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BrowserContext

BrowserContexts provide a way to operate multiple independent browser sessions.

If a page opens another page, e.g. with a window.open call, the popup will belong to the parent page's browser context.

Playwright allows creating "incognito" browser contexts with browser.new_context() method. "Incognito" browser contexts don't write any browsing data to disk.

# create a new incognito browser context
context = browser.new_context()
# create a new page inside context.
page = context.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")
# dispose context once it is no longer needed.
context.close()

Methods

add_cookies

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.add_cookies

Adds cookies into this browser context. All pages within this context will have these cookies installed. Cookies can be obtained via browser_context.cookies().

Usage

browser_context.add_cookies([cookie_object1, cookie_object2])

Arguments

  • cookies List[Dict]#

    • name str

    • value str

    • url str (optional)

      either url or domain / path are required. Optional.

    • domain str (optional)

      either url or domain / path are required Optional.

    • path str (optional)

      either url or domain / path are required Optional.

    • expires float (optional)

      Unix time in seconds. Optional.

    • httpOnly bool (optional)

      Optional.

    • secure bool (optional)

      Optional.

    • sameSite "Strict"|"Lax"|"None" (optional)

      Optional.

    Adds cookies to the browser context.

    For the cookie to apply to all subdomains as well, prefix domain with a dot, like this: ".example.com".

Returns


add_init_script

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.add_init_script

Adds a script which would be evaluated in one of the following scenarios:

  • Whenever a page is created in the browser context or is navigated.
  • Whenever a child frame is attached or navigated in any page in the browser context. In this case, the script is evaluated in the context of the newly attached frame.

The script is evaluated after the document was created but before any of its scripts were run. This is useful to amend the JavaScript environment, e.g. to seed Math.random.

Usage

An example of overriding Math.random before the page loads:

// preload.js
Math.random = () => 42;
# in your playwright script, assuming the preload.js file is in same directory.
browser_context.add_init_script(path="preload.js")
note

The order of evaluation of multiple scripts installed via browser_context.add_init_script() and page.add_init_script() is not defined.

Arguments

  • path Union[str, pathlib.Path] (optional)#

    Path to the JavaScript file. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory. Optional.

  • script str (optional)#

    Script to be evaluated in all pages in the browser context. Optional.

Returns


clear_cookies

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.clear_cookies

Removes cookies from context. Accepts optional filter.

Usage

context.clear_cookies()
context.clear_cookies(name="session-id")
context.clear_cookies(domain="my-origin.com")
context.clear_cookies(path="/api/v1")
context.clear_cookies(name="session-id", domain="my-origin.com")

Arguments

  • domain str|Pattern (optional) Added in: v1.43#

    Only removes cookies with the given domain.

  • name str|Pattern (optional) Added in: v1.43#

    Only removes cookies with the given name.

  • path str|Pattern (optional) Added in: v1.43#

    Only removes cookies with the given path.

Returns


clear_permissions

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.clear_permissions

Clears all permission overrides for the browser context.

Usage

context = browser.new_context()
context.grant_permissions(["clipboard-read"])
# do stuff ..
context.clear_permissions()

Returns


close

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.close

Closes the browser context. All the pages that belong to the browser context will be closed.

note

The default browser context cannot be closed.

Usage

browser_context.close()
browser_context.close(**kwargs)

Arguments

  • reason str (optional) Added in: v1.40#

    The reason to be reported to the operations interrupted by the context closure.

Returns


cookies

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.cookies

If no URLs are specified, this method returns all cookies. If URLs are specified, only cookies that affect those URLs are returned.

Usage

browser_context.cookies()
browser_context.cookies(**kwargs)

Arguments

  • urls str|List[str] (optional)#

    Optional list of URLs.

Returns


expect_console_message

Added in: v1.34 browserContext.expect_console_message

Performs action and waits for a ConsoleMessage to be logged by in the pages in the context. If predicate is provided, it passes ConsoleMessage value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(message) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the page is closed before the browser_context.on("console") event is fired.

Usage

browser_context.expect_console_message()
browser_context.expect_console_message(**kwargs)

Arguments

Returns


expect_event

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.expect_event

Waits for event to fire and passes its value into the predicate function. Returns when the predicate returns truthy value. Will throw an error if the context closes before the event is fired. Returns the event data value.

Usage

with context.expect_event("page") as event_info:
page.get_by_role("button").click()
page = event_info.value

Arguments

  • event str#

    Event name, same one would pass into browserContext.on(event).

  • predicate Callable (optional)#

    Receives the event data and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.

  • timeout float (optional)#

    Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout().

Returns


expect_page

Added in: v1.9 browserContext.expect_page

Performs action and waits for a new Page to be created in the context. If predicate is provided, it passes Page value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(event) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the context closes before new Page is created.

Usage

browser_context.expect_page()
browser_context.expect_page(**kwargs)

Arguments

  • predicate Callable[Page]:bool (optional)#

    Receives the Page object and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.

  • timeout float (optional)#

    Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout().

Returns


expose_binding

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.expose_binding

The method adds a function called name on the window object of every frame in every page in the context. When called, the function executes callback and returns a Promise which resolves to the return value of callback. If the callback returns a Promise, it will be awaited.

The first argument of the callback function contains information about the caller: { browserContext: BrowserContext, page: Page, frame: Frame }.

See page.expose_binding() for page-only version.

Usage

An example of exposing page URL to all frames in all pages in the context:

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright, Playwright

def run(playwright: Playwright):
webkit = playwright.webkit
browser = webkit.launch(headless=False)
context = browser.new_context()
context.expose_binding("pageURL", lambda source: source["page"].url)
page = context.new_page()
page.set_content("""
<script>
async function onClick() {
document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.pageURL();
}
</script>
<button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button>
<div></div>
""")
page.get_by_role("button").click()

with sync_playwright() as playwright:
run(playwright)

An example of passing an element handle:

def print(source, element):
print(element.text_content())

context.expose_binding("clicked", print, handle=true)
page.set_content("""
<script>
document.addEventListener('click', event => window.clicked(event.target));
</script>
<div>Click me</div>
<div>Or click me</div>
""")

Arguments

  • name str#

    Name of the function on the window object.

  • callback Callable#

    Callback function that will be called in the Playwright's context.

  • handle bool (optional)#

    Whether to pass the argument as a handle, instead of passing by value. When passing a handle, only one argument is supported. When passing by value, multiple arguments are supported.

Returns


expose_function

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.expose_function

The method adds a function called name on the window object of every frame in every page in the context. When called, the function executes callback and returns a Promise which resolves to the return value of callback.

If the callback returns a Promise, it will be awaited.

See page.expose_function() for page-only version.

Usage

An example of adding a sha256 function to all pages in the context:

import hashlib
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

def sha256(text: str) -> str:
m = hashlib.sha256()
m.update(bytes(text, "utf8"))
return m.hexdigest()


def run(playwright: Playwright):
webkit = playwright.webkit
browser = webkit.launch(headless=False)
context = browser.new_context()
context.expose_function("sha256", sha256)
page = context.new_page()
page.set_content("""
<script>
async function onClick() {
document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.sha256('PLAYWRIGHT');
}
</script>
<button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button>
<div></div>
""")
page.get_by_role("button").click()

with sync_playwright() as playwright:
run(playwright)

Arguments

  • name str#

    Name of the function on the window object.

  • callback Callable#

    Callback function that will be called in the Playwright's context.

Returns


grant_permissions

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.grant_permissions

Grants specified permissions to the browser context. Only grants corresponding permissions to the given origin if specified.

Usage

browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions)
browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions, **kwargs)

Arguments

  • permissions List[str]#

    A permission or an array of permissions to grant. Permissions can be one of the following values:

    • 'geolocation'
    • 'midi'
    • 'midi-sysex' (system-exclusive midi)
    • 'notifications'
    • 'camera'
    • 'microphone'
    • 'background-sync'
    • 'ambient-light-sensor'
    • 'accelerometer'
    • 'gyroscope'
    • 'magnetometer'
    • 'accessibility-events'
    • 'clipboard-read'
    • 'clipboard-write'
    • 'payment-handler'
  • origin str (optional)#

    The origin to grant permissions to, e.g. "https://example.com".

Returns


new_cdp_session

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.new_cdp_session
note

CDP sessions are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

Returns the newly created session.

Usage

browser_context.new_cdp_session(page)

Arguments

  • page Page|Frame#

    Target to create new session for. For backwards-compatibility, this parameter is named page, but it can be a Page or Frame type.

Returns


new_page

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.new_page

Creates a new page in the browser context.

Usage

browser_context.new_page()

Returns


route

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.route

Routing provides the capability to modify network requests that are made by any page in the browser context. Once route is enabled, every request matching the url pattern will stall unless it's continued, fulfilled or aborted.

note

browser_context.route() will not intercept requests intercepted by Service Worker. See this issue. We recommend disabling Service Workers when using request interception by setting browser.new_context.service_workers to 'block'.

Usage

An example of a naive handler that aborts all image requests:

context = browser.new_context()
page = context.new_page()
context.route("**/*.{png,jpg,jpeg}", lambda route: route.abort())
page.goto("https://example.com")
browser.close()

or the same snippet using a regex pattern instead:

context = browser.new_context()
page = context.new_page()
context.route(re.compile(r"(\.png$)|(\.jpg$)"), lambda route: route.abort())
page = await context.new_page()
page = context.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")
browser.close()

It is possible to examine the request to decide the route action. For example, mocking all requests that contain some post data, and leaving all other requests as is:

def handle_route(route: Route):
if ("my-string" in route.request.post_data):
route.fulfill(body="mocked-data")
else:
route.continue_()
context.route("/api/**", handle_route)

Page routes (set up with page.route()) take precedence over browser context routes when request matches both handlers.

To remove a route with its handler you can use browser_context.unroute().

note

Enabling routing disables http cache.

Arguments

  • url str|Pattern|Callable[URL]:bool#

    A glob pattern, regex pattern or predicate receiving URL to match while routing. When a base_url via the context options was provided and the passed URL is a path, it gets merged via the new URL() constructor.

  • handler Callable[Route, Request]:Promise[Any]|Any#

    handler function to route the request.

  • times int (optional) Added in: v1.15#

    How often a route should be used. By default it will be used every time.

Returns


route_from_har

Added in: v1.23 browserContext.route_from_har

If specified the network requests that are made in the context will be served from the HAR file. Read more about Replaying from HAR.

Playwright will not serve requests intercepted by Service Worker from the HAR file. See this issue. We recommend disabling Service Workers when using request interception by setting browser.new_context.service_workers to 'block'.

Usage

browser_context.route_from_har(har)
browser_context.route_from_har(har, **kwargs)

Arguments

  • har Union[str, pathlib.Path]#

    Path to a HAR file with prerecorded network data. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory.

  • not_found "abort"|"fallback" (optional)#

    • If set to 'abort' any request not found in the HAR file will be aborted.
    • If set to 'fallback' falls through to the next route handler in the handler chain.

    Defaults to abort.

  • update bool (optional)#

    If specified, updates the given HAR with the actual network information instead of serving from file. The file is written to disk when browser_context.close() is called.

  • update_content "embed"|"attach" (optional) Added in: v1.32#

    Optional setting to control resource content management. If attach is specified, resources are persisted as separate files or entries in the ZIP archive. If embed is specified, content is stored inline the HAR file.

  • update_mode "full"|"minimal" (optional) Added in: v1.32#

    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 minimal.

  • url str|Pattern (optional)#

    A glob pattern, regular expression or predicate to match the request URL. Only requests with URL matching the pattern will be served from the HAR file. If not specified, all requests are served from the HAR file.

Returns


set_default_navigation_timeout

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.set_default_navigation_timeout

This setting will change the default maximum navigation time for the following methods and related shortcuts:

Usage

browser_context.set_default_navigation_timeout(timeout)

Arguments

  • timeout float#

    Maximum navigation time in milliseconds


set_default_timeout

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.set_default_timeout

This setting will change the default maximum time for all the methods accepting timeout option.

Usage

browser_context.set_default_timeout(timeout)

Arguments

  • timeout float#

    Maximum time in milliseconds


set_extra_http_headers

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.set_extra_http_headers

The extra HTTP headers will be sent with every request initiated by any page in the context. These headers are merged with page-specific extra HTTP headers set with page.set_extra_http_headers(). If page overrides a particular header, page-specific header value will be used instead of the browser context header value.

note

browser_context.set_extra_http_headers() does not guarantee the order of headers in the outgoing requests.

Usage

browser_context.set_extra_http_headers(headers)

Arguments

  • headers Dict[str, str]#

    An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request. All header values must be strings.

Returns


set_geolocation

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.set_geolocation

Sets the context's geolocation. Passing null or undefined emulates position unavailable.

Usage

browser_context.set_geolocation({"latitude": 59.95, "longitude": 30.31667})
note

Consider using browser_context.grant_permissions() to grant permissions for the browser context pages to read its geolocation.

Arguments

  • geolocation NoneType|Dict#
    • latitude float

      Latitude between -90 and 90.

    • longitude float

      Longitude between -180 and 180.

    • accuracy float (optional)

      Non-negative accuracy value. Defaults to 0.

Returns


set_offline

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.set_offline

Usage

browser_context.set_offline(offline)

Arguments

  • offline bool#

    Whether to emulate network being offline for the browser context.

Returns


storage_state

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.storage_state

Returns storage state for this browser context, contains current cookies and local storage snapshot.

Usage

browser_context.storage_state()
browser_context.storage_state(**kwargs)

Arguments

  • path Union[str, pathlib.Path] (optional)#

    The file path to save the storage state to. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to current working directory. If no path is provided, storage state is still returned, but won't be saved to the disk.

Returns


unroute

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.unroute

Removes a route created with browser_context.route(). When handler is not specified, removes all routes for the url.

Usage

browser_context.unroute(url)
browser_context.unroute(url, **kwargs)

Arguments

Returns


unroute_all

Added in: v1.41 browserContext.unroute_all

Removes all routes created with browser_context.route() and browser_context.route_from_har().

Usage

browser_context.unroute_all()
browser_context.unroute_all(**kwargs)

Arguments

  • behavior "wait"|"ignoreErrors"|"default" (optional)#

    Specifies wether to wait for already running handlers and what to do if they throw errors:

    • 'default' - do not wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish, if unrouted handler throws, it may result in unhandled error
    • 'wait' - wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish
    • 'ignoreErrors' - do not wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish, all errors thrown by the handlers after unrouting are silently caught

Returns


wait_for_event

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.wait_for_event
note

In most cases, you should use browser_context.expect_event().

Waits for given event to fire. If predicate is provided, it passes event's value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(event) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the browser context is closed before the event is fired.

Usage

browser_context.wait_for_event(event)
browser_context.wait_for_event(event, **kwargs)

Arguments

  • event str#

    Event name, same one typically passed into *.on(event).

  • predicate Callable (optional)#

    Receives the event data and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.

  • timeout float (optional)#

    Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout().

Returns


Properties

background_pages

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.background_pages
note

Background pages are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

All existing background pages in the context.

Usage

browser_context.background_pages

Returns


browser

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.browser

Returns the browser instance of the context. If it was launched as a persistent context null gets returned.

Usage

browser_context.browser

Returns


pages

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.pages

Returns all open pages in the context.

Usage

browser_context.pages

Returns


request

Added in: v1.16 browserContext.request

API testing helper associated with this context. Requests made with this API will use context cookies.

Usage

browser_context.request

Type


service_workers

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.service_workers
note

Service workers are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

All existing service workers in the context.

Usage

browser_context.service_workers

Returns


tracing

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.tracing

Usage

browser_context.tracing

Type


Events

on("backgroundpage")

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.on("backgroundpage")
note

Only works with Chromium browser's persistent context.

Emitted when new background page is created in the context.

background_page = context.wait_for_event("backgroundpage")

Usage

browser_context.on("backgroundpage", handler)

Event data


on("close")

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.on("close")

Emitted when Browser context gets closed. This might happen because of one of the following:

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

Usage

browser_context.on("close", handler)

Event data


on("console")

Added in: v1.34 browserContext.on("console")

Emitted when JavaScript within the page calls one of console API methods, e.g. console.log or console.dir.

The arguments passed into console.log and the page are available on the ConsoleMessage event handler argument.

Usage

def print_args(msg):
for arg in msg.args:
print(arg.json_value())

context.on("console", print_args)
page.evaluate("console.log('hello', 5, { foo: 'bar' })")

Event data


on("dialog")

Added in: v1.34 browserContext.on("dialog")

Emitted when a JavaScript dialog appears, such as alert, prompt, confirm or beforeunload. Listener must either dialog.accept() or dialog.dismiss() the dialog - otherwise the page will freeze waiting for the dialog, and actions like click will never finish.

Usage

context.on("dialog", lambda dialog: dialog.accept())
note

When no page.on("dialog") or browser_context.on("dialog") listeners are present, all dialogs are automatically dismissed.

Event data


on("page")

Added in: v1.8 browserContext.on("page")

The event is emitted when a new Page is created in the BrowserContext. The page may still be loading. The event will also fire for popup pages. See also page.on("popup") to receive events about popups relevant to a specific page.

The earliest moment that page is available is when it has navigated to the initial url. For example, when opening a popup with window.open('http://example.com'), this event will fire when the network request to "http://example.com" is done and its response has started loading in the popup.

with context.expect_page() as page_info:
page.get_by_text("open new page").click(),
page = page_info.value
print(page.evaluate("location.href"))
note

Use page.wait_for_load_state() to wait until the page gets to a particular state (you should not need it in most cases).

Usage

browser_context.on("page", handler)

Event data


on("request")

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("request")

Emitted when a request is issued from any pages created through this context. The request object is read-only. To only listen for requests from a particular page, use page.on("request").

In order to intercept and mutate requests, see browser_context.route() or page.route().

Usage

browser_context.on("request", handler)

Event data


on("requestfailed")

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("requestfailed")

Emitted when a request fails, for example by timing out. To only listen for failed requests from a particular page, use page.on("requestfailed").

note

HTTP Error responses, such as 404 or 503, are still successful responses from HTTP standpoint, so request will complete with browser_context.on("requestfinished") event and not with browser_context.on("requestfailed").

Usage

browser_context.on("requestfailed", handler)

Event data


on("requestfinished")

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("requestfinished")

Emitted when a request finishes successfully after downloading the response body. For a successful response, the sequence of events is request, response and requestfinished. To listen for successful requests from a particular page, use page.on("requestfinished").

Usage

browser_context.on("requestfinished", handler)

Event data


on("response")

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("response")

Emitted when response status and headers are received for a request. For a successful response, the sequence of events is request, response and requestfinished. To listen for response events from a particular page, use page.on("response").

Usage

browser_context.on("response", handler)

Event data


on("serviceworker")

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.on("serviceworker")
note

Service workers are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

Emitted when new service worker is created in the context.

Usage

browser_context.on("serviceworker", handler)

Event data


on("weberror")

Added in: v1.38 browserContext.on("weberror")

Emitted when exception is unhandled in any of the pages in this context. To listen for errors from a particular page, use page.on("pageerror") instead.

Usage

browser_context.on("weberror", handler)

Event data