Playwright · sdk · fg-0324

With channel 'chrome' or 'msedge', PDF downloads stop firing and screenshots change after Playwright 1.49

page.waitForEvent('download') times out on a PDF link because the PDF opens inline

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

Cause

Chrome and Edge removed old headless, so branded channels now run the new headless mode, which renders PDFs in the page and paints differently. Default Playwright Chromium uses a separate headless shell and is not affected.

Fix

Assert on the opened PDF page or fetch the file with the request API instead of waiting for a download, and regenerate screenshot baselines per channel.

Apply

const res = await page.request.get(pdfUrl)
expect(res.headers()['content-type']).toContain('application/pdf')
// then: npx playwright test --update-snapshots --project='Google Chrome'

Affects: Playwright 1.49 and later with channel chrome, chrome-beta, msedge and similar

Sources

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

claude mcp add --transport http footgun https://getfootgun.com/api/mcp