Issue: Agent Opening an Old Version of Chromium – Latest Web Apps Not Working (WhatsApp, etc.)

[AliXSteps]

The agent is launching an outdated Chromium version, which causes issues when trying to open modern web applications like WhatsApp Web, and others. Many of these web apps require the latest browser version for security and functionality, but the agent is not using it.

📌 Steps to Reproduce Run the agent to launch the browser. Try opening https://web.whatsapp.com/ or https://twitter.com/. The pages either fail to load or show an error stating that the browser is outdated or not supported. ✅ Expected Behavior The agent should use the latest available Chromium version to ensure full compatibility with modern web apps. ❌ Actual Behavior The agent opens an older Chromium version. Many web apps like WhatsApp Web refuse to load properly. 🛠️ Possible Fix Ensure the agent uses the latest Chromium version by updating the dependency in playwright. Check if chrome_instance_path is pointing to an old browser version instead of the latest one. Run Playwright install to update Chromium to the newest version. 💻 Environment Operating System: Windows 10 / 11 (or your OS) Chromium Version: Version 131.0.6778.33 (Official Build) (64-bit) 📌 Additional Information This issue affects usability for modern web applications that require a recent browser version. Please update the agent to support the latest Chromium build.

[marginal23326]

Try running this to see if it fixes the issue:

playwright install

[AliXSteps]

Playwright is already installed (Version 1.49.1), but it still opens an older version of Chromium. Do I need to modify any script or configuration to ensure Playwright uses the latest Chromium version?

[marginal23326]

playwright install installs the latest browsers, not Playwright itself. Since it's still opening an old Chromium version, try this:

1. Run playwright uninstall to remove old browser binaries.
2. Then, if you are using uv, run uv pip install playwright -U to upgrade Playwright itself, just to be safe.
3. Finally, run playwright install again to get the latest version of the browsers.

This should hopefully fix the issue.

[amaanbadure]

I am facing the same issue. Tried installing newer versions, deleted and installed latest version multiple times, cleared caches, but it still launches an older chromium version. The weird thing is, in the same environment I tried with writing a simple playwright script to open an instance and traverse to a modern website, and that works fine. So I firmly believe it has something to do with browser-use itself. Has anyone found any solution?

[skylinker24]

I found that the old user_agent is hardcoded in the source code of BrowserContextConfig, so you need to pass a custom user_agent or set it to an empty string.

[warmshao]

Hello @sm123ali,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. It seems that the problem is related to the version of Chromium being used by Playwright, which is not the latest. Here are some steps you can try to resolve this:

1. Uninstall Old Browser Binaries: Run npx playwright uninstall to remove old browser binaries.
2. Upgrade Playwright: If you are using a package manager like uv, you can upgrade Playwright itself by running uv pip install playwright -U.
3. Install Latest Browsers: Run npx playwright install to install the latest version of the browsers.
4. Check User Agent: As mentioned by another user, ensure that the user agent is not hardcoded to an older version in your configuration.

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Playwright documentation which provides guidance on managing browser versions and dependencies.

Please let us know if these steps help resolve the issue or if you need further assistance.

Best regards, The Browser-Use WebUI Team