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:
- Select a Connector (Web, Kibana, Grafana)
- Enter the URL
- Set Authentication (if needed)
- Select a Snapshot template
Best for quick dashboard snapshots and simple reports.
Advanced mode
Multi-step browser automation:
- Chain multiple navigation and capture actions
- Extract data into variables
- Evaluate conditions
- Build complex workflows
Turn on the Advanced switch to change modes.
Connectors
Kibana connector
The Kibana connector uses Anaphora's built-in support for Kibana pages.
Supported page types:
- Dashboards
- Canvas workpads
- Discover views
To authenticate, log in to Kibana with the ReadonlyREST login form. Select ReadonlyREST, or ReadonlyREST Enterprise to also select a Tenancy.
To configure the time range, either set it in the Kibana UI before you copy the URL, or set it in Anaphora with the Time select field, which uses a syntax similar to Kibana's time picker. Time select applies to dashboards and Discover views. For a Canvas workpad, set the Page number.
Capture options:
| Snapshot template | Description |
|---|---|
| Full page | One snapshot of the full dashboard |
| Visualizations | Separate snapshot for each panel |
For a Discover view, the templates are Logs and Histogram. Select Deliver report only when condition is met to send the report only when the hit count meets a condition (Hits are greater than, less than, or equal to a value).
When you capture each visualization separately, you get more control in the Compose tab. You can arrange panels in custom layouts, exclude some visualizations, or combine them with other content.
Grafana connector
The Grafana connector uses Anaphora's built-in support for Grafana pages.
To authenticate, select Grafana and log in with a Grafana user. This works for Grafana Cloud and self-hosted Grafana instances.
Capture options:
- Full page: full dashboard capture
- Visualizations: panel-level capture (similar to Kibana)
Generic web connector
Select the 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 HTTP Basic authentication (select Basic)
- Use Advanced mode to script login flows
Advanced capture workflows
Advanced mode runs 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 text | Enter text | Search box, form field |
| Enter | Press Enter in an element | Submit a search or form |
| Wait for visible | Wait for element | Dashboard loading complete |
| Wait before continue | Pause execution for a number of seconds | 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 |
| AI | Process captured data with AI | Summarize a dashboard |
An equation in a Calculate action runs in a separate process, with 256 MB of memory and 5 seconds of time. It cannot create a matrix with more than one million cells. When a limit is reached, only that process stops, and the action fails. The job editor checks equations when you save the job.
Control flow actions
| Action | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Conditional block | Run nested actions when a variable meets a condition (or does not) | Only notify if errors > 0 |
| Break | Stop without sending | Skip report if threshold not met |
A Conditional block can also test the number that an AI action returns. See A number in a condition.
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 are available in the Compose tab as dashboard_a, dashboard_b, and internal_report.
Example: conditional alert
Send a notification only when the error count exceeds a threshold:
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 built-in support for ReadonlyREST authentication:
- Username/password login (ReadonlyREST)
- Username/password login with tenancy selection for multi-tenant Kibana (ReadonlyREST Enterprise)
Reliability tips
Stable captures
For reliable automation:
- Use stable dashboard URLs (avoid temporary/session-based URLs)
- Prefer consistent layouts. Dynamic dashboards can produce different results
- Add wait actions when necessary to make sure content is fully loaded
- Use element-specific captures instead of full-page captures when possible
Handling failures
- Set Retry on failure in the General tab
- Test captures manually before scheduling
Anaphora stops a capture in these cases:
| Case | Result |
|---|---|
| The capture runs longer than 30 minutes | The run fails and is retried |
| A Kibana page does not show Kibana after 5 minutes (for example a login or error page) | The run fails. A missing panel or a spinner that does not stop only logs a warning. |
| The job has no valid URL | The run fails with "Found no valid URL to navigate to" |
Testing
Click Test capture to:
- Run the capture workflow immediately
- Preview all captured snapshots
- Verify authentication works
- Check variable values
- Debug any issues
Select Debug test capture in the button menu to also record a video of the capture.
Use Test often while you build Advanced workflows. The result of each action is visible, so you can see where a problem occurs.