plotly/plotly.js · error · Error

error creating static canvas/context for image server

Error message

error creating static canvas/context for image server

What it means

WebGL setup guard for gl3d scenes in staticMode (used when rendering images server-side or via toImage). Plotly creates one shared offscreen canvas and reuses its WebGL context across static plots because WebKit does not reliably garbage-collect them. If canvas.getContext('webgl') (via the gl-context helper) returns null — typically because the environment has no WebGL support, contexts are exhausted, or hardware acceleration is disabled — there is no context to hand to the scene renderer and the error is thrown.

Source

Thrown at src/plots/gl3d/scene.js:121

        autoScale: true,
        autoBounds: false,
        cameraObject: scene.camera,
        pixelRatio: scene.pixelRatio
    };

    // for static plots, we reuse the WebGL context
    //  as WebKit doesn't collect them reliably
    if(scene.staticMode) {
        if(!STATIC_CONTEXT) {
            STATIC_CANVAS = document.createElement('canvas');
            STATIC_CONTEXT = getContext({
                canvas: STATIC_CANVAS,
                preserveDrawingBuffer: true,
                premultipliedAlpha: true,
                antialias: true
            });
            if(!STATIC_CONTEXT) {
                throw new Error('error creating static canvas/context for image server');
            }
        }

        opts.gl = STATIC_CONTEXT;
        opts.canvas = STATIC_CANVAS;
    }

    return opts;
};

var firstInit = true;

proto.tryCreatePlot = function() {
    var scene = this;

    var opts = scene.prepareOptions();

    var success = true;

View on GitHub (pinned to 1d090e0b5f)

Solutions

1. Verify WebGL is available in the environment (browsers: chrome://gpu; Node: ensure headless-gl / a GPU-capable GL stack is installed).
2. Free unused WebGL contexts; browsers cap the number of live contexts (~16), so destroy old plots before creating new ones.
3. When rasterizing with tools like puppeteer, launch with GPU/GL flags enabled (--enable-webgl, --use-gl=swiftshader).
4. Update graphics drivers or run on a machine with hardware acceleration.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at src/plots/gl3d/scene.js:121 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of plotly/plotly.js@1d090e0b5f (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5137fec00cebff4d. Report an issue: GitHub.