diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/recorder/contextRecorder.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/recorder/contextRecorder.ts
index 694393b860..a02ea9f5b4 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/recorder/contextRecorder.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/recorder/contextRecorder.ts
@@ -54,9 +54,11 @@ export class ContextRecorder extends EventEmitter {
   private _throttledOutputFile: ThrottledFile | null = null;
   private _orderedLanguages: LanguageGenerator[] = [];
   private _listeners: RegisteredListener[] = [];
+  private _codegenMode: 'actions' | 'trace-events';
 
   constructor(codegenMode: 'actions' | 'trace-events', context: BrowserContext, params: channels.BrowserContextEnableRecorderParams, delegate: ContextRecorderDelegate) {
     super();
+    this._codegenMode = codegenMode;
     this._context = context;
     this._params = params;
     this._delegate = delegate;
@@ -145,10 +147,12 @@ export class ContextRecorder extends EventEmitter {
 
   setEnabled(enabled: boolean) {
     this._collection.setEnabled(enabled);
-    if (enabled)
-      this._context.tracing.startChunk({ name: 'trace', title: 'trace' }).catch(() => {});
-    else
-      this._context.tracing.stopChunk({ mode: 'discard' }).catch(() => {});
+    if (this._codegenMode === 'trace-events') {
+      if (enabled)
+        this._context.tracing.startChunk({ name: 'trace', title: 'trace' }).catch(() => {});
+      else
+        this._context.tracing.stopChunk({ mode: 'discard' }).catch(() => {});
+    }
   }
 
   dispose() {