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.

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.
• Automated Builds: Daily CI/CD pipeline builds latest Playwright versions automatically.

🎭 Latest Release

Current Playwright Version: 1.56.1
Released: 2025-10-17 06:37 UTC

🐳 Available Images

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

📦 Version-Specific Tags

• digitronik/playwright-vnc:1.56.1
• digitronik/playwright-vnc:firefox-1.56.1
• digitronik/playwright-vnc:chromium-1.56.1
• digitronik/playwright-vnc:chrome-1.56.1

🚀 Quick Start

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

# Connect via VNC
vncviewer localhost:5900

Last updated: 2025-10-17 06:37 UTC (automated)

How to Build the Images (Local Development)

Note: Images are automatically built daily via GitHub Actions. For 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

Image Tag	Default Browser	Installed Browsers
:latest	Chromium	All browsers (Firefox, Chromium, Chrome)
:firefox-latest	Firefox	Playwright's Firefox
:chromium-latest	Chromium	Playwright's Chromium
:chrome-latest	Google Chrome	Google Chrome (Stable)

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 digitronik/playwright-vnc:firefox-latest

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

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

Environment Variables

• PW_BROWSER: Specify browser (firefox, chromium, chrome)
• PW_HEADLESS: Run in headless mode (true/false, default: false)

Connecting with a VNC Client

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

vncviewer localhost:5900 

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()

• 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()