Error: An `executablePath` or `channel` must be specified for `puppeteer-core`

[FallBackITA27]

Describe the bug

When unlighthouse is installed with npm, chromium will never be installed on-the-fly.

Reproduction

• npm install unlighthouse --save-dev
• npx unlighthouse --site <site>
• error

System / Nuxt Info

System:
    OS: Linux 6.11 Fedora Linux 41 (Workstation Edition)
    CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00GHz
    Memory: 5.91 GB / 15.55 GB
    Container: Yes
    Shell: 5.9 - /usr/bin/zsh
Binaries:
    Node: 22.11.0 - /usr/bin/node
    npm: 10.9.1 - /usr/local/bin/npm

[harlan-zw]

I'll need the entire stack trace to debug this or a valid reproduction, if you can run it with the --debug flag I'll have more info.

[Atulin]

Seeing the same issue on Windows with Bun

❯ bunx unlighthouse --debug
⚙ Starting Unlighthouse at root: F:\VS Projects\Ogma3\Ogma3 cwd: F:\VS Projects\Ogma3\Ogma3                                                                                                                   Unlighthouse 10:58:50
⚙ Discovered config definition { site: 'https://localhost:5001', scanner: { exclude: [ '/rss/*', '/admin/*' ] } }                                                                                             Unlighthouse 10:58:50
ℹ Using puppeteer dependency for Chrome.                                                                                                                                                                      Unlighthouse 10:58:50
file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/esm/puppeteer/util/assert.js:15
        throw new Error(message);
              ^

Error: An `executablePath` or `channel` must be specified for `puppeteer-core`
    at assert (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/esm/puppeteer/util/assert.js:15:15)
    at ChromeLauncher.computeLaunchArguments (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/esm/puppeteer/node/ChromeLauncher.js:82:13)
    at async ChromeLauncher.launch (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/esm/puppeteer/node/BrowserLauncher.js:48:28)
    at async resolveUserConfig (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/@unlighthouse/core/dist/index.mjs:1805:20)
    at async createUnlighthouse (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/@unlighthouse/core/dist/index.mjs:1916:26)
    at async run (file:///F:/VS%20Projects/Ogma3/Ogma3/node_modules/@unlighthouse/cli/dist/cli.mjs:19:24)

Node.js v22.12.0

[franz-josef-kaiser]

Had the same problem when updating. Here's a new unlighthouse.config.ts that should work:

import { defineUnlighthouseConfig } from 'unlighthouse/config'

const main = async () => {
	const chromium = require("@sparticuz/chromium");
	const executablePath = await chromium.executablePath();
	chromium.setGraphicsMode = false;

	return defineUnlighthouseConfig({
		// … your config
	})
}

await main()

List of package.json deps:

• "@sparticuz/chromium": "133.0.0",
• "unlighthouse": "0.16.2"

Env:

$ git:[dev]
nvm use 22
Now using node v22.14.0 (npm v10.9.2)

[drewlowe]

Bump => Better npm support is needed

[showtimezz]

I found an interesting fix for this. If within my project I remove puppeteer/puppeteer-core as well as unlighthouse - Completely removing them from my project and package.json, the npx script actually runs fine from within that same directory?

Not exactly sure where it's getting it's deps from, since I don't have any global packages installed, but it's running, and since I'm not using this for anything more than a one off thing at the moment this works enough well for me.

Leaving this here as it may help someone else