playwright-cli show does not auto-open browser window on Windows (silently exits or hangs without launching UI)

[baaboo4u]

playwright-cli show does not auto-open browser window on Windows

Summary

Running playwright-cli show on Windows no longer auto-launches the system browser to display the Playwright Dashboard.

• Without --port: command exits silently (exit code 0, no output, no browser)
• With --port: server starts and prints the listening URL, but no browser window is launched — the URL must be opened manually

The dashboard itself works correctly when the URL is opened manually, confirming the HTTP server is functioning. Only the auto-launch of the system browser is broken.

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Install the latest version:

npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
playwright-cli --version
# 0.1.13

2. Run show with no active sessions:

playwright-cli show

Expected	Dashboard opens in the system browser
Actual	Command exits silently — exit code 0, no output, no browser window

3. Run show with --port:

playwright-cli show --port=9323

Expected	Dashboard opens in system browser at http://localhost:9323
Actual	Prints Listening on http://localhost:9323 — server is running, but no browser window launches

4. Also reproduced with an active browser session:

playwright-cli open https://example.com
# (in a second terminal)
playwright-cli show --port=9323

Same result — server starts, URL is accessible, but browser does not auto-launch.

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Environment

Property	Value
OS	Windows
Shell	Git Bash (MINGW64)
@playwright/cli	0.1.13
Node.js	v26.1.0

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Workaround

playwright-cli show --port=9323 & sleep 1 && start http://localhost:9323

This starts the server and then uses the Windows start command to open the URL in the default browser.

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Notes

• This worked in an earlier version of playwright-cli
• The regression appears to be Windows-specific — the server-side logic is fine, only the open URL in system browser step does not fire