Playwright failing inside Cursor AI sandbox on Mac w/Tahoe 26.2 - worked with Sequoia

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I’ve just upgraded my laptop, from an M1 Mac on Sequoia (sorry, don’t know exactly which version) to an M4 with the latest Tahoe 26.2.

On the old setup I was able to have the AI run Playwright (via a Yarn script), interpret the logged output and then iterate autonomously to build tests and fix bugs. Note that this did not require the MCP, it worked fine purely from the output logs.

On the new laptop, Playwright always launches, attempts to begin the first step of the test but then immediately dies. I can run it manually from a terminal inside Cursor successfully with exactly the same command.

New laptop has latest Cursor, old laptop may have been a week or two out of date but pretty recent as well.

Is there any obvious change that could have caused this? It makes a big difference to my velocity working with e2e tests…

cd /Users/tomgodber/code/editor && yarn e2e:ai tabs/tabs.spec.ts 2>&1 | tail -50

(node:12654) Warning: The 'NO_COLOR' env is ignored due to the 'FORCE_COLOR' env being set.
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)


(node:12654) Warning: The 'NO_COLOR' env is ignored due to the 'FORCE_COLOR' env being set.
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)


[[email protected]] injecting env (0) from .env.e2e -- tip: ⚙️  suppress all logs with { quiet: true }

[2/3] [teardown] › src/tests/global.teardown.ts:7:9 › delete all projects
  2) [teardown] › src/tests/global.teardown.ts:7:9 › delete all projects ───────────────────────────

    Error: browserType.launch: Target page, context or browser has been closed
    Browser logs:

    <launching> /Users/tomgodber/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1169/chrome-mac/headless_shell --disable-field-trial-config --disable-background-networking --disable-background-timer-throttling --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows --disable-back-forward-cache --disable-breakpad --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages --disable-component-update --no-default-browser-check --disable-default-apps --disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-extensions --disable-features=AcceptCHFrame,AutoExpandDetailsElement,AvoidUnnecessaryBeforeUnloadCheckSync,CertificateTransparencyComponentUpdater,DeferRendererTasksAfterInput,DestroyProfileOnBrowserClose,DialMediaRouteProvider,ExtensionManifestV2Disabled,GlobalMediaControls,HttpsUpgrades,ImprovedCookieControls,LazyFrameLoading,LensOverlay,MediaRouter,PaintHolding,ThirdPartyStoragePartitioning,Translate --allow-pre-commit-input --disable-hang-monitor --disable-ipc-flooding-protection --disable-popup-blocking --disable-prompt-on-repost --disable-renderer-backgrounding --force-color-profile=srgb --metrics-recording-only --no-first-run --enable-automation --password-store=basic --use-mock-keychain --no-service-autorun --export-tagged-pdf --disable-search-engine-choice-screen --unsafely-disable-devtools-self-xss-warnings --enable-use-zoom-for-dsf=false --use-angle --headless --hide-scrollbars --mute-audio --blink-settings=primaryHoverType=2,availableHoverTypes=2,primaryPointerType=4,availablePointerTypes=4 --no-sandbox --user-data-dir=/var/folders/zj/77k5whyd78379snzhg7l600c0000gn/T/playwright_chromiumdev_profile-vrJHFh --remote-debugging-pipe --no-startup-window
    <launched> pid=12666
    Call log:
      - <launching> /Users/tomgodber/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1169/chrome-mac/headless_shell --disable-field-trial-config --disable-background-networking --disable-background-timer-throttling --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows --disable-back-forward-cache --disable-breakpad --disable-client-side-phishing-detection --disable-component-extensions-with-background-pages --disable-component-update --no-default-browser-check --disable-default-apps --disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-extensions --disable-features=AcceptCHFrame,AutoExpandDetailsElement,AvoidUnnecessaryBeforeUnloadCheckSync,CertificateTransparencyComponentUpdater,DeferRendererTasksAfterInput,DestroyProfileOnBrowserClose,DialMediaRouteProvider,ExtensionManifestV2Disabled,GlobalMediaControls,HttpsUpgrades,ImprovedCookieControls,LazyFrameLoading,LensOverlay,MediaRouter,PaintHolding,ThirdPartyStoragePartitioning,Translate --allow-pre-commit-input --disable-hang-monitor --disable-ipc-flooding-protection --disable-popup-blocking --disable-prompt-on-repost --disable-renderer-backgrounding --force-color-profile=srgb --metrics-recording-only --no-first-run --enable-automation --password-store=basic --use-mock-keychain --no-service-autorun --export-tagged-pdf --disable-search-engine-choice-screen --unsafely-disable-devtools-self-xss-warnings --enable-use-zoom-for-dsf=false --use-angle --headless --hide-scrollbars --mute-audio --blink-settings=primaryHoverType=2,availableHoverTypes=2,primaryPointerType=4,availablePointerTypes=4 --no-sandbox --user-data-dir=/var/folders/zj/77k5whyd78379snzhg7l600c0000gn/T/playwright_chromiumdev_profile-vrJHFh --remote-debugging-pipe --no-startup-window
      - <launched> pid=12666


    Error Context: test-results/global.teardown.ts-delete-all-projects-teardown/error-context.md

    attachment #2: trace (application/zip) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    test-results/global.teardown.ts-delete-all-projects-teardown/trace.zip
    Usage:

        yarn playwright show-trace test-results/global.teardown.ts-delete-all-projects-teardown/trace.zip

    ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


  2 failed
    [teardown] › src/tests/global.teardown.ts:7:9 › delete all projects ────────────────────────────
    [setup] › src/tests/auth.setup.ts:8:6 › authenticate as test user ──────────────────────────────
  1 did not run

To open last HTML report run:

  yarn playwright show-report

error Command failed with exit code 1.
info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/run for documentation about this command.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Create a simple Playwright test using the latest version of Playwright (1.58.0)
  2. Add a yarn (1) script to run it, eg. "scripts": { "e2e": "playwright test" }
  3. Run it from a terminal inside Cursor to prove it completes successfully
  4. Ask the AI to run it using the same command

Expected Behavior

The test should run correctly, showing the appropriate log output

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.4.21
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: dc8361355d709f306d5159635a677a571b277bc0
Date: 2026-01-22T16:57:59.675Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.2.7
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Hey, thanks for the report. Looks like this is a macOS permissions issue after upgrading to Tahoe 26.2. This version is known for resetting app permissions, especially on new Macs.

Playwright needs Local Network access to launch Chromium with remote debugging. If Cursor doesn’t have that permission, the browser will start and then crash right away.

Please check permissions:

System Settings > Privacy & Security:

  • Local Network: Cursor should be listed. If it’s not there, add it manually with the + button or reinstall Cursor.

Important: On Tahoe 26.x, Cursor might not show up as a separate item in these lists, and its permissions may be controlled by the parent app instead.

If the permissions are already there, try this:

  • Cursor Settings > Agents: enable Use legacy terminal for agent
  • Reset permissions: remove Cursor from all lists in Privacy & Security, restart Cursor, and macOS should ask for permissions again

If that still doesn’t help, please share a screenshot of System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network and we’ll take a look.

1 Like
4

Thank you!!

This worked for me.

Btw for anyone who doesn’t initially have cursor listed under local network and is missing the ability to add apps to it.

I ended up doing this:

rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.todesktop.230313mzl4w4u92.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/com.todesktop.230313mzl4w4u92.savedState

  • restart computer. some combo of this worked and after restart, cursor appeared under local network with the toggle.