages that require login by borrowing cookies from your already-authenticated browser session
- Export browser cookies to Netscape format for use with command-line tools
- Build scripts that interact with web services you're logged into without hardcoding credentials
- Test web applications by programmatically using cookies from a real browser session

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Extracts and decrypts cookies from Chrome, Firefox, Brave, and Slack browsers on macOS and Linux for use in Python scripts.

Yes, if you need to automate requests with browser authentication on macOS or Linux. Install friction is low, maintenance is active, and there are no known vulnerabilities. The MIT license poses no restrictions. Caveat: Linux users may need to install system packages for keyring support, and Windows is not supported.

## Install

pip install pycookiecheat
uv add pycookiecheat
poetry add pycookiecheat

## Installing pycookiecheat

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance is active with recent commits. Runtime dependencies are cryptography and keyring, both stable libraries. Linux users may need system packages for alternative keyring support.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you can use this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pycookiecheat

from pycookiecheat import get_cookies, BrowserType

cookies = get_cookies('https://example.com')

# Or specify a different browser:
cookies = get_cookies('https://example.com', browser=BrowserType.FIREFOX)

On Linux, you may need to install libsecret-1-dev and python3-gi system packages, and use --system-site-packages when creating a virtualenv. Windows is not supported.

Verify before relying:

- Whether all Chromium-based browsers beyond Chrome, Brave, and Slack are supported via manual cookie_file paths
- Whether Windows support has been added since the FAQ stated it was not planned

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 109.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

extract browser cookies python, chrome cookies python script, decrypt browser session cookies, browser authentication automation, firefox chrome cookie extraction, browser-automation, cookie-handling, session-reuse

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