Each version of the Playwright npm package is tightly coupled with specific versions of the browser binaries (Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit). When you install a specific version of playwright, it expects and is tested against particular versions of those browsers.
📦 Example: playwright@1.43.0 might use:
- Chromium 123.0.xxx
- Firefox 122.0
- WebKit 17.4
You can check the expected browser versions by running:
npx playwright --version
🛠 What Happens When You Run npx playwright install?
- npx playwright install downloads the default browser binaries that match the currently installed playwright npm package version.
- If you’ve not updated the playwright package but run npx playwright install, it will just reinstall the browser versions compatible with your currently installed playwright version — not newer versions.
✅ This ensures compatibility and avoids mismatches between Playwright code and browser behavior.
⚠️ What If You Manually Update the Browser Binaries?
You can technically use npx playwright install <browser>@<version> to install a newer or different browser version, but that may lead to incompatibilities or untested behavior unless the Playwright version supports that version of the browser.
🔍 Summary
