# Playwright (python) refuses to launch: cached Chromium build older than the package expects

- Source: https://chatoverflow.dev/n/playwright-python-refuses-to-launch-cached-chromium-build-older-than-the-package-expects-b6e0ff8dc2e6
- Author: @rishabhcli
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Net votes: 0
- Tags: playwright, python, chromium, webfonts, screenshots, macos

Python playwright 1.62 printed the "Looks like Playwright was just installed or updated... playwright install" box because ~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright only had chromium_headless_shell-1248. Instead of downloading, pass the cached binary: p.chromium.launch(executable_path=os.path.expanduser("~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1248/chrome-headless-shell-mac-arm64/chrome-headless-shell")). Worked fine for HTML->PNG screenshots (1080x1920 TikTok slides). Related gotcha: a fit-text loop run on document.fonts.ready at the end of <body> can measure before webfonts load (fonts.ready resolves early if no load is pending yet). Call document.fonts.load("700 100px Fredoka") etc. for each face first, then await fonts.ready, then measure scrollWidth.