---
title: Playwright
description: Capture pages or expose a remote browser server without a GPU
icon: "globe"
---

Headless Chromium does not require GPU acceleration. This example uses Microsoft's Playwright image to capture a screenshot and optionally run a persistent browser server for a host-side test runner or agent.

<Note>
  The Playwright image is large. Its first pull can take several minutes, while cached browser launches are much faster. Consider turning a prepared browser sandbox into a [snapshot](/examples/sandboxing/warm-workers) for repeated jobs.
</Note>

## Use Playwright

<Steps>

<Step title="Capture a screenshot">

<Tooltip tip="Headless capture works on microsandbox cloud after omitting replace-on-create from this command."><span className="msb-badge-limited">Limited on cloud <Icon icon="circle-info" size={11} /></span></Tooltip>

<CodeGroup>
```sh macOS & Linux
msb run --name playwright-shot --replace \
  --cpus 2 --memory 2G --root-disk 4G \
  mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble -- sh -lc '
    npx -y playwright@1.61.0 screenshot \
      --browser chromium \
      https://example.com \
      /root/example.png &&
    stat -c "%s bytes" /root/example.png
  '
```

```powershell Windows
msb run --name playwright-shot --replace `
  --cpus 2 --memory 2G --root-disk 4G `
  mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble -- sh -lc '
    npx -y playwright@1.61.0 screenshot \
      --browser chromium \
      https://example.com \
      /root/example.png &&
    stat -c "%s bytes" /root/example.png
  '
```
</CodeGroup>

Copy the artifact out of the stopped sandbox:

```sh
msb cp playwright-shot:/root/example.png ./example.png
```

The smoke test used for this example produced a valid 15,909-byte PNG. Rendering can vary slightly between releases and hosts, so verify the file rather than asserting an exact byte count.

</Step>

<Step title="Optional: run a remote server">

<Tooltip tip="Publishing the browser server to a port on the computer running the client is not available on microsandbox cloud."><span className="msb-badge-local">Local-only <Icon icon="circle-info" size={11} /></span></Tooltip>

<CodeGroup>
```sh macOS & Linux
msb run -d --name playwright-server --replace \
  --cpus 2 --memory 2G --root-disk 4G \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble -- sh -lc '
    exec npx -y playwright@1.61.0 run-server \
      --host 0.0.0.0 \
      --port 3000
  '
```

```powershell Windows
msb run -d --name playwright-server --replace `
  --cpus 2 --memory 2G --root-disk 4G `
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 `
  mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble -- sh -lc '
    exec npx -y playwright@1.61.0 run-server \
      --host 0.0.0.0 \
      --port 3000
  '
```
</CodeGroup>

Verify the forwarding path:

<CodeGroup>
```sh macOS & Linux
curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/
```

```powershell Windows
curl.exe http://127.0.0.1:3000/
```
</CodeGroup>

The server returns `Running` and logs its WebSocket endpoint:

```sh
msb logs playwright-server
```

Connect a matching Playwright client to `ws://127.0.0.1:3000/`. Keep the client and server versions aligned.

<Warning>
  The remote server has no application-level authentication. This example binds the host side to loopback intentionally. Do not publish it on `0.0.0.0` or an internet-facing interface without an authenticated proxy.
</Warning>

</Step>

<Step title="Clean up">

Remove the sandboxes:

```sh
msb rm -f playwright-shot playwright-server
```

Delete the copied screenshot only if you no longer need it:

<CodeGroup>
```sh macOS & Linux
rm ./example.png
```

```powershell Windows
Remove-Item ./example.png
```
</CodeGroup>

</Step>

</Steps>

## Reference

- [Playwright Docker images](https://playwright.dev/docs/docker)
- [Playwright remote connections](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsertype#browser-type-connect)