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 v1.9This method attaches Playwright to an existing browser instance created via BrowserType.launchServer in Node.js.
The major and minor version of the Playwright instance that connects needs to match the version of Playwright that launches the browser (1.2.3 → is compatible with 1.2.x).
Usage
await browserType.connect(wsEndpoint);
await browserType.connect(wsEndpoint, options);
Arguments
-
wsEndpointstring Added in: v1.10#A Playwright browser websocket endpoint to connect to. You obtain this endpoint via
BrowserServer.wsEndpoint. -
optionsObject (optional)-
exposeNetworkstring (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:
- Hostname pattern, for example:
example.com,*.org:99,x.*.y.com,*foo.org. - IP literal, for example:
127.0.0.1,0.0.0.0:99,[::1],[0:0::1]:99. <loopback>that matches local loopback interfaces:localhost,*.localhost,127.0.0.1,[::1].
Some common examples:
"*"to expose all network."<loopback>"to expose localhost network."*.test.internal-domain,*.staging.internal-domain,<loopback>"to expose test/staging deployments and localhost.
- Hostname pattern, for example:
-
headersObject<string, string> (optional) Added in: v1.11#Additional HTTP headers to be sent with web socket connect request. Optional.
-
loggerLogger (optional) Added in: v1.14#DeprecatedThe logs received by the logger are incomplete. Please use tracing instead.
Logger sink for Playwright logging. Optional.
-
slowMonumber (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.
-
timeoutnumber (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: v1.9This method attaches Playwright to an existing browser instance using the Chrome DevTools Protocol.
The default browser context is accessible via browser.contexts().
Connecting over the Chrome DevTools Protocol is only supported for Chromium-based browsers.
This connection is significantly lower fidelity than the Playwright protocol connection via browserType.connect(). If you are experiencing issues or attempting to use advanced functionality, you probably want to use browserType.connect().
Usage
const browser = await playwright.chromium.connectOverCDP('http://localhost:9222');
const defaultContext = browser.contexts()[0];
const page = defaultContext.pages()[0];
Arguments
-
endpointURLstring Added in: v1.11#A CDP websocket endpoint or http url to connect to. For example
http://localhost:9222/orws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser/387adf4c-243f-4051-a181-46798f4a46f4. -
optionsObject (optional)-
endpointURLstring (optional) Added in: v1.14#DeprecatedUse the first argument instead.
-
headersObject<string, string> (optional) Added in: v1.11#Additional HTTP headers to be sent with connect request. Optional.
-
loggerLogger (optional) Added in: v1.14#DeprecatedThe logs received by the logger are incomplete. Please use tracing instead.
Logger sink for Playwright logging. Optional.
-
slowMonumber (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.
-
timeoutnumber (optional) Added in: v1.11#Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the connection to be established. Defaults to
30000(30 seconds). Pass0to disable timeout.
-
Returns
executablePath
Added before v1.9A path where Playwright expects to find a bundled browser executable.
Usage
browserType.executablePath();
Returns
launch
Added before v1.9Returns 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
optionsObject (optional)-
argsArray<string> (optional)#warningUse 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.
-
Browser distribution channel.
Use "chromium" to opt in to new headless mode.
Use "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", or "msedge-canary" to use branded Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
-
chromiumSandboxboolean (optional)#Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to
false. -
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 setfalse. -
downloadsPathstring (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.
-
executablePathstring (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.
-
firefoxUserPrefsObject<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at
about:config.You can also provide a path to a custom
policies.jsonfile viaPLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_POLICIES_JSONenvironment variable. -
handleSIGHUPboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGINTboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGTERMboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to
true. -
Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to
trueunless the devtools option istrue. -
ignoreDefaultArgsboolean | 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 tofalse. -
Deprecated
The logs received by the logger are incomplete. Please use tracing instead.
Logger sink for Playwright logging.
-
-
serverstringProxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example
http://myproxy.com:3128orsocks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short formmyproxy.com:3128is considered an HTTP proxy. -
bypassstring (optional)Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example
".com, chromium.org, .domain.com". -
usernamestring (optional)Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
-
passwordstring (optional)Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
Network proxy settings.
-
-
Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on.
-
Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to
30000(30 seconds). Pass0to disable timeout. -
If specified, traces are saved into this directory.
-
Returns
launchPersistentContext
Added before v1.9Returns 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
-
Path to a User Data Directory, which stores browser session data like cookies and local storage. Pass an empty string to create a temporary directory.
More details for Chromium and Firefox. Chromium's user data directory is the parent directory of the "Profile Path" seen at
chrome://version.Note that browsers do not allow launching multiple instances with the same User Data Directory.
warningChromium/Chrome: Due to recent Chrome policy changes, automating the default Chrome user profile is not supported. Pointing
userDataDirto Chrome's main "User Data" directory (the profile used for your regular browsing) may result in pages not loading or the browser exiting. Create and use a separate directory (for example, an empty folder) as your automation profile instead. See https://developer.chrome.com/blog/remote-debugging-port for details. -
optionsObject (optional)-
acceptDownloadsboolean (optional)#Whether to automatically download all the attachments. Defaults to
truewhere all the downloads are accepted. -
argsArray<string> (optional)#warningUse 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.
-
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:3000and navigating to/bar.htmlresults inhttp://localhost:3000/bar.html - baseURL:
http://localhost:3000/foo/and navigating to./bar.htmlresults inhttp://localhost:3000/foo/bar.html - baseURL:
http://localhost:3000/foo(without trailing slash) and navigating to./bar.htmlresults inhttp://localhost:3000/bar.html
- baseURL:
-
Toggles bypassing page's Content-Security-Policy. Defaults to
false. -
Browser distribution channel.
Use "chromium" to opt in to new headless mode.
Use "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", or "msedge-canary" to use branded Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
-
chromiumSandboxboolean (optional)#Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to
false. -
clientCertificatesArray<Object> (optional) Added in: 1.46#-
originstringExact origin that the certificate is valid for. Origin includes
httpsprotocol, a hostname and optionally a port. -
certPathstring (optional)Path to the file with the certificate in PEM format.
-
certBuffer (optional)Direct value of the certificate in PEM format.
-
keyPathstring (optional)Path to the file with the private key in PEM format.
-
keyBuffer (optional)Direct value of the private key in PEM format.
-
pfxPathstring (optional)Path to the PFX or PKCS12 encoded private key and certificate chain.
-
pfxBuffer (optional)Direct value of the PFX or PKCS12 encoded private key and certificate chain.
-
passphrasestring (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
certPathandkeyPath, a singlepfxPath, or their corresponding direct value equivalents (certandkey, orpfx). Optionally,passphraseproperty should be provided if the certificate is encrypted. Theoriginproperty should be provided with an exact match to the request origin that the certificate is valid for.Client certificate authentication is only active when at least one client certificate is provided. If you want to reject all client certificates sent by the server, you need to provide a client certificate with an
originthat does not match any of the domains you plan to visit.noteWhen using WebKit on macOS, accessing
localhostwill not pick up client certificates. You can make it work by replacinglocalhostwithlocal.playwright. -
-
colorSchemenull | "light" | "dark" | "no-preference" (optional)#Emulates prefers-colors-scheme media feature, supported values are
'light'and'dark'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passingnullresets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to'light'. -
contrastnull | "no-preference" | "more" (optional)#Emulates
'prefers-contrast'media feature, supported values are'no-preference','more'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passingnullresets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to'no-preference'. -
deviceScaleFactornumber (optional)#Specify device scale factor (can be thought of as dpr). Defaults to
1. Learn more about emulating devices with device scale factor. -
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 setfalse. -
downloadsPathstring (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.
-
executablePathstring (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.
-
extraHTTPHeadersObject<string, string> (optional)#An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request. Defaults to none.
-
firefoxUserPrefsObject<string, string | number | boolean> (optional) Added in: v1.40#Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at
about:config.You can also provide a path to a custom
policies.jsonfile viaPLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_POLICIES_JSONenvironment variable. -
forcedColorsnull | "active" | "none" (optional)#Emulates
'forced-colors'media feature, supported values are'active','none'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passingnullresets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to'none'. -
handleSIGHUPboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGINTboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGTERMboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to
true. -
Specifies if viewport supports touch events. Defaults to false. Learn more about mobile emulation.
-
Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to
trueunless the devtools option istrue. -
httpCredentialsObject (optional)#-
usernamestring -
passwordstring -
originstring (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'-Authorizationheader with basic authentication credentials will be sent with the each API request.'unauthorized- the credentials are only sent when 401 (Unauthorized) response withWWW-Authenticateheader 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.
-
-
ignoreDefaultArgsboolean | 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 tofalse. -
ignoreHTTPSErrorsboolean (optional)#Whether to ignore HTTPS errors when sending network requests. Defaults to
false. -
Whether the
meta viewporttag 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 tofalseand is not supported in Firefox. Learn more about mobile emulation. -
javaScriptEnabledboolean (optional)#Whether or not to enable JavaScript in the context. Defaults to
true. Learn more about disabling JavaScript. -
Specify user locale, for example
en-GB,de-DE, etc. Locale will affectnavigator.languagevalue,Accept-Languagerequest header value as well as number and date formatting rules. Defaults to the system default locale. Learn more about emulation in our emulation guide. -
Deprecated
The logs received by the logger are incomplete. Please use tracing instead.
Logger sink for Playwright logging.
-
Whether to emulate network being offline. Defaults to
false. Learn more about network emulation. -
permissionsArray<string> (optional)#A list of permissions to grant to all pages in this context. See browserContext.grantPermissions() for more details. Defaults to none.
-
-
serverstringProxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example
http://myproxy.com:3128orsocks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short formmyproxy.com:3128is considered an HTTP proxy. -
bypassstring (optional)Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example
".com, chromium.org, .domain.com". -
usernamestring (optional)Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
-
passwordstring (optional)Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
Network proxy settings.
-
-
-
omitContentboolean (optional)Optional setting to control whether to omit request content from the HAR. Defaults to
false. Deprecated, usecontentpolicy instead. -
content"omit" | "embed" | "attach" (optional)Optional setting to control resource content management. If
omitis specified, content is not persisted. Ifattachis specified, resources are persisted as separate files or entries in the ZIP archive. Ifembedis specified, content is stored inline the HAR file as per HAR specification. Defaults toattachfor.zipoutput files and toembedfor all other file extensions. -
pathstringPath 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 tofull. -
urlFilterstring | 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.pathfile. If not specified, the HAR is not recorded. Make sure to await browserContext.close() for the HAR to be saved. -
-
recordVideoObject (optional)#-
dirstringPath to the directory to put videos into.
-
sizeObject (optional)Optional dimensions of the recorded videos. If not specified the size will be equal to
viewportscaled down to fit into 800x800. Ifviewportis 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.dirdirectory. If not specified videos are not recorded. Make sure to await browserContext.close() for videos to be saved. -
-
reducedMotionnull | "reduce" | "no-preference" (optional)#Emulates
'prefers-reduced-motion'media feature, supported values are'reduce','no-preference'. See page.emulateMedia() for more details. Passingnullresets emulation to system defaults. Defaults to'no-preference'. -
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.
-
Slows down Playwright operations by the specified amount of milliseconds. Useful so that you can see what is going on.
-
strictSelectorsboolean (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. -
Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to
30000(30 seconds). Pass0to disable timeout. -
Changes the timezone of the context. See ICU's metaZones.txt for a list of supported timezone IDs. Defaults to the system timezone.
-
If specified, traces are saved into this directory.
-
Specific user agent to use in this context.
-
Deprecated
Use recordVideo instead.
-
Deprecated
Use recordVideo instead.
-
viewportnull | Object (optional)#Emulates consistent viewport for each page. Defaults to an 1280x720 viewport. Use
nullto disable the consistent viewport emulation. Learn more about viewport emulation.noteThe
nullvalue 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 v1.9Returns 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
optionsObject (optional)-
argsArray<string> (optional)#warningUse 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.
-
Browser distribution channel.
Use "chromium" to opt in to new headless mode.
Use "chrome", "chrome-beta", "chrome-dev", "chrome-canary", "msedge", "msedge-beta", "msedge-dev", or "msedge-canary" to use branded Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
-
chromiumSandboxboolean (optional)#Enable Chromium sandboxing. Defaults to
false. -
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 setfalse. -
downloadsPathstring (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.
-
executablePathstring (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.
-
firefoxUserPrefsObject<string, string | number | boolean> (optional)#Firefox user preferences. Learn more about the Firefox user preferences at
about:config.You can also provide a path to a custom
policies.jsonfile viaPLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_POLICIES_JSONenvironment variable. -
handleSIGHUPboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGHUP. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGINTboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on Ctrl-C. Defaults to
true. -
handleSIGTERMboolean (optional)#Close the browser process on SIGTERM. Defaults to
true. -
Whether to run browser in headless mode. More details for Chromium and Firefox. Defaults to
trueunless the devtools option istrue. -
hoststring (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.
-
ignoreDefaultArgsboolean | 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 tofalse. -
Deprecated
The logs received by the logger are incomplete. Please use tracing instead.
Logger sink for Playwright logging.
-
Port to use for the web socket. Defaults to 0 that picks any available port.
-
-
serverstringProxy to be used for all requests. HTTP and SOCKS proxies are supported, for example
http://myproxy.com:3128orsocks5://myproxy.com:3128. Short formmyproxy.com:3128is considered an HTTP proxy. -
bypassstring (optional)Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example
".com, chromium.org, .domain.com". -
usernamestring (optional)Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
-
passwordstring (optional)Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
Network proxy settings.
-
-
Maximum time in milliseconds to wait for the browser instance to start. Defaults to
30000(30 seconds). Pass0to disable timeout. -
If specified, traces are saved into this directory.
-
wsPathstring (optional) Added in: v1.15#Path at which to serve the Browser Server. For security, this defaults to an unguessable string.
warningAny process or web page (including those running in Playwright) with knowledge of the
wsPathcan take control of the OS user. For this reason, you should use an unguessable token when using this option.
-
Returns
name
Added before v1.9Returns browser name. For example: 'chromium', 'webkit' or 'firefox'.
Usage
browserType.name();
Returns