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BrowserType

BrowserType provides methods to launch a specific browser instance or connect to an existing one. The following is a typical example of using Playwright to drive automation:

const { chromium } = require('playwright');  // Or 'firefox' or 'webkit'.

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  // other actions...
  await browser.close();
})();

Methods​

connect​

Added before v1.9 browserType.connect

This method attaches Playwright to an existing browser instance. When connecting to another browser launched via BrowserType.launchServer in Node.js, the major and minor version needs to match the client version (1.2.3 → is compatible with 1.2.x).

Usage

await browserType.connect(wsEndpoint);
await browserType.connect(wsEndpoint, options);

Arguments

  • wsEndpoint string Added in: v1.10#

    A browser websocket endpoint to connect to.

  • options Object (optional)

    • exposeNetwork string (optional) Added in: v1.37#

      This option exposes network available on the connecting client to the browser being connected to. Consists of a list of rules separated by comma.

      Available rules:

      1. Hostname pattern, for example: example.com, *.org:99, x.*.y.com, *foo.org.
      2. IP literal, for example: 127.0.0.1, 0.0.0.0:99, [::1], [0:0::1]:99.
      3. <loopback> that matches local loopback interfaces: localhost, *.localhost, 127.0.0.1, [::1].

      Some common examples:

      1. "*" to expose all network.
      2. "<loopback>" to expose localhost network.
      3. "*.test.internal-domain,*.staging.internal-domain,<loopback>" to expose test/staging deployments and localhost.

    • headers Object<string, string> (optional) Added in: v1.11#

      Additional HTTP headers to be sent with web socket connect request. Optional.

    • logger Logger (optional) Added in: v1.14#

      Logger sink for Playwright logging. Optional.

    • slowMo number (optional) Added in: v1.10#

      Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on. Defaults to 0.

    • timeout number (optional) Added in: v1.10#

      Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the connection to be established. Defaults to 0 (no timeout).

Returns

connectOverCDP​

Added in: v1.9 browserType.connectOverCDP

This method attaches Playwright to an existing browser instance using the Chrome DevTools Protocol.

The default browser context is accessible via browser.contexts().

note

Connecting over the Chrome DevTools Protocol is only supported for Chromium-based browsers.

Usage

const browser = await playwright.chromium.connectOverCDP('http://localhost:9222');
const defaultContext = browser.contexts()[0];
const page = defaultContext.pages()[0];

Arguments

  • endpointURL string Added in: v1.11#

    A CDP websocket endpoint or http url to connect to. For example http://localhost:9222/ or ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser/387adf4c-243f-4051-a181-46798f4a46f4.

  • options Object (optional)

    • endpointURL string (optional) Added in: v1.14#

      Deprecated, use the first argument instead. Optional.

    • headers Object<string, string> (optional) Added in: v1.11#

      Additional HTTP headers to be sent with connect request. Optional.

    • logger Logger (optional) Added in: v1.14#

      Logger sink for Playwright logging. Optional.

    • slowMo number (optional) Added in: v1.11#

      Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on. Defaults to 0.

    • timeout number (optional) Added in: v1.11#

      Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the connection to be established. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout.

Returns

executablePath​

Added before v1.9 browserType.executablePath

A path where Playwright expects to find a bundled browser executable.

Usage

browserType.executablePath();

Returns

launch​

Added before v1.9 browserType.launch

Returns the browser instance.

Usage

You can use ignoreDefaultArgs to filter out --mute-audio from default arguments:

const browser = await chromium.launch({  // Or 'firefox' or 'webkit'.
  ignoreDefaultArgs: ['--mute-audio']
});

Chromium-only Playwright can also be used to control the Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge browsers, but it works best with the version of Chromium it is bundled with. There is no guarantee it will work with any other version. Use executablePath option with extreme caution.

If Google Chrome (rather than Chromium) is preferred, a Chrome Canary or Dev Channel build is suggested.

Stock browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are suitable for tests that require proprietary media codecs for video playback. See this article for other differences between Chromium and Chrome. This article describes some differences for Linux users.

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

    • args Array<string> (optional)#

      warning

      Use custom browser args at your own risk, as some of them may break Playwright functionality.

      Additional arguments to pass to the browser instance. The list of Chromium flags can be found here.

    • channel string (optional)#

      Browser distribution channel. Supported values are "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", "msedge-canary". Read more about using Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

    • chromiumSandbox boolean (optional)#

      Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to false.

    • devtools boolean (optional)#

      Deprecated

      Use debugging tools instead.

      Chromium-only Whether to auto-open a Developer Tools panel for each tab. If this option is true, the headless option will be set false.

    • downloadsPath string (optional)#

      If specified, accepted downloads are downloaded into this directory. Otherwise, temporary directory is created and is deleted when browser is closed. In either case, the downloads are deleted when the browser context they were created in is closed.

    • env Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#

      Specify environment variables that will be visible to the browser. Defaults to process.env.

    • executablePath string (optional)#

      Path to a browser executable to run instead of the bundled one. If executablePath is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory. Note that Playwright only works with the bundled Chromium, Firefox or WebKit, use at your own risk.

    • firefoxUserPrefs Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#

      Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at about:config.

    • handleSIGHUP boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGINT boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGTERM boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to true.

    • headless boolean (optional)#

      Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to true unless the devtools option is true.

    • ignoreDefaultArgs boolean | Array<string> (optional)#

      If true, Playwright does not pass its own configurations args and only uses the ones from args. If an array is given, then filters out the given default arguments. Dangerous option; use with care. Defaults to false.

    • logger Logger (optional)#

      Logger sink for Playwright logging.

    • proxy Object (optional)#

      • server string

        Proxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example http://myproxy.com:3128 or socks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short form myproxy.com:3128 is considered an HTTP proxy.

      • bypass string (optional)

        Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com, chromium.org, .domain.com".

      • username string (optional)

        Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      • password string (optional)

        Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      Network proxy settings.

    • slowMo number (optional)#

      Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on.

    • timeout number (optional)#

      Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout.

    • tracesDir string (optional)#

      If specified, traces are saved into this directory.

Returns

launchPersistentContext​

Added before v1.9 browserType.launchPersistentContext

Returns the persistent browser context instance.

Launches browser that uses persistent storage located at userDataDir and returns the only context. Closing this context will automatically close the browser.

Usage

await browserType.launchPersistentContext(userDataDir);
await browserType.launchPersistentContext(userDataDir, options);

Arguments

  • userDataDir string#

    Path to a User Data Directory, which stores browser session data like cookies and local storage. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Note that Chromium's user data directory is the parent directory of the "Profile Path" seen at chrome://version. Pass an empty string to use a temporary directory instead.

  • options Object (optional)

    • acceptDownloads boolean (optional)#

      Whether to automatically download all the attachments. Defaults to true where all the downloads are accepted.

    • args Array<string> (optional)#

      warning

      Use custom browser args at your own risk, as some of them may break Playwright functionality.

      Additional arguments to pass to the browser instance. The list of Chromium flags can be found here.

    • baseURL string (optional)#

      When using page.goto(), page.route(), page.waitForURL(), page.waitForRequest(), or page.waitForResponse() it takes the base URL in consideration by using the URL() constructor for building the corresponding URL. Unset by default. Examples:

      • baseURL: http://localhost:3000 and navigating to /bar.html results in http://localhost:3000/bar.html
      • baseURL: http://localhost:3000/foo/ and navigating to ./bar.html results in http://localhost:3000/foo/bar.html
      • baseURL: http://localhost:3000/foo (without trailing slash) and navigating to ./bar.html results in http://localhost:3000/bar.html

    • bypassCSP boolean (optional)#

      Toggles bypassing page's Content-Security-Policy. Defaults to false.

    • channel string (optional)#

      Browser distribution channel. Supported values are "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", "msedge-canary". Read more about using Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

    • chromiumSandbox boolean (optional)#

      Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to false.

    • clientCertificates Array<Object> (optional) Added in: 1.46#

      • origin string

        Exact origin that the certificate is valid for. Origin includes https protocol, a hostname and optionally a port.

      • certPath string (optional)

        Path to the file with the certificate in PEM format.

      • cert Buffer (optional)

        Direct value of the certificate in PEM format.

      • keyPath string (optional)

        Path to the file with the private key in PEM format.

      • key Buffer (optional)

        Direct value of the private key in PEM format.

      • pfxPath string (optional)

        Path to the PFX or PKCS12 encoded private key and certificate chain.

      • pfx Buffer (optional)

        Direct value of the PFX or PKCS12 encoded private key and certificate chain.

      • passphrase string (optional)

        Passphrase for the private key (PEM or PFX).

      TLS Client Authentication allows the server to request a client certificate and verify it.

      Details

      An array of client certificates to be used. Each certificate object must have either both certPath and keyPath, a single pfxPath, or their corresponding direct value equivalents (cert and key, or pfx). Optionally, passphrase property should be provided if the certificate is encrypted. The origin property should be provided with an exact match to the request origin that the certificate is valid for.

      note

      Using Client Certificates in combination with Proxy Servers is not supported.

      note

      When using WebKit on macOS, accessing localhost will not pick up client certificates. You can make it work by replacing localhost with local.playwright.

    • colorScheme null | "light" | "dark" | "no-preference" (optional)#

      Emulates 'prefers-colors-scheme' media feature, supported values are 'light', 'dark', 'no-preference'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passing null resets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to 'light'.

    • deviceScaleFactor number (optional)#

      Specify device scale factor (can be thought of as dpr). Defaults to 1. Learn more about emulating devices with device scale factor.

    • devtools boolean (optional)#

      Deprecated

      Use debugging tools instead.

      Chromium-only Whether to auto-open a Developer Tools panel for each tab. If this option is true, the headless option will be set false.

    • downloadsPath string (optional)#

      If specified, accepted downloads are downloaded into this directory. Otherwise, temporary directory is created and is deleted when browser is closed. In either case, the downloads are deleted when the browser context they were created in is closed.

    • env Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#

      Specify environment variables that will be visible to the browser. Defaults to process.env.

    • executablePath string (optional)#

      Path to a browser executable to run instead of the bundled one. If executablePath is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory. Note that Playwright only works with the bundled Chromium, Firefox or WebKit, use at your own risk.

    • extraHTTPHeaders Object<string, string> (optional)#

      An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request. Defaults to none.

    • firefoxUserPrefs Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional) Added in: v1.40#

      Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at about:config.

    • forcedColors null | "active" | "none" (optional)#

      Emulates 'forced-colors' media feature, supported values are 'active', 'none'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passing null resets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to 'none'.

    • geolocation Object (optional)#

      • latitude number

        Latitude between -90 and 90.

      • longitude number

        Longitude between -180 and 180.

      • accuracy number (optional)

        Non-negative accuracy value. Defaults to 0.

    • handleSIGHUP boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGINT boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGTERM boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to true.

    • hasTouch boolean (optional)#

      Specifies if viewport supports touch events. Defaults to false. Learn more about mobile emulation.

    • headless boolean (optional)#

      Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to true unless the devtools option is true.

    • httpCredentials Object (optional)#

      • username string

      • password string

      • origin string (optional)

        Restrain sending http credentials on specific origin (scheme://host:port).

      • send "unauthorized" | "always" (optional)

        This option only applies to the requests sent from corresponding APIRequestContext and does not affect requests sent from the browser. 'always' - Authorization header with basic authentication credentials will be sent with the each API request. 'unauthorized - the credentials are only sent when 401 (Unauthorized) response with WWW-Authenticate header is received. Defaults to 'unauthorized'.

      Credentials for HTTP authentication. If no origin is specified, the username and password are sent to any servers upon unauthorized responses.

    • ignoreDefaultArgs boolean | Array<string> (optional)#

      If true, Playwright does not pass its own configurations args and only uses the ones from args. If an array is given, then filters out the given default arguments. Dangerous option; use with care. Defaults to false.

    • ignoreHTTPSErrors boolean (optional)#

      Whether to ignore HTTPS errors when sending network requests. Defaults to false.

    • isMobile boolean (optional)#

      Whether the meta viewport tag is taken into account and touch events are enabled. isMobile is a part of device, so you don't actually need to set it manually. Defaults to false and is not supported in Firefox. Learn more about mobile emulation.

    • javaScriptEnabled boolean (optional)#

      Whether or not to enable JavaScript in the context. Defaults to true. Learn more about disabling JavaScript.

    • locale string (optional)#

      Specify user locale, for example en-GB, de-DE, etc. Locale will affect navigator.language value, Accept-Language request header value as well as number and date formatting rules. Defaults to the system default locale. Learn more about emulation in our emulation guide.

    • logger Logger (optional)#

      Logger sink for Playwright logging.

    • offline boolean (optional)#

      Whether to emulate network being offline. Defaults to false. Learn more about network emulation.

    • permissions Array<string> (optional)#

      A list of permissions to grant to all pages in this context. See browserContext.grantPermissions() for more details. Defaults to none.

    • proxy Object (optional)#

      • server string

        Proxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example http://myproxy.com:3128 or socks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short form myproxy.com:3128 is considered an HTTP proxy.

      • bypass string (optional)

        Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com, chromium.org, .domain.com".

      • username string (optional)

        Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      • password string (optional)

        Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      Network proxy settings.

    • recordHar Object (optional)#

      • omitContent boolean (optional)

        Optional setting to control whether to omit request content from the HAR. Defaults to false. Deprecated, use content policy instead.

      • content "omit" | "embed" | "attach" (optional)

        Optional setting to control resource content management. If omit is specified, content is not persisted. If attach is specified, resources are persisted as separate files or entries in the ZIP archive. If embed is specified, content is stored inline the HAR file as per HAR specification. Defaults to attach for .zip output files and to embed for all other file extensions.

      • path string

        Path on the filesystem to write the HAR file to. If the file name ends with .zip, content: 'attach' is used by default.

      • mode "full" | "minimal" (optional)

        When set to minimal, only record information necessary for routing from HAR. This omits sizes, timing, page, cookies, security and other types of HAR information that are not used when replaying from HAR. Defaults to full.

      • urlFilter string | RegExp (optional)

        A glob or regex pattern to filter requests that are stored in the HAR. When a baseURL via the context options was provided and the passed URL is a path, it gets merged via the new URL() constructor. Defaults to none.

      Enables HAR recording for all pages into recordHar.path file. If not specified, the HAR is not recorded. Make sure to await browserContext.close() for the HAR to be saved.

    • recordVideo Object (optional)#

      • dir string

        Path to the directory to put videos into.

      • size Object (optional)

        • width number

          Video frame width.

        • height number

          Video frame height.

        Optional dimensions of the recorded videos. If not specified the size will be equal to viewport scaled down to fit into 800x800. If viewport is not configured explicitly the video size defaults to 800x450. Actual picture of each page will be scaled down if necessary to fit the specified size.

      Enables video recording for all pages into recordVideo.dir directory. If not specified videos are not recorded. Make sure to await browserContext.close() for videos to be saved.

    • reducedMotion null | "reduce" | "no-preference" (optional)#

      Emulates 'prefers-reduced-motion' media feature, supported values are 'reduce', 'no-preference'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passing null resets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to 'no-preference'.

    • screen Object (optional)#

      • width number

        page width in pixels.

      • height number

        page height in pixels.

      Emulates consistent window screen size available inside web page via window.screen. Is only used when the viewport is set.

    • serviceWorkers "allow" | "block" (optional)#

      Whether to allow sites to register Service workers. Defaults to 'allow'.

      • 'allow': Service Workers can be registered.
      • 'block': Playwright will block all registration of Service Workers.

    • slowMo number (optional)#

      Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on.

    • strictSelectors boolean (optional)#

      If set to true, enables strict selectors mode for this context. In the strict selectors mode all operations on selectors that imply single target DOM element will throw when more than one element matches the selector. This option does not affect any Locator APIs (Locators are always strict). Defaults to false. See Locator to learn more about the strict mode.

    • timeout number (optional)#

      Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout.

    • timezoneId string (optional)#

      Changes the timezone of the context. See ICU's metaZones.txt for a list of supported timezone IDs. Defaults to the system timezone.

    • tracesDir string (optional)#

      If specified, traces are saved into this directory.

    • userAgent string (optional)#

      Specific user agent to use in this context.

    • videoSize Object (optional)#

      Deprecated

      Use recordVideo instead.

      • width number

        Video frame width.

      • height number

        Video frame height.

    • videosPath string (optional)#

      Deprecated

      Use recordVideo instead.

    • viewport null | Object (optional)#

      • width number

        page width in pixels.

      • height number

        page height in pixels.

      Emulates consistent viewport for each page. Defaults to an 1280x720 viewport. Use null to disable the consistent viewport emulation. Learn more about viewport emulation.

      note

      The null value opts out from the default presets, makes viewport depend on the host window size defined by the operating system. It makes the execution of the tests non-deterministic.

Returns

launchServer​

Added before v1.9 browserType.launchServer

Returns the browser app instance. You can connect to it via browserType.connect(), which requires the major/minor client/server version to match (1.2.3 → is compatible with 1.2.x).

Usage

Launches browser server that client can connect to. An example of launching a browser executable and connecting to it later:

const { chromium } = require('playwright');  // Or 'webkit' or 'firefox'.

(async () => {
  const browserServer = await chromium.launchServer();
  const wsEndpoint = browserServer.wsEndpoint();
  // Use web socket endpoint later to establish a connection.
  const browser = await chromium.connect(wsEndpoint);
  // Close browser instance.
  await browserServer.close();
})();

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

    • args Array<string> (optional)#

      warning

      Use custom browser args at your own risk, as some of them may break Playwright functionality.

      Additional arguments to pass to the browser instance. The list of Chromium flags can be found here.

    • channel string (optional)#

      Browser distribution channel. Supported values are "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", "msedge-canary". Read more about using Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

    • chromiumSandbox boolean (optional)#

      Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to false.

    • devtools boolean (optional)#

      Deprecated

      Use debugging tools instead.

      Chromium-only Whether to auto-open a Developer Tools panel for each tab. If this option is true, the headless option will be set false.

    • downloadsPath string (optional)#

      If specified, accepted downloads are downloaded into this directory. Otherwise, temporary directory is created and is deleted when browser is closed. In either case, the downloads are deleted when the browser context they were created in is closed.

    • env Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#

      Specify environment variables that will be visible to the browser. Defaults to process.env.

    • executablePath string (optional)#

      Path to a browser executable to run instead of the bundled one. If executablePath is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory. Note that Playwright only works with the bundled Chromium, Firefox or WebKit, use at your own risk.

    • firefoxUserPrefs Object<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#

      Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at about:config.

    • handleSIGHUP boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGINT boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to true.

    • handleSIGTERM boolean (optional)#

      Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to true.

    • headless boolean (optional)#

      Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to true unless the devtools option is true.

    • host string (optional) Added in: v1.45#

      Host to use for the web socket. It is optional and if it is omitted, the server will accept connections on the unspecified IPv6 address (::) when IPv6 is available, or the unspecified IPv4 address (0.0.0.0) otherwise. Consider hardening it with picking a specific interface.

    • ignoreDefaultArgs boolean | Array<string> (optional)#

      If true, Playwright does not pass its own configurations args and only uses the ones from args. If an array is given, then filters out the given default arguments. Dangerous option; use with care. Defaults to false.

    • logger Logger (optional)#

      Logger sink for Playwright logging.

    • port number (optional)#

      Port to use for the web socket. Defaults to 0 that picks any available port.

    • proxy Object (optional)#

      • server string

        Proxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example http://myproxy.com:3128 or socks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short form myproxy.com:3128 is considered an HTTP proxy.

      • bypass string (optional)

        Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com, chromium.org, .domain.com".

      • username string (optional)

        Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      • password string (optional)

        Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

      Network proxy settings.

    • timeout number (optional)#

      Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout.

    • tracesDir string (optional)#

      If specified, traces are saved into this directory.

    • wsPath string (optional) Added in: v1.15#

      Path at which to serve the Browser Server. For security, this defaults to an unguessable string.

      warning

      Any process or web page (including those running in Playwright) with knowledge of the wsPath can take control of the OS user. For this reason, you should use an unguessable token when using this option.

Returns

name​

Added before v1.9 browserType.name

Returns browser name. For example: 'chromium', 'webkit' or 'firefox'.

Usage

browserType.name();

Returns