microsoft/playwright · error · Error

path is not available in the browser

Error message

path is not available in the browser

What it means

Thrown by the browser-bundle stub of Node's `path` module: calling `path.dirname`, `basename`, `resolve`, `join`, `relative`, or `isAbsolute` invokes `notAvailable()` which throws. Only `path.sep` (`'/'`) is defined; all functional exports throw immediately.

Source

Thrown at packages/playwright-client/src/nodeStubs/path.ts:18

/**
 * Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

function notAvailable(): never {
  throw new Error('path is not available in the browser');
}

export const sep = '/';
export const dirname: any = notAvailable;
export const basename: any = notAvailable;
export const resolve: any = notAvailable;
export const join: any = notAvailable;
export const relative: any = notAvailable;
export const isAbsolute: any = notAvailable;

export default { sep, dirname, basename, resolve, join, relative, isAbsolute };

View on GitHub (pinned to c8fc3bf8d3)

Solutions

1. Gate path operations behind a Node-only code path and avoid importing `path` in the browser bundle.
2. Replace simple join/normalize logic with template strings or a tiny browser-safe helper.
3. Mark `path` as external for the Node build target so it is not replaced by the stub.

Example fix

// before
import path from 'path';
const full = path.join(base, file);  // throws in browser bundle

// after
const full = typeof window === 'undefined'
  ? (await import('path')).join(base, file)
  : `${base}/${file}`;

function safePathJoin(...segs: string[]): string {
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined') return segs.join('/');
  return require('path').join(...segs);
}

function pathAvailable(): boolean {
  return typeof window === 'undefined' && typeof process !== 'undefined' && !!process.versions?.node;
}

try {
  return path.join(...segs);
} catch (e) {
  if (/path is not available in the browser/.test(e.message)) {
    return seggs.join('/');
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Code resolved to `packages/playwright-client/src/nodeStubs/path.ts` (the browser client bundle) that calls any path utility: `path.join(...)`, `path.resolve(...)`, `path.dirname(...)`, etc.

Common situations: Shared path-handling code bundled into the browser client; a dependency that requires `path` at runtime; bundler aliasing `path` to the stub for the browser target.

Related errors

• fs is not available in the browser
• No devices found
• Cannot launch Firefox with relative home directory. Did you
• Unable to open X display! ================================ M
• Unsupported platform: ${process.platform}

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/playwright@c8fc3bf8d3 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/58c8a6508e671fa2. Report an issue: GitHub.