Playwright "browserType.launch: ... missing dependencies" in CI

Playwright downloaded the browser binaries but the runner is missing system shared libraries (libnss3, libatk, etc.) needed to launch them. The browser process aborts at startup.

What this error means

Tests fail at the first navigation with "Host system is missing dependencies to run browsers" and a list of missing .so files. It works on your local machine which already has those libs.

browserType.launch: Host system is missing dependencies to run browsers.
Missing libraries:
    libnspr4.so
    libnss3.so
    libatk-1.0.so.0

Common causes

Browser system libraries are not installed

A minimal Linux image ships without the GTK/NSS/X libraries that Chromium and WebKit dynamically link against.

Only the browser binaries were installed

npx playwright install fetched the browsers but not the OS-level dependencies they require.

How to fix it

Install browsers with their system dependencies

Use the --with-deps flag so Playwright installs the OS packages alongside the browser binaries.

npx playwright install --with-deps

Install only the OS deps when binaries are cached

If the browsers are already cached, install just the host dependencies.

npx playwright install-deps

How to prevent it

• Run playwright install --with-deps in CI before the test step.
• Pin the Playwright version so the bundled browser revision is consistent.
• Latchkey self-healing managed runners auto-retry transient browser-dependency download/launch failures, cache the browser binaries, and offer pre-provisioned images so Playwright deps are present.

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