File: class-browsercontext.md | Updated: 11/18/2025
On this page
BrowserContexts provide a way to operate multiple independent browser sessions.
If a page opens another page, e.g. with a window.open call, the popup will belong to the parent page's browser context.
Playwright allows creating isolated non-persistent browser contexts with browser.new_context() method. Non-persistent browser contexts don't write any browsing data to disk.
Sync
Async
Methods
Added before v1.9 browserContext.add_cookies
Adds cookies into this browser context. All pages within this context will have these cookies installed. Cookies can be obtained via browser_context.cookies() .
Usage
Sync
Async
browser_context.add_cookies([cookie_object1, cookie_object2])
await browser_context.add_cookies([cookie_object1, cookie_object2])
Arguments
cookies List
[Dictname str
value str
url str
(optional)
Either url or domain / path are required. Optional.
domain str
(optional)
For the cookie to apply to all subdomains as well, prefix domain with a dot, like this: ".example.com". Either url or domain / path are required. Optional.
path str
(optional)
Either url or domain / path are required Optional.
expires float
(optional)
Unix time in seconds. Optional.
httpOnly bool
(optional)
Optional.
secure bool
(optional)
Optional.
sameSite "Strict" | "Lax" | "None" (optional)
Optional.
partitionKey str
(optional)
For partitioned third-party cookies (aka CHIPS ), the partition key. Optional.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.add_init_script
Adds a script which would be evaluated in one of the following scenarios:
The script is evaluated after the document was created but before any of its scripts were run. This is useful to amend the JavaScript environment, e.g. to seed Math.random.
Usage
An example of overriding Math.random before the page loads:
// preload.jsMath.random = () => 42;
Sync
Async
note
The order of evaluation of multiple scripts installed via browser_context.add_init_script() and page.add_init_script() is not defined.
Arguments
path Union
[str
, pathlib.Path
] (optional)#
Path to the JavaScript file. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory. Optional.
Script to be evaluated in all pages in the browser context. Optional.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.clear_cookies
Removes cookies from context. Accepts optional filter.
Usage
Sync
Async
context.clear_cookies()context.clear_cookies(name="session-id")context.clear_cookies(domain="my-origin.com")context.clear_cookies(path="/api/v1")context.clear_cookies(name="session-id", domain="my-origin.com")
await context.clear_cookies()await context.clear_cookies(name="session-id")await context.clear_cookies(domain="my-origin.com")await context.clear_cookies(path="/api/v1")await context.clear_cookies(name="session-id", domain="my-origin.com")
Arguments
domain str
| Pattern
(optional) Added in: v1.43#
Only removes cookies with the given domain.
name str
| Pattern
(optional) Added in: v1.43#
Only removes cookies with the given name.
path str
| Pattern
(optional) Added in: v1.43#
Only removes cookies with the given path.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.clear_permissions
Clears all permission overrides for the browser context.
Usage
Sync
Async
context = browser.new_context()context.grant_permissions(["clipboard-read"])# do stuff ..context.clear_permissions()
context = await browser.new_context()await context.grant_permissions(["clipboard-read"])# do stuff ..context.clear_permissions()
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.close
Closes the browser context. All the pages that belong to the browser context will be closed.
note
The default browser context cannot be closed.
Usage
browser_context.close()browser_context.close(**kwargs)
Arguments
reason str
(optional) Added in: v1.40#
The reason to be reported to the operations interrupted by the context closure.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.cookies
If no URLs are specified, this method returns all cookies. If URLs are specified, only cookies that affect those URLs are returned.
Usage
browser_context.cookies()browser_context.cookies(**kwargs)
Arguments
Returns
Added in: v1.34 browserContext.expect_console_message
Performs action and waits for a ConsoleMessage
to be logged by in the pages in the context. If predicate is provided, it passes ConsoleMessage
value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(message) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the page is closed before the browser_context.on("console")
event is fired.
Usage
browser_context.expect_console_message()browser_context.expect_console_message(**kwargs)
Arguments
predicate Callable
[ConsoleMessage
]:bool
(optional)#
Receives the ConsoleMessage object and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.
Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout()
.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.expect_event
Waits for event to fire and passes its value into the predicate function. Returns when the predicate returns truthy value. Will throw an error if the context closes before the event is fired. Returns the event data value.
Usage
Sync
Async
with context.expect_event("page") as event_info: page.get_by_role("button").click()page = event_info.value
async with context.expect_event("page") as event_info: await page.get_by_role("button").click()page = await event_info.value
Arguments
Event name, same one would pass into browserContext.on(event).
predicate Callable
(optional)#
Receives the event data and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.
Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout()
.
Returns
Added in: v1.9 browserContext.expect_page
Performs action and waits for a new Page
to be created in the context. If predicate is provided, it passes Page
value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(event) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the context closes before new Page
is created.
Usage
browser_context.expect_page()browser_context.expect_page(**kwargs)
Arguments
predicate Callable
[Page
]:bool
(optional)#
Receives the Page object and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.
Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout()
.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.expose_binding
The method adds a function called name
on the window object of every frame in every page in the context. When called, the function executes callback
and returns a Promise
which resolves to the return value of callback
. If the callback
returns a Promise
, it will be awaited.
The first argument of the callback
function contains information about the caller: { browserContext: BrowserContext, page: Page, frame: Frame }.
See page.expose_binding() for page-only version.
Usage
An example of exposing page URL to all frames in all pages in the context:
Sync
Async
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright, Playwrightdef run(playwright: Playwright): webkit = playwright.webkit browser = webkit.launch(headless=False) context = browser.new_context() context.expose_binding("pageURL", lambda source: source["page"].url) page = context.new_page() page.set_content(""" <script> async function onClick() { document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.pageURL(); } </script> <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button> <div></div> """) page.get_by_role("button").click()with sync_playwright() as playwright: run(playwright)
import asynciofrom playwright.async_api import async_playwright, Playwrightasync def run(playwright: Playwright): webkit = playwright.webkit browser = await webkit.launch(headless=False) context = await browser.new_context() await context.expose_binding("pageURL", lambda source: source["page"].url) page = await context.new_page() await page.set_content(""" <script> async function onClick() { document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.pageURL(); } </script> <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button> <div></div> """) await page.get_by_role("button").click()async def main(): async with async_playwright() as playwright: await run(playwright)asyncio.run(main())
Arguments
Name of the function on the window object.
Callback function that will be called in the Playwright's context.
Deprecated
This option will be removed in the future.
Whether to pass the argument as a handle, instead of passing by value. When passing a handle, only one argument is supported. When passing by value, multiple arguments are supported.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.expose_function
The method adds a function called name
on the window object of every frame in every page in the context. When called, the function executes callback
and returns a Promise
which resolves to the return value of callback
.
If the callback returns a Promise , it will be awaited.
See page.expose_function() for page-only version.
Usage
An example of adding a sha256 function to all pages in the context:
Sync
Async
import hashlibfrom playwright.sync_api import sync_playwrightdef sha256(text: str) -> str: m = hashlib.sha256() m.update(bytes(text, "utf8")) return m.hexdigest()def run(playwright: Playwright): webkit = playwright.webkit browser = webkit.launch(headless=False) context = browser.new_context() context.expose_function("sha256", sha256) page = context.new_page() page.set_content(""" <script> async function onClick() { document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.sha256('PLAYWRIGHT'); } </script> <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button> <div></div> """) page.get_by_role("button").click()with sync_playwright() as playwright: run(playwright)
import asyncioimport hashlibfrom playwright.async_api import async_playwright, Playwrightdef sha256(text: str) -> str: m = hashlib.sha256() m.update(bytes(text, "utf8")) return m.hexdigest()async def run(playwright: Playwright): webkit = playwright.webkit browser = await webkit.launch(headless=False) context = await browser.new_context() await context.expose_function("sha256", sha256) page = await context.new_page() await page.set_content(""" <script> async function onClick() { document.querySelector('div').textContent = await window.sha256('PLAYWRIGHT'); } </script> <button onclick="onClick()">Click me</button> <div></div> """) await page.get_by_role("button").click()async def main(): async with async_playwright() as playwright: await run(playwright)asyncio.run(main())
Arguments
Name of the function on the window object.
Callback function that will be called in the Playwright's context.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.grant_permissions
Grants specified permissions to the browser context. Only grants corresponding permissions to the given origin if specified.
Usage
browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions)browser_context.grant_permissions(permissions, **kwargs)
Arguments
A list of permissions to grant.
danger
Supported permissions differ between browsers, and even between different versions of the same browser. Any permission may stop working after an update.
Here are some permissions that may be supported by some browsers:
'accelerometer''ambient-light-sensor''background-sync''camera''clipboard-read''clipboard-write''geolocation''gyroscope''local-fonts''local-network-access''magnetometer''microphone''midi-sysex' (system-exclusive midi)'midi''notifications''payment-handler''storage-access'The origin to grant permissions to, e.g. "https://example.com ".
Returns
Added in: v1.11 browserContext.new_cdp_session
note
CDP sessions are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.
Returns the newly created session.
Usage
browser_context.new_cdp_session(page)
Arguments
Target to create new session for. For backwards-compatibility, this parameter is named page, but it can be a Page or Frame type.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.new_page
Creates a new page in the browser context.
Usage
browser_context.new_page()
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.route
Routing provides the capability to modify network requests that are made by any page in the browser context. Once route is enabled, every request matching the url pattern will stall unless it's continued, fulfilled or aborted.
note
browser_context.route()
will not intercept requests intercepted by Service Worker. See this
issue. We recommend disabling Service Workers when using request interception by setting service_workers
to 'block'.
Usage
An example of a naive handler that aborts all image requests:
Sync
Async
context = browser.new_context()page = context.new_page()context.route("**/*.{png,jpg,jpeg}", lambda route: route.abort())page.goto("https://example.com")browser.close()
context = await browser.new_context()page = await context.new_page()await context.route("**/*.{png,jpg,jpeg}", lambda route: route.abort())await page.goto("https://example.com")await browser.close()
or the same snippet using a regex pattern instead:
Sync
Async
context = browser.new_context()page = context.new_page()context.route(re.compile(r"(.png$)|(.jpg$)"), lambda route: route.abort())page = await context.new_page()page = context.new_page()page.goto("https://example.com")browser.close()
context = await browser.new_context()page = await context.new_page()await context.route(re.compile(r"(.png$)|(.jpg$)"), lambda route: route.abort())page = await context.new_page()await page.goto("https://example.com")await browser.close()
It is possible to examine the request to decide the route action. For example, mocking all requests that contain some post data, and leaving all other requests as is:
Sync
Async
def handle_route(route: Route): if ("my-string" in route.request.post_data): route.fulfill(body="mocked-data") else: route.continue_()context.route("/api/**", handle_route)
async def handle_route(route: Route): if ("my-string" in route.request.post_data): await route.fulfill(body="mocked-data") else: await route.continue_()await context.route("/api/**", handle_route)
Page routes (set up with page.route() ) take precedence over browser context routes when request matches both handlers.
To remove a route with its handler you can use browser_context.unroute() .
note
Enabling routing disables http cache.
Arguments
url str
| Pattern
| Callable
[URL
]:bool
#
A glob pattern, regex pattern, or predicate that receives a URL
to match during routing. If base_url
is set in the context options and the provided URL is a string that does not start with *, it is resolved using the new URL()
constructor.
handler Callable
[Route
, Request
]:Promise
[Any
] | Any
#
handler function to route the request.
times int
(optional) Added in: v1.15#
How often a route should be used. By default it will be used every time.
Returns
Added in: v1.23 browserContext.route_from_har
If specified the network requests that are made in the context will be served from the HAR file. Read more about Replaying from HAR .
Playwright will not serve requests intercepted by Service Worker from the HAR file. See this
issue. We recommend disabling Service Workers when using request interception by setting service_workers
to 'block'.
Usage
browser_context.route_from_har(har)browser_context.route_from_har(har, **kwargs)
Arguments
har Union
[str
, pathlib.Path
]#
Path to a HAR
file with prerecorded network data. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to the current working directory.
not_found "abort" | "fallback" (optional)#
Defaults to abort.
If specified, updates the given HAR with the actual network information instead of serving from file. The file is written to disk when browser_context.close() is called.
update_content "embed" | "attach" (optional) Added in: v1.32#
Optional setting to control resource content management. If attach is specified, resources are persisted as separate files or entries in the ZIP archive. If embed is specified, content is stored inline the HAR file.
update_mode "full" | "minimal" (optional) Added in: v1.32#
When set to minimal, only record information necessary for routing from HAR. This omits sizes, timing, page, cookies, security and other types of HAR information that are not used when replaying from HAR. Defaults to minimal.
A glob pattern, regular expression or predicate to match the request URL. Only requests with URL matching the pattern will be served from the HAR file. If not specified, all requests are served from the HAR file.
Returns
Added in: v1.48 browserContext.route_web_socket
This method allows to modify websocket connections that are made by any page in the browser context.
Note that only WebSockets created after this method was called will be routed. It is recommended to call this method before creating any pages.
Usage
Below is an example of a simple handler that blocks some websocket messages. See WebSocketRoute for more details and examples.
Sync
Async
def message_handler(ws: WebSocketRoute, message: Union[str, bytes]): if message == "to-be-blocked": return ws.send(message)def handler(ws: WebSocketRoute): ws.route_send(lambda message: message_handler(ws, message)) ws.connect()context.route_web_socket("/ws", handler)
def message_handler(ws: WebSocketRoute, message: Union[str, bytes]): if message == "to-be-blocked": return ws.send(message)async def handler(ws: WebSocketRoute): ws.route_send(lambda message: message_handler(ws, message)) await ws.connect()await context.route_web_socket("/ws", handler)
Arguments
url str
| Pattern
| Callable
[URL
]:bool
#
Only WebSockets with the url matching this pattern will be routed. A string pattern can be relative to the base_url context option.
handler Callable
[WebSocketRoute
]:Promise
[Any
] | Any
#
Handler function to route the WebSocket.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.set_default_navigation_timeout
This setting will change the default maximum navigation time for the following methods and related shortcuts:
note
page.set_default_navigation_timeout() and page.set_default_timeout() take priority over browser_context.set_default_navigation_timeout() .
Usage
browser_context.set_default_navigation_timeout(timeout)
Arguments
Added before v1.9 browserContext.set_default_timeout
This setting will change the default maximum time for all the methods accepting timeout option.
note
page.set_default_navigation_timeout() , page.set_default_timeout() and browser_context.set_default_navigation_timeout() take priority over browser_context.set_default_timeout() .
Usage
browser_context.set_default_timeout(timeout)
Arguments
Added before v1.9 browserContext.set_extra_http_headers
The extra HTTP headers will be sent with every request initiated by any page in the context. These headers are merged with page-specific extra HTTP headers set with page.set_extra_http_headers() . If page overrides a particular header, page-specific header value will be used instead of the browser context header value.
note
browser_context.set_extra_http_headers() does not guarantee the order of headers in the outgoing requests.
Usage
browser_context.set_extra_http_headers(headers)
Arguments
An object containing additional HTTP headers to be sent with every request. All header values must be strings.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.set_geolocation
Sets the context's geolocation. Passing null or undefined emulates position unavailable.
Usage
Sync
Async
browser_context.set_geolocation({"latitude": 59.95, "longitude": 30.31667})
await browser_context.set_geolocation({"latitude": 59.95, "longitude": 30.31667})
note
Consider using browser_context.grant_permissions() to grant permissions for the browser context pages to read its geolocation.
Arguments
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.set_offline
Usage
browser_context.set_offline(offline)
Arguments
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.storage_state
Returns storage state for this browser context, contains current cookies, local storage snapshot and IndexedDB snapshot.
Usage
browser_context.storage_state()browser_context.storage_state(**kwargs)
Arguments
indexed_db bool
(optional) Added in: v1.51#
Set to true to include IndexedDB
in the storage state snapshot. If your application uses IndexedDB to store authentication tokens, like Firebase Authentication, enable this.
path Union
[str
, pathlib.Path
] (optional)#
The file path to save the storage state to. If path is a relative path, then it is resolved relative to current working directory. If no path is provided, storage state is still returned, but won't be saved to the disk.
Returns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.unroute
Removes a route created with browser_context.route() . When handler is not specified, removes all routes for the url .
Usage
browser_context.unroute(url)browser_context.unroute(url, **kwargs)
Arguments
url str
| Pattern
| Callable
[URL
]:bool
#
A glob pattern, regex pattern or predicate receiving URL used to register a routing with browser_context.route() .
handler Callable
[Route
, Request
]:Promise
[Any
] | Any
(optional)#
Optional handler function used to register a routing with browser_context.route() .
Returns
Added in: v1.41 browserContext.unroute_all
Removes all routes created with browser_context.route() and browser_context.route_from_har() .
Usage
browser_context.unroute_all()browser_context.unroute_all(**kwargs)
Arguments
behavior "wait" | "ignoreErrors" | "default" (optional)#
Specifies whether to wait for already running handlers and what to do if they throw errors:
'default' - do not wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish, if unrouted handler throws, it may result in unhandled error'wait' - wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish'ignoreErrors' - do not wait for current handler calls (if any) to finish, all errors thrown by the handlers after unrouting are silently caughtReturns
Added before v1.9 browserContext.wait_for_event
note
In most cases, you should use browser_context.expect_event() .
Waits for given event to fire. If predicate is provided, it passes event's value into the predicate function and waits for predicate(event) to return a truthy value. Will throw an error if the browser context is closed before the event is fired.
Usage
browser_context.wait_for_event(event)browser_context.wait_for_event(event, **kwargs)
Arguments
Event name, same one typically passed into *.on(event).
predicate Callable
(optional)#
Receives the event data and resolves to truthy value when the waiting should resolve.
Maximum time to wait for in milliseconds. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout. The default value can be changed by using the browser_context.set_default_timeout()
.
Returns
Properties
Added before v1.9 browserContext.browser
Gets the browser instance that owns the context. Returns null if the context is created outside of normal browser, e.g. Android or Electron.
Usage
browser_context.browser
Returns
Added in: v1.45 browserContext.clock
Playwright has ability to mock clock and passage of time.
Usage
browser_context.clock
Type
Added before v1.9 browserContext.pages
Returns all open pages in the context.
Usage
browser_context.pages
Returns
Added in: v1.16 browserContext.request
API testing helper associated with this context. Requests made with this API will use context cookies.
Usage
browser_context.request
Type
Added in: v1.11 browserContext.service_workers
note
Service workers are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.
All existing service workers in the context.
Usage
browser_context.service_workers
Returns
Added in: v1.12 browserContext.tracing
Usage
browser_context.tracing
Type
Events
Added before v1.9 browserContext.on("close")
Emitted when Browser context gets closed. This might happen because of one of the following:
Usage
browser_context.on("close", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.34 browserContext.on("console")
Emitted when JavaScript within the page calls one of console API methods, e.g. console.log or console.dir.
The arguments passed into console.log and the page are available on the ConsoleMessage
event handler argument.
Usage
Sync
Async
def print_args(msg): for arg in msg.args: print(arg.json_value())context.on("console", print_args)page.evaluate("console.log('hello', 5, { foo: 'bar' })")
async def print_args(msg): values = [] for arg in msg.args: values.append(await arg.json_value()) print(values)context.on("console", print_args)await page.evaluate("console.log('hello', 5, { foo: 'bar' })")
Event data
Added in: v1.34 browserContext.on("dialog")
Emitted when a JavaScript dialog appears, such as alert, prompt, confirm or beforeunload. Listener must either dialog.accept()
or dialog.dismiss()
the dialog - otherwise the page will freeze
waiting for the dialog, and actions like click will never finish.
Usage
context.on("dialog", lambda dialog: dialog.accept())
note
When no page.on("dialog") or browser_context.on("dialog") listeners are present, all dialogs are automatically dismissed.
Event data
Added before v1.9 browserContext.on("page")
The event is emitted when a new Page is created in the BrowserContext. The page may still be loading. The event will also fire for popup pages. See also page.on("popup") to receive events about popups relevant to a specific page.
The earliest moment that page is available is when it has navigated to the initial url. For example, when opening a popup with window.open('http://example.com'), this event will fire when the network request to "http://example.com
" is done and its response has started loading in the popup. If you would like to route/listen to this network request, use browser_context.route()
and browser_context.on("request")
respectively instead of similar methods on the Page
.
Sync
Async
with context.expect_page() as page_info: page.get_by_text("open new page").click(),page = page_info.valueprint(page.evaluate("location.href"))
async with context.expect_page() as page_info: await page.get_by_text("open new page").click(),page = await page_info.valueprint(await page.evaluate("location.href"))
note
Use page.wait_for_load_state() to wait until the page gets to a particular state (you should not need it in most cases).
Usage
browser_context.on("page", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("request")
Emitted when a request is issued from any pages created through this context. The request object is read-only. To only listen for requests from a particular page, use page.on("request") .
In order to intercept and mutate requests, see browser_context.route() or page.route() .
Usage
browser_context.on("request", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("requestfailed")
Emitted when a request fails, for example by timing out. To only listen for failed requests from a particular page, use page.on("requestfailed") .
note
HTTP Error responses, such as 404 or 503, are still successful responses from HTTP standpoint, so request will complete with browser_context.on("requestfinished") event and not with browser_context.on("requestfailed") .
Usage
browser_context.on("requestfailed", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("requestfinished")
Emitted when a request finishes successfully after downloading the response body. For a successful response, the sequence of events is request, response and requestfinished. To listen for successful requests from a particular page, use page.on("requestfinished")
.
Usage
browser_context.on("requestfinished", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.12 browserContext.on("response")
Emitted when response
status and headers are received for a request. For a successful response, the sequence of events is request, response and requestfinished. To listen for response events from a particular page, use page.on("response")
.
Usage
browser_context.on("response", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.11 browserContext.on("serviceworker")
note
Service workers are only supported on Chromium-based browsers.
Emitted when new service worker is created in the context.
Usage
browser_context.on("serviceworker", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.38 browserContext.on("weberror")
Emitted when exception is unhandled in any of the pages in this context. To listen for errors from a particular page, use page.on("pageerror") instead.
Usage
browser_context.on("weberror", handler)
Event data
Deprecated
Added in: v1.11 browserContext.on("backgroundpage")
Deprecated
Background pages have been removed from Chromium together with Manifest V2 extensions.
This event is not emitted.
Usage
browser_context.on("backgroundpage", handler)
Event data
Added in: v1.11 browserContext.background_pages
Deprecated
Background pages have been removed from Chromium together with Manifest V2 extensions.
Returns an empty list.
Usage
browser_context.background_pages
Returns