Playwright · tool · fg-0317

Installing with --only-shell or --no-shell, then launching in the other mode, fails with Executable doesn't exist

Executable doesn't exist at .../chromium-1208/chrome-linux64/chrome after npx playwright install --only-shell

Verified 2026-10-15 · Confirmed by 0 builders · Trust 50/100

Cause

Playwright ships two Chromium builds: a headless shell for default headless runs and a full build for headed runs and the 'chromium' channel. Each flag skips one of them.

Fix

Match the install flag to how tests launch. Use --only-shell only when every run is headless with no channel, and --no-shell only when you set channel: 'chromium'.

Apply

# default headless only
npx playwright install --with-deps --only-shell chromium
# headed, or use: { channel: 'chromium' }
npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

Affects: Playwright 1.49 and later (separate headless shell build)

Sources

• https://playwright.dev/docs/browsers
• https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/33566

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