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Browser

A Browser is created via browser_type.launch(**kwargs). An example of using a Browser to create a Page:

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

def run(playwright):
firefox = playwright.firefox
browser = firefox.launch()
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")
browser.close()

with sync_playwright() as playwright:
run(playwright)

browser.on("disconnected")

Added in: v1.8

Emitted when Browser gets disconnected from the browser application. This might happen because of one of the following:

  • Browser application is closed or crashed.
  • The browser.close() method was called.

browser.browser_type

Added in: v1.23

Get the browser type (chromium, firefox or webkit) that the browser belongs to.

browser.close()

Added in: v1.8

In case this browser is obtained using browser_type.launch(**kwargs), closes the browser and all of its pages (if any were opened).

In case this browser is connected to, clears all created contexts belonging to this browser and disconnects from the browser server.

note

This is similar to force quitting the browser. Therefore, you should call browser_context.close() on any BrowserContext's you explicitly created earlier with browser.new_context(**kwargs) before calling browser.close().

The Browser object itself is considered to be disposed and cannot be used anymore.

browser.contexts

Added in: v1.8

Returns an array of all open browser contexts. In a newly created browser, this will return zero browser contexts.

browser = pw.webkit.launch()
print(len(browser.contexts())) # prints `0`
context = browser.new_context()
print(len(browser.contexts())) # prints `1`

browser.is_connected()

Added in: v1.8

Indicates that the browser is connected.

browser.new_browser_cdp_session()

Added in: v1.11
note

CDP Sessions are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

Returns the newly created browser session.

browser.new_context(**kwargs)

Added in: v1.8
  • accept_downloads <bool> Whether to automatically download all the attachments. Defaults to true where all the downloads are accepted.#

  • base_url <str> When using page.goto(url, **kwargs), page.route(url, handler, **kwargs), page.wait_for_url(url, **kwargs), page.expect_request(url_or_predicate, **kwargs), or page.expect_response(url_or_predicate, **kwargs) it takes the base URL in consideration by using the URL() constructor for building the corresponding URL. 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
  • bypass_csp <bool> Toggles bypassing page's Content-Security-Policy.#

  • color_scheme <"light"|"dark"|"no-preference"> Emulates 'prefers-colors-scheme' media feature, supported values are 'light', 'dark', 'no-preference'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'light'.#

  • device_scale_factor <float> Specify device scale factor (can be thought of as dpr). Defaults to 1.#

  • extra_http_headers <Dict[str, str]> An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request.#

  • forced_colors <"active"|"none"> Emulates 'forced-colors' media feature, supported values are 'active', 'none'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'none'.#

  • geolocation <Dict>#

    • latitude <float> Latitude between -90 and 90.
    • longitude <float> Longitude between -180 and 180.
    • accuracy <float> Non-negative accuracy value. Defaults to 0.
  • has_touch <bool> Specifies if viewport supports touch events. Defaults to false.#

  • http_credentials <Dict> Credentials for HTTP authentication.#

  • ignore_https_errors <bool> Whether to ignore HTTPS errors when sending network requests. Defaults to false.#

  • is_mobile <bool> Whether the meta viewport tag is taken into account and touch events are enabled. Defaults to false. Not supported in Firefox.#

  • java_script_enabled <bool> Whether or not to enable JavaScript in the context. Defaults to true.#

  • locale <str> 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.#

  • no_viewport <bool> Does not enforce fixed viewport, allows resizing window in the headed mode.#

  • offline <bool> Whether to emulate network being offline. Defaults to false.#

  • permissions <List[str]> A list of permissions to grant to all pages in this context. See browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions, **kwargs) for more details.#

  • proxy <Dict> Network proxy settings to use with this context.#

    • server <str> 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 <str> Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com, chromium.org, .domain.com".
    • username <str> Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
    • password <str> Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

    note

    For Chromium on Windows the browser needs to be launched with the global proxy for this option to work. If all contexts override the proxy, global proxy will be never used and can be any string, for example launch({ proxy: { server: 'http://per-context' } }).

  • record_har_content <"omit"|"embed"|"attach"> 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 and all of these files are archived along with the HAR file. Defaults to embed, which stores content inline the HAR file as per HAR specification.#

  • record_har_mode <"full"|"minimal"> 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.#

  • record_har_omit_content <bool> Optional setting to control whether to omit request content from the HAR. Defaults to false.#

  • record_har_path <Union[str, pathlib.Path]> Enables HAR recording for all pages into the specified HAR file on the filesystem. If not specified, the HAR is not recorded. Make sure to call browser_context.close() for the HAR to be saved.#

  • record_har_url_filter <str|Pattern>#

  • record_video_dir <Union[str, pathlib.Path]> Enables video recording for all pages into the specified directory. If not specified videos are not recorded. Make sure to call browser_context.close() for videos to be saved.#

  • record_video_size <Dict> 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.#

    • width <int> Video frame width.
    • height <int> Video frame height.
  • reduced_motion <"reduce"|"no-preference"> Emulates 'prefers-reduced-motion' media feature, supported values are 'reduce', 'no-preference'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'no-preference'.#

  • screen <Dict> Emulates consistent window screen size available inside web page via window.screen. Is only used when the viewport is set.#

    • width <int> page width in pixels.
    • height <int> page height in pixels.
  • service_workers <"allow"|"block"> 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.
  • storage_state <Union[str, pathlib.Path]|Dict> Populates context with given storage state. This option can be used to initialize context with logged-in information obtained via browser_context.storage_state(**kwargs). Either a path to the file with saved storage, or an object with the following fields:#

    • cookies <List[Dict]> cookies to set for context
      • name <str>
      • value <str>
      • domain <str> domain and path are required
      • path <str> domain and path are required
      • expires <float> Unix time in seconds.
      • httpOnly <bool>
      • secure <bool>
      • sameSite <"Strict"|"Lax"|"None"> sameSite flag
    • origins <List[Dict]> localStorage to set for context
  • strict_selectors <bool> If specified, 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. See Locator to learn more about the strict mode.#

  • timezone_id <str> Changes the timezone of the context. See ICU's metaZones.txt for a list of supported timezone IDs.#

  • user_agent <str> Specific user agent to use in this context.#

  • viewport <NoneType|Dict> Sets a consistent viewport for each page. Defaults to an 1280x720 viewport. no_viewport disables the fixed viewport.#

    • width <int> page width in pixels.
    • height <int> page height in pixels.
  • returns: <BrowserContext>#

Creates a new browser context. It won't share cookies/cache with other browser contexts.

note

If directly using this method to create BrowserContexts, it is best practice to explicitly close the returned context via browser_context.close() when your code is done with the BrowserContext, and before calling browser.close(). This will ensure the context is closed gracefully and any artifacts—like HARs and videos—are fully flushed and saved.

browser = playwright.firefox.launch() # or "chromium" or "webkit".
# create a new incognito browser context.
context = browser.new_context()
# create a new page in a pristine context.
page = context.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")

# gracefully close up everything
context.close()
browser.close()

browser.new_page(**kwargs)

Added in: v1.8
  • accept_downloads <bool> Whether to automatically download all the attachments. Defaults to true where all the downloads are accepted.#

  • base_url <str> When using page.goto(url, **kwargs), page.route(url, handler, **kwargs), page.wait_for_url(url, **kwargs), page.expect_request(url_or_predicate, **kwargs), or page.expect_response(url_or_predicate, **kwargs) it takes the base URL in consideration by using the URL() constructor for building the corresponding URL. 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
  • bypass_csp <bool> Toggles bypassing page's Content-Security-Policy.#

  • color_scheme <"light"|"dark"|"no-preference"> Emulates 'prefers-colors-scheme' media feature, supported values are 'light', 'dark', 'no-preference'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'light'.#

  • device_scale_factor <float> Specify device scale factor (can be thought of as dpr). Defaults to 1.#

  • extra_http_headers <Dict[str, str]> An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request.#

  • forced_colors <"active"|"none"> Emulates 'forced-colors' media feature, supported values are 'active', 'none'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'none'.#

  • geolocation <Dict>#

    • latitude <float> Latitude between -90 and 90.
    • longitude <float> Longitude between -180 and 180.
    • accuracy <float> Non-negative accuracy value. Defaults to 0.
  • has_touch <bool> Specifies if viewport supports touch events. Defaults to false.#

  • http_credentials <Dict> Credentials for HTTP authentication.#

  • ignore_https_errors <bool> Whether to ignore HTTPS errors when sending network requests. Defaults to false.#

  • is_mobile <bool> Whether the meta viewport tag is taken into account and touch events are enabled. Defaults to false. Not supported in Firefox.#

  • java_script_enabled <bool> Whether or not to enable JavaScript in the context. Defaults to true.#

  • locale <str> 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.#

  • no_viewport <bool> Does not enforce fixed viewport, allows resizing window in the headed mode.#

  • offline <bool> Whether to emulate network being offline. Defaults to false.#

  • permissions <List[str]> A list of permissions to grant to all pages in this context. See browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions, **kwargs) for more details.#

  • proxy <Dict> Network proxy settings to use with this context.#

    • server <str> 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 <str> Optional comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com, chromium.org, .domain.com".
    • username <str> Optional username to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.
    • password <str> Optional password to use if HTTP proxy requires authentication.

    note

    For Chromium on Windows the browser needs to be launched with the global proxy for this option to work. If all contexts override the proxy, global proxy will be never used and can be any string, for example launch({ proxy: { server: 'http://per-context' } }).

  • record_har_content <"omit"|"embed"|"attach"> 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 and all of these files are archived along with the HAR file. Defaults to embed, which stores content inline the HAR file as per HAR specification.#

  • record_har_mode <"full"|"minimal"> 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.#

  • record_har_omit_content <bool> Optional setting to control whether to omit request content from the HAR. Defaults to false.#

  • record_har_path <Union[str, pathlib.Path]> Enables HAR recording for all pages into the specified HAR file on the filesystem. If not specified, the HAR is not recorded. Make sure to call browser_context.close() for the HAR to be saved.#

  • record_har_url_filter <str|Pattern>#

  • record_video_dir <Union[str, pathlib.Path]> Enables video recording for all pages into the specified directory. If not specified videos are not recorded. Make sure to call browser_context.close() for videos to be saved.#

  • record_video_size <Dict> 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.#

    • width <int> Video frame width.
    • height <int> Video frame height.
  • reduced_motion <"reduce"|"no-preference"> Emulates 'prefers-reduced-motion' media feature, supported values are 'reduce', 'no-preference'. See page.emulate_media(**kwargs) for more details. Defaults to 'no-preference'.#

  • screen <Dict> Emulates consistent window screen size available inside web page via window.screen. Is only used when the viewport is set.#

    • width <int> page width in pixels.
    • height <int> page height in pixels.
  • service_workers <"allow"|"block"> 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.
  • storage_state <Union[str, pathlib.Path]|Dict> Populates context with given storage state. This option can be used to initialize context with logged-in information obtained via browser_context.storage_state(**kwargs). Either a path to the file with saved storage, or an object with the following fields:#

    • cookies <List[Dict]> cookies to set for context
      • name <str>
      • value <str>
      • domain <str> domain and path are required
      • path <str> domain and path are required
      • expires <float> Unix time in seconds.
      • httpOnly <bool>
      • secure <bool>
      • sameSite <"Strict"|"Lax"|"None"> sameSite flag
    • origins <List[Dict]> localStorage to set for context
  • strict_selectors <bool> If specified, 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. See Locator to learn more about the strict mode.#

  • timezone_id <str> Changes the timezone of the context. See ICU's metaZones.txt for a list of supported timezone IDs.#

  • user_agent <str> Specific user agent to use in this context.#

  • viewport <NoneType|Dict> Sets a consistent viewport for each page. Defaults to an 1280x720 viewport. no_viewport disables the fixed viewport.#

    • width <int> page width in pixels.
    • height <int> page height in pixels.
  • returns: <Page>#

Creates a new page in a new browser context. Closing this page will close the context as well.

This is a convenience API that should only be used for the single-page scenarios and short snippets. Production code and testing frameworks should explicitly create browser.new_context(**kwargs) followed by the browser_context.new_page() to control their exact life times.

browser.start_tracing(**kwargs)

Added in: v1.11
  • page <Page> Optional, if specified, tracing includes screenshots of the given page.#
  • categories <List[str]> specify custom categories to use instead of default.#
  • path <Union[str, pathlib.Path]> A path to write the trace file to.#
  • screenshots <bool> captures screenshots in the trace.#
  • returns: <NoneType>#
note

This API controls Chromium Tracing which is a low-level chromium-specific debugging tool. API to control Playwright Tracing could be found here.

You can use browser.start_tracing(**kwargs) and browser.stop_tracing() to create a trace file that can be opened in Chrome DevTools performance panel.

browser.start_tracing(page, path="trace.json")
page.goto("https://www.google.com")
browser.stop_tracing()

browser.stop_tracing()

Added in: v1.11
note

This API controls Chromium Tracing which is a low-level chromium-specific debugging tool. API to control Playwright Tracing could be found here.

Returns the buffer with trace data.

browser.version

Added in: v1.8

Returns the browser version.