grafana/k6 · error

getting bounding box model of DOM node: %w

Error message

getting bounding box model of DOM node: %w

What it means

ElementHandle.boundingBox issues the CDP dom.GetBoxModel call for the handle's remote object; if the protocol call fails, the error is wrapped with this text. Typical underlying failures: the node was detached/removed (stale object ID), the frame navigated away, or the session is gone.

Source

Thrown at internal/js/modules/k6/browser/common/element_handle.go:68

	frame *Frame
}

// String returns a string representation of ElementHandle.
// It exists mostly for debugging where we don't want fmt.Sprintf to just
// go through a complex object and try to stringify it.
func (h *ElementHandle) String() string {
	return "ElementHandle{" +
		" BaseJSHandle:  " + h.BaseJSHandle.String() +
		" frame: " + h.frame.String() +
		"}"
}

func (h *ElementHandle) boundingBox() (*Rect, error) {
	var box *dom.BoxModel
	var err error
	action := dom.GetBoxModel().WithObjectID(h.remoteObject.ObjectID)
	if box, err = action.Do(cdp.WithExecutor(h.ctx, h.session)); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting bounding box model of DOM node: %w", err)
	}

	if box == nil || box.Border == nil {
		return nil, ErrElementNotAttachedToDOM
	}

	quad := box.Border
	x := math.Min(quad[0], math.Min(quad[2], math.Min(quad[4], quad[6])))
	y := math.Min(quad[1], math.Min(quad[3], math.Min(quad[5], quad[7])))
	width := math.Max(quad[0], math.Max(quad[2], math.Max(quad[4], quad[6]))) - x
	height := math.Max(quad[1], math.Max(quad[3], math.Max(quad[5], quad[7]))) - y

	position, err := h.frame.position()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting position of parent frame: %w", err)
	}

	return &Rect{X: x + position.X, Y: y + position.Y, Width: width, Height: height}, nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 93accf6570)

Solutions

1. Re-query the element immediately before measuring instead of reusing a stale handle.
2. Wait for the element to be attached/visible first (locator with waitFor / expect-style waits) before boundingBox.
3. Do not navigate between acquiring the handle and calling boundingBox.
4. If it happens inside click(), prefer locator-based clicks with a retry on this specific error.

Example fix

// before
const el = page.locator('#submit');
const handle = await el.getElementHandle();
await page.waitForTimeout(5000);    // SPA re-renders, handle goes stale
await handle.boundingBox();          // getting bounding box model of DOM node: ...

// after
const handle = await page.locator('#submit').getElementHandle(); // re-query late
await handle.boundingBox();

// re-query the element fresh instead of reusing a possibly stale handle
const handle = await page.locator(sel).getElementHandle();
// measure immediately, in the same tick — no sleeps or navigations in between

try {
  await handle.boundingBox();
} catch (e) {
  if (/getting bounding box model of DOM node/.test(String(e))) {
    const fresh = await page.locator(sel).getElementHandle(); // node may have been re-mounted
    return await fresh.boundingBox();
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling elementHandle.boundingBox() (directly, or via click() which resolves a clickable point through it) after the element left the DOM, after a navigation replaced the document, or on a handle from a closed page.

Common situations: SPA re-rendering between locator query and boundingBox (React re-mounts the node); ad/promo overlays removing the target; holding element handles across page.goto and reusing them.

Related errors

• getting position of parent frame: %w
• element is not attached to the DOM
• getting bounding box of parent frame: %w
• finding clickable point: %w
• %w: %w

AI-assisted analysis of grafana/k6@93accf6570 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/34ee0896280f7c82. Report an issue: GitHub.