slymit/playwright-vnc repository overview

⁠Playwright with VNC: Headed Browser Docker Images

Official Playwright images from Microsoft are excellent for CI/CD pipelines and pure headless execution. However, they lack a graphical user interface.

This project solves that problem by providing a lightweight, VNC-enabled environment.

These images are built from the ground up on a slim Debian base (node:22-bookworm-slim) to be as optimized as possible while still providing a full graphical environment.

This project is a fork of the RedHatQE/playwright-images⁠ repository with several key improvements:

• Replaced Xvnc with x11vnc;
• Added native noVNC support;
• Integrated Patchright⁠ for Chromium-based browsers.

⁠Key Features

• VNC Server Built-in: Connect with any VNC client to view and interact with the browser.
• Headed Mode by Default: Designed specifically for running browsers with their UI visible.
• Multiple Browser Variants: Build tailored images for Firefox, Chromium, or Google Chrome.
• All-in-One Image: An all variant includes all three browsers for maximum flexibility.
• Optimized for Size: Multi-stage Dockerfile and careful package selection to keep images lean.
• Configurable: Control the browser type and headless mode at runtime with environment variables.
• Single Source: Manage all image variants from a single, easy-to-maintain Dockerfile.multibuild.

⁠🎭 Latest Release

See Docker Hub⁠

⁠🐳 Available Images

• slymit/playwright-vnc:latest (all browsers)
• slymit/playwright-vnc:firefox
• slymit/playwright-vnc:chromium
• slymit/playwright-vnc:chrome

⁠📦 Version-Specific Tags

• slymit/playwright-vnc:1.0.0
• slymit/playwright-vnc:1.0.0-firefox
• slymit/playwright-vnc:1.0.0-chromium
• slymit/playwright-vnc:1.0.0-chrome

⁠🚀 Quick Start

# Run with all browsers available
docker run -p 5900:5900 -p 6900:6900 -p 3000:3000 slymit/playwright-vnc:latest

# Connect via VNC
vncviewer localhost:5900

Connect via noVNC: http://localhost:6900/⁠

⁠How to Build the Images (Local Development)

# Build latest Playwright version (all browsers)
./build.sh

# Build specific Playwright version
./build.sh --playwright-version 1.55.0

# Build only specific browser variants  
./build.sh firefox chrome

# Customize repository name for local builds
./build.sh --repo "localhost/playwright-vnc"

⁠Available Image Variants

⁠How to Run the Images

Use docker/podman to start a container. Map VNC port (5900) and Playwright server port (3000).

# Run specific browser image
docker run -p 5900:5900 -p 3000:3000 slymit/playwright-vnc:firefox

# Run all-browsers image with specific browser selection
docker run -e PW_BROWSER="chrome" -p 5900:5900 -p 3000:3000 slymit/playwright-vnc:latest

# Run in headless mode  
docker run -e PW_HEADLESS="true" -p 3000:3000 slymit/playwright-vnc:latest

⁠Environment Variables

• PW_BROWSER: Specify browser (firefox, chromium, chrome)
• PW_HEADLESS: Run in headless mode (true/false, default: false)
• PW_ARGS: Specify browser arguments (use space as a separator, default: <not set>)
• USE_PATCHRIGHT: Use Patchright instead of Playwright for Chromium-based browsers (true/false, default: false)
• VNC_PASSWORD: Password for VNC and noVNC (default: password)

⁠Connecting with a VNC Client

VNC will run at 5900 port. You can connect your favorite VNC client.

vncviewer localhost:5900 

noVNC will run on port 6900 at http://localhost:6900/⁠

⁠Connecting with a Playwright Client

• Connecting to a Chromium or Google Chrome Server

  # client.py
  from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
  
  with sync_playwright() as p:
      browser = p.chromium.connect("ws://localhost:3000/playwright")
      print("Connected to Chromium!")
      page = browser.new_page()
      page.goto("https://playwright.dev/")
      print(page.title())
      browser.close()
  

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• Connecting to a Firefox Server:

  # client.py
  from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
  
  with sync_playwright() as p:
      browser = p.firefox.connect("ws://localhost:3000/playwright")
      print("Connected to Firefox!")
      page = browser.new_page()
      page.goto("https://playwright.dev/")
      print(page.title())
      browser.close()
  

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