Chromium Headless Shell Build System

Build Chromium 144.0.7559.97 headless_shell with proprietary codecs (H.264/AAC) for multiple platforms.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Target	Build Time	Output Size	Use Case
Lambda ARM64	AWS Lambda (AL2023)	~4 hours	88 MB	Serverless browser automation
Linux ARM64	Debian/Ubuntu ARM64	~1h46m	84 MB	ARM64 servers, Graviton
Linux x64	Debian/Ubuntu x86_64	~1h12m	91 MB	Standard Linux servers
Amazon Linux x64	Amazon Linux 2023 x86_64	~1h15m	~95 MB	Amazon Linux x64 servers

Directory Structure

chrome-compile/
├── README.md                    # This file
├── shared/
│   └── .gclient                 # gclient configuration (shared)
├── lambda-arm64/                # AWS Lambda ARM64 build
│   ├── README.md                # Detailed build guide
│   ├── args.gn                  # GN build flags
│   ├── Dockerfile               # AL2023-based container
│   ├── build-chromium.sh        # Build script
│   ├── launch-ec2.sh            # Launch EC2 instance
│   └── setup-ec2.sh             # EC2 setup script
├── linux-arm64/                 # Linux ARM64 build
│   ├── README.md                # Detailed build guide
│   ├── args.gn                  # GN build flags
│   ├── Dockerfile               # Ubuntu 22.04 container
│   ├── build-chromium.sh        # Build script
│   ├── launch-ec2.sh            # Launch EC2 instance
│   └── setup-ec2.sh             # EC2 setup script
├── linux-x64/                   # Linux x64 build
│   ├── README.md                # Detailed build guide
│   ├── args.gn                  # GN build flags
│   ├── Dockerfile               # Ubuntu 22.04 container
│   ├── build-chromium.sh        # Build script (simplified)
│   ├── launch-ec2.sh            # Launch EC2 instance
│   └── setup-ec2.sh             # EC2 setup script
├── amazon-linux-x64/            # Amazon Linux x64 build
│   ├── README.md                # Detailed build guide
│   ├── args.gn                  # GN build flags
│   ├── Dockerfile               # AL2023 container
│   ├── build-chromium.sh        # Build script (with system lib bundling)
│   ├── launch-ec2.sh            # Launch EC2 instance
│   └── setup-ec2.sh             # EC2 setup script
└── output/                      # Pre-built binaries
    ├── chromium-headless-shell-lambda-arm64.zip
    ├── chrome-headless-shell-linux-arm64.zip
    └── chrome-headless-shell-linux64.zip

Quick Start

Prerequisites

1. AWS CLI configured with credentials
2. Create .env file in the build directory:

   AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_key
   AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret
   

Build Any Platform

cd <platform-directory>  # e.g., linux-x64

# 1. Launch EC2 instance
./launch-ec2.sh

# 2. Copy files to EC2 (use the SSH command from launch output)
scp -i <key>.pem Dockerfile build-chromium.sh ../shared/.gclient args.gn setup-ec2.sh ec2-user@<IP>:/home/ec2-user/

# 3. SSH and run build
ssh -i <key>.pem ec2-user@<IP>
sudo mv /home/ec2-user/* /root/
sudo mv /root/.gclient /root/dot-gclient  # Rename for Dockerfile
sudo bash /root/setup-ec2.sh

# 4. Download result
scp -i <key>.pem ec2-user@<IP>:/root/*.zip .

# 5. Terminate instance (important!)
aws ec2 terminate-instances --instance-ids <instance-id> --region eu-central-1

Platform Comparison

Build Complexity

Aspect	Lambda ARM64	Linux ARM64	Linux x64	Amazon Linux x64
LLVM toolchain	Bootstrap from source	Bootstrap from source	Pre-built (download)	Pre-built (download)
Build phases	3 (with Docker commits)	3 (with Docker commits)	1 (single run)	1 (single run)
PIC patches	Required	Required	Not needed	Not needed
System libs bundled	Yes (for Lambda)	No (apt install)	No (apt install)	Yes (for Amazon Linux)

EC2 Instance Types

Platform	Instance	vCPUs	RAM	Architecture
Lambda ARM64	c7g.8xlarge	32	64 GB	Graviton3 (ARM64)
Linux ARM64	c7g.8xlarge	32	64 GB	Graviton3 (ARM64)
Linux x64	c6i.8xlarge	32	64 GB	Intel (x86_64)
Amazon Linux x64	c6i.8xlarge	32	64 GB	Intel (x86_64)

Output Contents

Lambda ARM64 (includes system libs for Lambda runtime):

headless_shell, libEGL.so, libGLESv2.so, libvk_swiftshader.so, libvulkan.so.1,
vk_swiftshader_icd.json, libnss3.so, libnspr4.so, libexpat.so.1, libdbus-1.so.3,
libsoftokn3.so, libfreebl3.so, libfreeblpriv3.so, libnssutil3.so, libplc4.so,
libplds4.so, libgcc_s.so.1, libsystemd.so.0

Linux ARM64/x64 (minimal, install deps via apt):

chrome-headless-shell-linux64/
├── chrome-headless-shell
├── libEGL.so
├── libGLESv2.so
├── libvk_swiftshader.so
├── libvulkan.so.1
└── vk_swiftshader_icd.json

Amazon Linux x64 (includes system libs for Amazon Linux deployment):

chromium-headless-shell-amazon-linux2023-x64/
├── headless_shell
├── libEGL.so, libGLESv2.so, libvk_swiftshader.so, libvulkan.so.1
├── vk_swiftshader_icd.json
├── libnss3.so, libnssutil3.so, libnspr4.so, libsoftokn3.so
├── libexpat.so.1, libplc4.so, libplds4.so
├── libfreebl3.so, libfreeblpriv3.so
├── libdbus-1.so.3, libgcc_s*.so.1, libsystemd.so.0

Runtime Dependencies

Lambda ARM64

No additional dependencies needed - all required libs are bundled.

Linux ARM64/x64

sudo apt install -y libnss3 libnspr4 libexpat1 libdbus-1-3 libgbm1 \
  libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libcups2 libdrm2 \
  libxkbcommon0 libx11-6 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxext6 \
  libxfixes3 libxrandr2 libpango-1.0-0 libcairo2 fonts-liberation

Testing

# Extract
unzip chrome-headless-shell-linux64.zip

# Run (Linux)
./chrome-headless-shell-linux64/chrome-headless-shell \
  --no-sandbox --headless --dump-dom https://example.com

# Run (Lambda - in Lambda environment)
./headless_shell --no-sandbox --headless --dump-dom https://example.com

Key Build Flags (args.gn)

All builds share these core flags:

import("//build/args/headless.gn")
is_official_build = true
is_debug = false
symbol_level = 0

# Proprietary codecs (H.264/AAC)
proprietary_codecs = true
ffmpeg_branding = "Chrome"

# Embed resources into binary
headless_use_embedded_resources = true
icu_use_data_file = false

# Disable unused features
use_sysroot = false
use_dawn = false
skia_use_dawn = false
clang_use_chrome_plugins = false

Platform-specific:

• ARM64: target_cpu = "arm64", v8_target_cpu = "arm64"
• x64: target_cpu = "x64", v8_target_cpu = "x64"

Troubleshooting

See individual platform README files for detailed troubleshooting guides.

Common issues:

• Rust version: Must use nightly-2025-11-12 (matches Chromium 144's rustc)
• Node.js version: Must be v24.11.1
• LLVM build fails: Expected partial failure on ARM64 - libclang.so succeeds before libclang-cpp.so fails
• Out of disk space: Ensure 200 GB gp3 volume

Cost Estimate

Platform	Instance Cost	Build Time	Total
Lambda ARM64	~$1.09/hr	~4 hours	~$4.50
Linux ARM64	~$1.09/hr	~1h46m	~$2.00
Linux x64	~$1.36/hr	~1h12m	~$1.70
Amazon Linux x64	~$1.36/hr	~1h15m	~$1.75

Use spot instances for ~70% savings if build interruption is acceptable.

Version

• Chromium: 144.0.7559.97
• Build date: February 2026