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openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Browser: CDP websocket not reachable after Chrome start (system Chrome 146 + Playwright 1.59.1) [2 comments, 1 participants]

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openclaw/openclaw#63138•Fetched 2026-04-09 07:57:59
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Error Message

[browser/chrome] openclaw browser started (custom) profile "openclaw" on 127.0.0.1:18800 (pid 203424) [tools] browser failed: Error: Chrome CDP websocket for profile "openclaw" is not reachable after start.

Code Example

[browser/chrome] openclaw browser started (custom) profile "openclaw" on 127.0.0.1:18800 (pid 203424)
[tools] browser failed: Error: Chrome CDP websocket for profile "openclaw" is not reachable after start.
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Bug Report

Summary: browser start fails with "Chrome CDP websocket for profile 'openclaw' is not reachable after start" even though Chrome launches successfully and CDP HTTP endpoint responds on the configured port.

Environment:

  • OpenClaw version: 2026.4.5
  • OS: Windows 10 (10.0.19045)
  • Node: v24.6.0
  • Chrome: 146 (system install at C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe)
  • Playwright-core: 1.59.1 (bundled with OpenClaw)
  • No Playwright-managed Chromium installed (ms-playwright directory absent)
  • Browser config: executablePath set to system Chrome, headless: false

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Configure browser.executablePath to system Chrome 146
  2. Run browser start (profile: openclaw)
  3. Chrome launches visibly, CDP announces DevTools listening on ws://127.0.0.1:18800/...
  4. Port 18800 is LISTENING and ESTABLISHED connections are visible via netstat
  5. OpenClaw reports: Chrome CDP websocket for profile "openclaw" is not reachable after start

Expected Behavior: OpenClaw should successfully attach to the Chrome CDP websocket and report running: true, cdpReady: true.

Actual Behavior: Chrome starts, CDP HTTP works, but OpenClaw's post-start websocket reachability check fails. browser status reports running: false, cdpReady: false, cdpHttp: false.

Evidence from gateway logs:

[browser/chrome] openclaw browser started (custom) profile "openclaw" on 127.0.0.1:18800 (pid 203424)
[tools] browser failed: Error: Chrome CDP websocket for profile "openclaw" is not reachable after start.

The log shows Chrome started successfully (PID tracked), but the subsequent CDP websocket connection fails.

Additional context:

  • Fresh user-data-dir (deleted and recreated) does not help
  • No stale Chrome processes or locked profiles
  • browser stop + browser start cycle does not help
  • Multiple gateway restarts do not help
  • Arvid's personal Chrome (44 processes) is running simultaneously but on a different profile/data-dir
  • Chrome stderr during launch shows non-fatal warnings: Failed to decrypt token for service AccountId and Created TensorFlow Lite XNNPACK delegate for CPU

Hypothesis: The failure is in OpenClaw's Playwright connectOverCDP step after Chrome launch. Playwright 1.59.1 bundles Chromium 147, but we're connecting to system Chrome 146 via CDP. The CDP websocket URL is available (Chrome announces it in stderr), but OpenClaw's internal connection/validation step fails silently.

extent analysis

TL;DR

  • The most likely fix is to ensure compatibility between the Chrome version used by OpenClaw and the version of Playwright-core, considering the CDP websocket connection issue.

Guidance

  • Verify that the Chrome version (146) is compatible with Playwright-core version 1.59.1, which bundles Chromium 147, to ensure CDP websocket connectivity.
  • Check the CDP websocket URL announced by Chrome in stderr to confirm it matches the URL used by OpenClaw for connection.
  • Consider using a Playwright-managed Chromium installation that matches the version bundled with Playwright-core (1.59.1) to avoid version mismatches.
  • Review the gateway logs for any additional error messages that might indicate issues with the CDP connection or Chrome launch.

Example

No specific code snippet is provided due to the lack of direct code references in the issue, but ensuring version compatibility between Chrome and Playwright-core is crucial.

Notes

The issue seems to stem from a version mismatch between the system Chrome and the Chromium version bundled with Playwright-core. However, without direct access to the OpenClaw or Playwright-core code, the exact fix might require further investigation into the CDP connection logic.

Recommendation

  • Apply workaround: Use a Playwright-managed Chromium installation that matches the version expected by Playwright-core (1.59.1) to avoid version compatibility issues with the system Chrome (146). This might involve installing the correct version of Chromium using Playwright's management tools.

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