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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 isolated non-persistent browser contexts with browser.newContext() method. Non-persistent browser contexts don't write any browsing data to disk.

// Create a new incognito browser context
const context = await browser.newContext();
// Create a new page inside context.
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');
// Dispose context once it's no longer needed.
await context.close();

Methods​

addCookies​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.addCookies

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

Usage

await browserContext.addCookies([cookieObject1, cookieObject2]);

Arguments

  • cookies Array<Object>#

    • name string

    • value string

    • url string (optional)

      Either url or domain / path are required. Optional.

    • domain string (optional)

      For the cookie to apply to all subdomains as well, prefix domain with a dot, like this: ".example.com". Either url or domain / path are required. Optional.

    • path string (optional)

      Either url or domain / path are required Optional.

    • expires number (optional)

      Unix time in seconds. Optional.

    • httpOnly boolean (optional)

      Optional.

    • secure boolean (optional)

      Optional.

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

      Optional.

Returns

addInitScript​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.addInitScript

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.
await browserContext.addInitScript({
  path: 'preload.js'
});
note

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

Arguments

  • script function | string | Object#

    • path string (optional)

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

    • content string (optional)

      Raw script content. Optional.

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

  • arg Serializable (optional)#

    Optional argument to pass to script (only supported when passing a function).

Returns

backgroundPages​

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.backgroundPages
note

Background pages are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

All existing background pages in the context.

Usage

browserContext.backgroundPages();

Returns

browser​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.browser

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

Usage

browserContext.browser();

Returns

clearCookies​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.clearCookies

Removes cookies from context. Accepts optional filter.

Usage

await context.clearCookies();
await context.clearCookies({ name: 'session-id' });
await context.clearCookies({ domain: 'my-origin.com' });
await context.clearCookies({ domain: /.*my-origin\.com/ });
await context.clearCookies({ path: '/api/v1' });
await context.clearCookies({ name: 'session-id', domain: 'my-origin.com' });

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

    • domain string | RegExp (optional) Added in: v1.43#

      Only removes cookies with the given domain.

    • name string | RegExp (optional) Added in: v1.43#

      Only removes cookies with the given name.

    • path string | RegExp (optional) Added in: v1.43#

      Only removes cookies with the given path.

Returns

clearPermissions​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.clearPermissions

Clears all permission overrides for the browser context.

Usage

const context = await browser.newContext();
await context.grantPermissions(['clipboard-read']);
// do stuff ..
context.clearPermissions();

Returns

close​

Added before v1.9 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

await browserContext.close();
await browserContext.close(options);

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

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

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

Returns

cookies​

Added before v1.9 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

await browserContext.cookies();
await browserContext.cookies(urls);

Arguments

Returns

exposeBinding​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.exposeBinding

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.exposeBinding() for page-only version.

Usage

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

const { webkit } = require('playwright');  // Or 'chromium' or 'firefox'.

(async () => {
  const browser = await webkit.launch({ headless: false });
  const context = await browser.newContext();
  await context.exposeBinding('pageURL', ({ page }) => page.url());
  const page = await context.newPage();
  await page.setContent(`
    <script>
      async function onClick() {
        document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.pageURL();
      }
    </script>
    <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button>
    <div></div>
  `);
  await page.getByRole('button').click();
})();

Arguments

  • name string#

    Name of the function on the window object.

  • callback function#

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

  • options Object (optional)

    • handle boolean (optional)#

      Deprecated

      This option will be removed in the future.

      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

exposeFunction​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.exposeFunction

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.exposeFunction() for page-only version.

Usage

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

const { webkit } = require('playwright');  // Or 'chromium' or 'firefox'.
const crypto = require('crypto');

(async () => {
  const browser = await webkit.launch({ headless: false });
  const context = await browser.newContext();
  await context.exposeFunction('sha256', text =>
    crypto.createHash('sha256').update(text).digest('hex'),
  );
  const page = await context.newPage();
  await page.setContent(`
    <script>
      async function onClick() {
        document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.sha256('PLAYWRIGHT');
      }
    </script>
    <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button>
    <div></div>
  `);
  await page.getByRole('button').click();
})();

Arguments

  • name string#

    Name of the function on the window object.

  • callback function#

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

Returns

grantPermissions​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.grantPermissions

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

Usage

await browserContext.grantPermissions(permissions);
await browserContext.grantPermissions(permissions, options);

Arguments

  • permissions Array<string>#

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

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

  • options Object (optional)

Returns

newCDPSession​

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.newCDPSession
note

CDP sessions are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

Returns the newly created session.

Usage

await browserContext.newCDPSession(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

newPage​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.newPage

Creates a new page in the browser context.

Usage

await browserContext.newPage();

Returns

pages​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.pages

Returns all open pages in the context.

Usage

browserContext.pages();

Returns

removeAllListeners​

Added in: v1.47 browserContext.removeAllListeners

Removes all the listeners of the given type (or all registered listeners if no type given). Allows to wait for async listeners to complete or to ignore subsequent errors from these listeners.

Usage

await browserContext.removeAllListeners();
await browserContext.removeAllListeners(type, options);

Arguments

  • type string (optional)#
  • options Object (optional)

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

      Specifies whether to wait for already running listeners and what to do if they throw errors:

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

Returns

route​

Added before v1.9 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

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

Usage

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

const context = await browser.newContext();
await context.route('**/*.{png,jpg,jpeg}', route => route.abort());
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');
await browser.close();

or the same snippet using a regex pattern instead:

const context = await browser.newContext();
await context.route(/(\.png$)|(\.jpg$)/, route => route.abort());
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');
await 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:

await context.route('/api/**', async route => {
  if (route.request().postData().includes('my-string'))
    await route.fulfill({ body: 'mocked-data' });
  else
    await route.continue();
});

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 browserContext.unroute().

note

Enabling routing disables http cache.

Arguments

Returns

routeFromHAR​

Added in: v1.23 browserContext.routeFromHAR

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 serviceWorkers to 'block'.

Usage

await browserContext.routeFromHAR(har);
await browserContext.routeFromHAR(har, options);

Arguments

  • har string#

    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.

  • options Object (optional)

    • notFound "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 boolean (optional)#

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

    • updateContent "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.

    • updateMode "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 string | RegExp (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

routeWebSocket​

Added in: v1.48 browserContext.routeWebSocket

This method allows to modify websocket connections that are made by any page in the browser context.

Note that only WebSockets created after this method was called will be routed. It is recommended to call this method before creating any pages.

Usage

Below is an example of a simple handler that blocks some websocket messages. See WebSocketRoute for more details and examples.

await context.routeWebSocket('/ws', async ws => {
  ws.routeSend(message => {
    if (message === 'to-be-blocked')
      return;
    ws.send(message);
  });
  await ws.connect();
});

Arguments

Returns

serviceWorkers​

Added in: v1.11 browserContext.serviceWorkers
note

Service workers are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.

All existing service workers in the context.

Usage

browserContext.serviceWorkers();

Returns

setDefaultNavigationTimeout​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setDefaultNavigationTimeout

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

note

page.setDefaultNavigationTimeout() and page.setDefaultTimeout() take priority over browserContext.setDefaultNavigationTimeout().

Usage

browserContext.setDefaultNavigationTimeout(timeout);

Arguments

  • timeout number#

    Maximum navigation time in milliseconds

setDefaultTimeout​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setDefaultTimeout

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

note

page.setDefaultNavigationTimeout(), page.setDefaultTimeout() and browserContext.setDefaultNavigationTimeout() take priority over browserContext.setDefaultTimeout().

Usage

browserContext.setDefaultTimeout(timeout);

Arguments

  • timeout number#

    Maximum time in milliseconds

setExtraHTTPHeaders​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setExtraHTTPHeaders

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.setExtraHTTPHeaders(). If page overrides a particular header, page-specific header value will be used instead of the browser context header value.

note

browserContext.setExtraHTTPHeaders() does not guarantee the order of headers in the outgoing requests.

Usage

await browserContext.setExtraHTTPHeaders(headers);

Arguments

  • headers Object<string, string>#

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

Returns

setGeolocation​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setGeolocation

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

Usage

await browserContext.setGeolocation({ latitude: 59.95, longitude: 30.31667 });
note

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

Arguments

  • geolocation null | Object#

    • latitude number

      Latitude between -90 and 90.

    • longitude number

      Longitude between -180 and 180.

    • accuracy number (optional)

      Non-negative accuracy value. Defaults to 0.

Returns

setOffline​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setOffline

Usage

await browserContext.setOffline(offline);

Arguments

  • offline boolean#

    Whether to emulate network being offline for the browser context.

Returns

storageState​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.storageState

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

Usage

await browserContext.storageState();
await browserContext.storageState(options);

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

    • path string (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 before v1.9 browserContext.unroute

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

Usage

await browserContext.unroute(url);
await browserContext.unroute(url, handler);

Arguments

Returns

unrouteAll​

Added in: v1.41 browserContext.unrouteAll

Removes all routes created with browserContext.route() and browserContext.routeFromHAR().

Usage

await browserContext.unrouteAll();
await browserContext.unrouteAll(options);

Arguments

  • options Object (optional)

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

      Specifies whether 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

waitForEvent​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.waitForEvent

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

const pagePromise = context.waitForEvent('page');
await page.getByRole('button').click();
const page = await pagePromise;

Arguments

  • event string#

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

  • optionsOrPredicate function | Object (optional)#

    • predicate function

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

    • timeout number (optional)

      Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 0 - no timeout. The default value can be changed via actionTimeout option in the config, or by using the browserContext.setDefaultTimeout() method.

    Either a predicate that receives an event or an options object. Optional.

  • options Object (optional)

    • predicate function (optional)#

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

Returns

Properties​

clock​

Added in: v1.45 browserContext.clock

Playwright has ability to mock clock and passage of time.

Usage

browserContext.clock

Type

request​

Added in: v1.16 browserContext.request

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

Usage

browserContext.request

Type

tracing​

Added in: v1.12 browserContext.tracing

Usage

browserContext.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.

const backgroundPage = await context.waitForEvent('backgroundpage');

Usage

browserContext.on('backgroundpage', data => {});

Event data

on('close')​

Added before v1.9 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

browserContext.on('close', data => {});

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

context.on('console', async msg => {
  const values = [];
  for (const arg of msg.args())
    values.push(await arg.jsonValue());
  console.log(...values);
});
await 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', dialog => {
  dialog.accept();
});
note

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

Event data

on('page')​

Added before v1.9 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. If you would like to route/listen to this network request, use browserContext.route() and browserContext.on('request') respectively instead of similar methods on the Page.

const newPagePromise = context.waitForEvent('page');
await page.getByText('open new page').click();
const newPage = await newPagePromise;
console.log(await newPage.evaluate('location.href'));
note

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

Usage

browserContext.on('page', data => {});

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 browserContext.route() or page.route().

Usage

browserContext.on('request', data => {});

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 browserContext.on('requestfinished') event and not with browserContext.on('requestfailed').

Usage

browserContext.on('requestfailed', data => {});

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

browserContext.on('requestfinished', data => {});

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

browserContext.on('response', data => {});

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

browserContext.on('serviceworker', data => {});

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

browserContext.on('weberror', data => {});

Event data

Deprecated​

setHTTPCredentials​

Added before v1.9 browserContext.setHTTPCredentials
Deprecated

Browsers may cache credentials after successful authentication. Create a new browser context instead.

Usage

await browserContext.setHTTPCredentials(httpCredentials);

Arguments

Returns