Capture Configuration

The Capture tab defines what data to collect and how. Anaphora's headless Chrome-based connector can navigate, authenticate, and capture any web application.

Capture Modes

Basic Mode

Simple single-URL capture:

1. Select a connector (Kibana, Grafana, Generic URL)
2. Enter the URL
3. Configure authentication (if needed)
4. Capture

Best for: Quick dashboard snapshots, simple reports.

Advanced Mode

Multi-step browser automation:

1. Chain multiple navigation and capture actions
2. Extract data into variables
3. Evaluate conditions
4. Build complex workflows

Toggle Advanced to switch modes.

Connectors

Kibana Connector

Use the Kibana connector to use Anaphora's built-in support for Kibana pages.

Supported Page Types:

• Dashboards
• Canvas workpads
• Discover views

Authentication: Login to Kibana using the ReadonlyREST login access.

Time Range Configuration: Either set the time range in the Kibana UI before copying the URL, or set it in Anaphora using a similar syntax to Kibana's time picker.

Capture Options:

Mode	Description
Entire dashboard	One snapshot of the full dashboard
Per visualization	Separate snapshot for each panel

Per-Visualization Capture

Capturing each visualization separately gives you more control in the Composer — arrange panels in custom layouts, exclude certain visualizations, or combine with other content.

Grafana Connector

Use the Grafana connector to use Anaphora's built-in support for Grafana pages.

Authentication: Login with a Grafana user. Works for Grafana Cloud and self-hosted Grafana instances.

Capture Options:

• Full dashboard capture
• Panel-level capture (similar to Kibana per-visualization)

Generic Web Connector

For any web page — if a human can reach it, Anaphora can capture it.

Use Cases:

• Internal tools and dashboards
• SaaS applications
• Custom web applications

Authentication:

• Natively supports Basic Auth headers
• Use Advanced mode to script login flows

Advanced Capture Workflows

Advanced mode enables multi-step browser automation for complex scenarios.

Workflow Structure

Browser Actions

Action	Description	Example
Navigate	Go to a URL	Open dashboard
Click	Click an element	Expand menu, select filter
Type	Enter text	Search box, form field
Wait for visible	Wait for element	Dashboard loading complete
Wait	Pause execution	Allow animations to finish
Reload	Refresh page	Clear cached state

Data Extraction Actions

Action	Description	Example
Capture value	Extract text into variable	Error count, status text
Capture snapshot	Screenshot element to variable	Chart, panel, full page
Calculate	Arithmetic on variables	errors / total * 100

Control Flow Actions

Action	Description	Example
Conditional block	If/else logic	Only notify if errors > 0
Break	Stop without sending	Skip report if threshold not met

Example: Multi-Source Report

Capture from multiple dashboards in one job:

1. Navigate → Kibana Dashboard A
2. Capture snapshot → dashboard_a
3. Navigate → Grafana Dashboard B
4. Capture snapshot → dashboard_b
5. Navigate → Internal Tool
6. Click → "Generate Report" button
7. Capture snapshot → internal_report

Result: Three snapshots available in Composer as dashboard_a, dashboard_b, internal_report.

Example: Conditional Alert

Only send notification when error threshold is exceeded:

1. Navigate → Error Dashboard
2. Capture value → error_count (from error counter element)
3. Conditional block:
   - If error_count < 100:
     - Break (no notification sent)
4. Capture snapshot → error_dashboard

Authentication Best Practices

Service Accounts

For production jobs:

• Create dedicated service accounts with read-only access
• Store credentials securely in Anaphora's encrypted database

Kibana with ReadonlyREST

Anaphora has first-class support for ReadonlyREST authentication:

• Simple username/password login
• Tenancy selection for multi-tenant Kibana
• Enterprise SSO integration

Reliability Tips

Stable Captures

For reliable automation:

• Use stable dashboard URLs (avoid temporary/session-based URLs)
• Prefer consistent layouts — dynamic dashboards may produce varying results
• Add wait actions when necessary to ensure content is fully loaded
• If possible use element-specific captures rather than full-page when possible

Handling Failures

• Configure retry policies in General tab
• Test captures manually before scheduling

Testing

Click Test capture to:

1. Run the capture workflow immediately
2. Preview all captured snapshots
3. Verify authentication works
4. Check variable values
5. Debug any issues

Debug Workflow

Use Test frequently while building Advanced workflows. Each action's result is visible, making it easy to identify where issues occur.

Next Steps

• Composer - Arrange captured content into reports
• Delivery - Configure where reports are sent