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@playwright/cli crashes with a raw Node stack trace on any input error (and prints no JSON with --json) #502
Description
playwright-cli.js calls program({ embedderVersion }) without awaiting it or attaching a .catch. The core's own entry, playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/cli.js, does program().catch(e => { console.error(e.message); processExit(1); }). So every error thrown by program() becomes an unhandled rejection in @playwright/cli.
Steps to reproduce
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli open --headed=false
playwright-cli screenshot --filename
playwright-cli --json screenshot --filename > out.json # exit 1, out.json is emptyActual
/…/playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/minimist.js:56
throw new Error(`boolean option '--${key}' should not be passed with '=value', ...`);
^
Error: boolean option '--headed' should not be passed with '=value', use '--headed' or '--no-headed' instead
at minimist (…)
Same for daemon start failures and daemon-side validation errors ('--filename' option: expected string, received boolean). With --json, stdout is empty while normal tool errors return {"isError": true, "error": "…"}, so agents that parse JSON get nothing usable.
Expected
A one-line error message and exit code 1, like node playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/cli.js open --headed=false prints; and a JSON error object in --json mode.
Suggested fix
async function main() {
await checkForUpdates().catch(() => {});
await program({ embedderVersion: packageJson.version }).catch(e => {
console.error(e.message);
process.exit(1);
});
}(Separately: a string flag given without a value, e.g. --filename, is parsed as true and only rejected by the daemon; it could be rejected client-side with the command's help.)
Environment
@playwright/cli0.1.23 (main @ f50f579),playwright-core1.65.0-alpha-2026-10-30- Node 22.23.4, Linux x64, Chrome for Testing 153
Activity
github-actions commentedon Nov 5, 2026
microsoft-playwright-automation commentedon Nov 5, 2026
Hi, I'm the Playwright bot and I reproduced this on Linux.
Reproduced with
@playwright/cli0.1.23 (playwright-core1.65.0-alpha-2026-10-30). The package entry point does not await or catchprogram()failures. The proposed fix handles those failures, prints only the error message in text mode, and returns{ "isError": true, "error": "..." }on stdout with--json, with exit code 1.Reproduction and verification
On Linux with Node 24.22.2, at commit
2cbc57d186eb8a70e64ebbd6c923741100c69a9e:playwright-cli open --headed=false playwright-cli --json open --headed=false playwright-cli open 'data:text/html,hello' --persistent playwright-cli --json screenshot --filename playwright-cli delete-dataBefore the fix, the malformed boolean argument printed a raw Node stack trace; JSON mode produced empty stdout. The regression test now verifies the exact text/JSON output and exit status, including daemon-side screenshot argument validation with Chrome.
All nine integration tests passed with
npm test. Additional checks passed for--json/--no-jsonoverrides, explicit--json true/--json false, and JSON output for an asynchronous missing-config startup error. The native upstream entry point atedeb0bd05176ff187c372c1e38e5d89a232bd5b3already catches text-mode failures; this fix belongs in this package's wrapper. These checks cover CLI error handling rather than browser-specific behavior.Draft PR: #522
Triaged on Linux by the Playwright bot - agent run
fix(cli): report command failures in text and JSON modes
fix(cli): report command failures in text and JSON modes (microsoft#522)