---
id: playwright-crawler-with-block-requests
title: Playwright crawler with block requests
---

import ApiLink from '@site/src/components/ApiLink';
import CodeBlock from '@theme/CodeBlock';

import PlaywrightBlockRequests from '!!raw-loader!./code_examples/playwright_block_requests.py';

This example demonstrates how to optimize your <ApiLink to="class/PlaywrightCrawler">`PlaywrightCrawler`</ApiLink> performance by blocking unnecessary network requests.

The primary use case is when you need to scrape or interact with web pages without loading non-essential resources like images, styles, or analytics scripts. This can significantly reduce bandwidth usage and improve crawling speed.

The <ApiLink to="class/BlockRequestsFunction">`block_requests`</ApiLink> helper provides the most efficient way to block requests as it operates directly in the browser.

By default, <ApiLink to="class/BlockRequestsFunction">`block_requests`</ApiLink> will block all URLs including the following patterns:

```python
['.css', '.webp', '.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.svg', '.gif', '.woff', '.pdf', '.zip']
```

You can also replace the default patterns list with your own by providing `url_patterns`, or extend it by passing additional patterns in `extra_url_patterns`.

<CodeBlock className="language-python">
    {PlaywrightBlockRequests}
</CodeBlock>
