playwright/docs/src/installation.md

id	title
installation	Installation

This is a browser installation guide for Playwright Library. If you are using Playwright Test, please refer to installing browsers test guide.

Managing browser binaries

Each version of Playwright needs specific versions of browser binaries to operate. By default, Playwright downloads Chromium, WebKit and Firefox browsers into the OS-specific cache folders:

• %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ms-playwright on Windows
• ~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright on MacOS
• ~/.cache/ms-playwright on Linux

npm i -D playwright

pip install playwright
playwright install

These browsers will take a few hundred megabytes of disk space when installed:

du -hs ~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/*
281M  chromium-XXXXXX
187M  firefox-XXXX
180M  webkit-XXXX

You can override default behavior using environment variables. When installing Playwright, ask it to download browsers into a specific location:

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=$HOME/pw-browsers python -m playwright install

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=%USERPROFILE%\pw-browsers
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH="$env:USERPROFILE\pw-browsers"
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Linux/macOS
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=$HOME/pw-browsers mvn test

When running Playwright scripts, ask it to search for browsers in a shared location.

# Linux/macOS
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=$HOME/pw-browsers python playwright_script.js

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=%USERPROFILE%\pw-browsers
python playwright_script.py

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH="$env:USERPROFILE\pw-browsers"
python playwright_script.py

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=%USERPROFILE%\pw-browsers
mvn test

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH="$env:USERPROFILE\pw-browsers"
mvn test

Or you can opt into the hermetic install and place binaries in the local folder:

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=0 playwright install

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=0
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=0
pip install playwright
playwright install

Playwright keeps track of packages that need those browsers and will garbage collect them as you update Playwright to the newer versions.

:::note Developers can opt-in in this mode via exporting PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=$HOME/pw-browsers in their .bashrc. :::

Install behind a firewall or a proxy

By default, Playwright downloads browsers from Microsoft CDN.

Sometimes companies maintain an internal proxy that blocks direct access to the public resources. In this case, Playwright can be configured to download browsers via a proxy server.

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
HTTPS_PROXY=https://192.0.2.1 playwright install

# Windows with cmd.exe
set HTTPS_PROXY=https://192.0.2.1
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:HTTPS_PROXY="https://192.0.2.1"
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Linux/macOS
HTTPS_PROXY=https://192.0.2.1 mvn test

# Windows with cmd.exe
set HTTPS_PROXY=https://192.0.2.1
mvn test

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:HTTPS_PROXY="https://192.0.2.1"
mvn test

Download from artifact repository

By default, Playwright downloads browsers from Microsoft CDN.

Sometimes companies maintain an internal artifact repository to host browser binaries. In this case, Playwright can be configured to download from a custom location using the PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST env variable.

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1 playwright install

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST="192.0.2.1"
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Linux/macOS
PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1 mvn test

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1
mvn test

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST="192.0.2.1"
mvn test

It is also possible to use a per-browser download hosts using PLAYWRIGHT_CHROMIUM_DOWNLOAD_HOST, PLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_DOWNLOAD_HOST and PLAYWRIGHT_WEBKIT_DOWNLOAD_HOST env variables that take precedence over PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST.

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_DOWNLOAD_HOST=203.0.113.3 PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1 python -m playwright install

# Linux/macOS
PLAYWRIGHT_FIREFOX_DOWNLOAD_HOST=203.0.113.3 PLAYWRIGHT_DOWNLOAD_HOST=192.0.2.1 mvn test

Skip browser downloads

In certain cases, it is desired to avoid browser downloads altogether because browser binaries are managed separately.

This can be done by setting PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD variable before installation.

# Linux/macOS
pip install playwright
PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1 python -m playwright install

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
pip install playwright
playwright install

# Linux/macOS
PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1 mvn test

# Windows with cmd.exe
set PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
mvn test

# Windows with PowerShell
$env:PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=1
mvn test

Download single browser binary

• langs: python

Playwright downloads Chromium, Firefox and WebKit browsers by default. To install a specific browser, pass it as an argument during installation.

pip install playwright
playwright install firefox

Stale browser removal

Playwright keeps track of the clients that use its browsers. When there are no more clients that require particular version of the browser, that version is deleted from the system. That way you can safely use Playwright instances of different versions and at the same time, you don't waste disk space for the browsers that are no longer in use.

To opt-out from the unused browser removal, you can set the PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_GC=1 environment variable.