[Bug]: Google Cloud Run deployment not working

[iKK001]

Version

1.48.2

Steps to reproduce

I try to deploy my nodeJS project to a Google Cloud Run.

But unfortunately, the location where chromium gets installed is corrupt !!

Normally, I do not have problems to deploy to Google Cloud Run.

But using your library playwright makes it hard.

Inside my package.json file I add the following dependency:

"scripts": {
    "build": "nest build",
    "format": "prettier --write \"src/**/*.ts\" \"test/**/*.ts\"",
    "start": "nest start",
    "start:dev": "nest start --watch",
    "start:debug": "nest start --debug --watch",
    "start:prod": "node dist/main",
    "start:emulator": "export FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST='localhost:8080' && firebase emulators:start --project counter-1227a --import emulatorBaseData",
    "lint": "eslint \"{src,apps,libs,test}/**/*.ts\" --fix",
    "test": "export FIRESTORE_EMULATOR_HOST='localhost:8080' && jest",
    "test:watch": "jest --watch",
    "test:cov": "jest --coverage",
    "test:debug": "node --inspect-brk -r tsconfig-paths/register -r ts-node/register node_modules/.bin/jest --runInBand",
    "test:e2e": "jest --config ./test/jest-e2e.json"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": "20.x"
  },
"dependencies": {
    "playwright": "^1.48.2"
},

And I am using yarn.

My method in my application looks as follows:

async createBuffer(): Promise<Buffer> {

    const url = 'https://www.google.com';

    // Launch a new browser instance
    const browser = await chromium.launch({
      executablePath: process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH,
      headless: true,
    });

    // Create a new incognito browser context.
    const context = await browser.newContext();

    // Create a new page in a this context.
    const page = await context.newPage();

    // Navigate to the specified URL
    await page.goto(url);

    // take a screenshot and return the buffer
    const buffer: Buffer = await page.screenshot();

    // Close the browser
    await context.close();
    await browser.close();

    return buffer;
  }

I am using the following ENV variable inside my Google Cloud Run:

PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=0

(And I tried endless times to set this env var to something else so that it would work.

BUT I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH MUST BE ???? Any help here appreciated.

But let'ts continue with my explanation:

The deployment works !
The chromium gets installed. I see this in the log of the GCR deployment log.

2024-10-27 03:39:10.698 CET
Step #0 - "Build": Downloading Chromium 130.0.6723.31 (playwright build v1140) from https://playwright.azureedge.net/builds/chromium/1140/chromium-linux.zip
2024-10-27 03:39:10.975 CET
Step #0 - "Build": | | 0% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:11.327 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■ | 10% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:11.575 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 20% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:11.776 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 30% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:11.951 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 40% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.124 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 50% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.280 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 60% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.445 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 70% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.627 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 80% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.791 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ | 90% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:12.948 CET
Step #0 - "Build": |■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■| 100% of 164.5 MiB
2024-10-27 03:39:18.877 CET
Step #0 - "Build": Chromium 130.0.6723.31 (playwright build v1140) downloaded to /root/chromium-browser/chromium-1140

As you can see, it downloaded it to /root/chromium-browser/chromium-1140
(or any other folder that I define in the Dockerfile.

--> Now the problem:

Whenever I call my method createBuffer(), then I get the following error-message inside the application log:

CASE 1

--> if I use the followng cmd inside Dockerfile: RUN npx -y [email protected] install --with-deps chromium

2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
�[31m[Nest] 1 - �[39m10/27/2024, 3:01:09 AM �[31m ERROR�[39m �[38;5;3m[ExceptionsHandler] �[39m�[31mbrowserType.launch: Executable doesn't exist at /usr/src/app/chromium-1140/chrome-linux/chrome
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ Looks like Playwright Test or Playwright was just installed or updated. ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ Please run the following command to download new browsers: ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ npx playwright install ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
║ <3 Playwright Team ║
2024-10-27 04:01:09.622 CET
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝�[39m

CASE 2

--> if I use the followng cmd inside Dockerfile: RUN PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/root/chromium-browser npx -y [email protected] install --with-deps chromium

Error message :

Failed to launch chromium because executable doesn't exist at

My Dockerfile:

######################
# BUILD FOR PRODUCTION
######################

FROM node:20-bookworm AS build

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

RUN npx -y [email protected] install --with-deps chromium

# I also tried:
# RUN PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/root/chromium-browser npx -y [email protected] install --with-deps chromium    

COPY --chown=node:node package*.json ./

COPY --chown=node:node --from=development /usr/src/app/node_modules ./node_modules

COPY --chown=node:node . .

RUN yarn build

ENV NODE_ENV=production

RUN yarn install --production && yarn cache clean

USER node


############
# PRODUCTION
############

FROM node:20-bookworm AS production

COPY --chown=node:node --from=build /usr/src/app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --chown=node:node --from=build /usr/src/app/dist ./dist

CMD [ "node", "dist/main.js" ]

Expected behavior

I expect to be able to deploy into a Google Cloud Run, installing chromium and using the browser from playwright in my calling method in nodeJS.

Actual behavior

Two bugs:

Case I: If I don't use PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH inside the Dockerfile as ENV var :
It keeps telling me

Please run the following command to download new browsers:  
npx playwright install

Case II: I I do use PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH in the Dockerfile:
It keeps telling me
Failed to launch chromium because executable doesn't exist at <whatever I define as the ENV var>

Additional context

No response

Environment

System:
 OS: AMD64 (Google Cloud Run environment)
Binaries:
    Node: 20.18.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.18.0/bin/node
    Yarn: 1.22.19 - ~/.yarn/bin/yarn
    npm: 10.8.2 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.18.0/bin/npm
npmPackages:
    playwright: ^1.48.2 => 1.48.2
Dockerfile image:
    FROM node:20-bookworm AS build

Questions:

1. How can I make this deployment in Google Cloud Run work ?

2. How can I better determine where the Chromium is really installed ? And how do I refer to it in executablePath of the calling method ?

3. How do I use PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH exactly ?? Is it needed in the Dockerfile ? If yes, how ?

4. What else is missing ? Is there a working example of a Google Cloud Run deployment using nodeJS and Dockerfile ?

[iKK001]

After 48 hours of non-stop debugging, I found a solution:

Turns out that many linux versions (such as debian, alpine, bookworm, ubuntu etc.) don't really work for playwright in a Google Cloud Run deployment.

However, there is a linux image that you can take :

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.48.2-noble

Here is the final Dockerfile that works now :

#############################
# BUILD FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
#############################

# Use the Playwright image as the base (its based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.48.2-noble AS development

# Create app directory
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy application dependency manifests to the container image.
# Remove the chown option since the user may not exist in the Playwright image
COPY package*.json ./

# Install app dependencies
RUN yarn install

# Install required dependencies for Playwright and Chromium
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y libnss3 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgbm-dev \
    libx11-xcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxi6 libxtst6 \
    libxrandr2 libxss1 fonts-liberation libxshmfence1 \
    --no-install-recommends && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Set environment variable for Playwright browser path
ENV PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright

# Ensure the Playwright cache directory exists and has proper permissions
RUN mkdir -p $PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH && chmod -R 777 $PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH

# Install Playwright browsers with all dependencies
RUN npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

# Debugging: Print out the installation location
RUN echo "Chromium installed at (development):" && ls -l $PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH

######################
# BUILD FOR PRODUCTION
######################

# Use the Playwright image as the base (its based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.48.2-noble AS build

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy all application files, including tsconfig.json and other configs
COPY . .

# Copy node_modules from development stage to save time on installing
COPY --from=development /usr/src/app/node_modules ./node_modules

# Install required dependencies for Playwright and Chromium
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y libnss3 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgbm-dev \
    libx11-xcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxi6 libxtst6 \
    libxrandr2 libxss1 fonts-liberation libxshmfence1 \
    --no-install-recommends && \
    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Set environment variable for Playwright browser path
ENV PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright

# Ensure the Playwright cache directory exists
RUN mkdir -p $PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH && chmod -R 777 $PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH

# Install Playwright browsers with all dependencies
RUN npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

# Build production bundle
RUN yarn build

# Set NODE_ENV environment variable
ENV NODE_ENV=production

# Install production dependencies only and clean yarn cache
RUN yarn install --production && yarn cache clean

############
# PRODUCTION
############

# Use the Playwright image as the base (its based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.48.2-noble AS production

# Create app directory
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy the bundled code and dependencies from the build stage
COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --from=build /usr/src/app/dist ./dist

# Copy Playwright browsers from build stage to the production image (otherwise Chromium cannot be found)
COPY --from=build /root/.cache/ms-playwright /root/.cache/ms-playwright

# Ensure the Playwright cache directory exists and has proper permissions
RUN mkdir -p /root/.cache/ms-playwright && chmod -R 777 /root/.cache/ms-playwright

# Start the server using the production build
CMD [ "node", "dist/main.js" ]

[mxschmitt]

Awesome! Closing then as per above. We don't support Alpine as per here and recommend our Docker image.