Worker Timeouts and Playwright Browser Executable Missing in Docker Container
admsehrglobal
PROOP

7 months ago

My Dockerized Python app (using Gunicorn and Playwright) is repeatedly experiencing the following issues:

  1. Gunicorn Worker Timeouts:

    • Workers are timing out and being SIGKILL'ed (likely due to out-of-memory or long tasks).

    • Example logs:

      less

      CopyEdit

      [CRITICAL] WORKER TIMEOUT (pid: X) [ERROR] Worker (pid: X) was sent SIGKILL! Perhaps out of memory?

  2. Playwright Failing to Launch Chromium:

    • Error during scraping: BrowserType.launch: Executable doesn't exist at /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell...

    • The error suggests that Playwright was just installed but the required browser wasn't downloaded.

    • Logs prompt to run playwright install, even though the Dockerfile runs:

      css

      CopyEdit

      RUN /code/.venv/bin/python -m playwright install --with-deps chromium

Docker Environment:

  • Base image: python:3.12-slim-bookworm

  • Playwright installed inside a Poetry-managed virtualenv.

  • Browser install attempted via:
    /code/.venv/bin/python -m playwright install --with-deps chromium

Request:

  • Clarify why the Playwright Chromium binary is not found despite explicit installation in the Dockerfile.

  • Clarify how should I properly install Playwright

  • Advise on preventing Gunicorn worker timeouts or confirm if OOM errors are the cause.

  • I have attached the dockerfile content

    this is the error I see in the railways logs

    [2025-07-27 02:17:09 +0000] [1] [INFO] Starting gunicorn 23.0.0 [2025-07-27 02:17:09 +0000] [1] [INFO] Listening at: http://0.0.0.0:8080 (1) [2025-07-27 02:17:09 +0000] [1] [INFO] Using worker: sync [2025-07-27 02:17:09 +0000] [5] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 5 [2025-07-28 04:40:05 +0000] [1] [CRITICAL] WORKER TIMEOUT (pid:5) [2025-07-28 04:40:16 +0000] [1] [ERROR] Worker (pid:5) was sent SIGKILL! Perhaps out of memory? [2025-07-28 04:40:16 +0000] [6] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 6 [2025-07-30 09:45:45 +0000] [1] [CRITICAL] WORKER TIMEOUT (pid:6) [2025-07-30 09:45:51 +0000] [1] [ERROR] Worker (pid:6) was sent SIGKILL! Perhaps out of memory? [2025-07-30 09:45:55 +0000] [7] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 7 [2025-07-30 18:43:26 +0000] [1] [CRITICAL] WORKER TIMEOUT (pid:7) [2025-07-30 18:43:26 +0000] [7] [INFO] Worker exiting (pid: 7) [2025-07-30 18:43:27 +0000] [1] [ERROR] Worker (pid:7) exited with code 1 [2025-07-30 18:43:27 +0000] [1] [ERROR] Worker (pid:7) exited with code 1. [2025-07-30 18:43:27 +0000] [8] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 8 Error scraping Amazon product https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-Strix-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B0DZZWMB2L/ref=sr_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-2: BrowserType.launch: Executable doesn't exist at /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1169/chrome-linux/headless_shell ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Looks like Playwright was just installed or updated. ║ ║ Please run the following command to download new browsers: ║ ║ ║ ║ playwright install ║ ║ ║ ║ <3 Playwright Team ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Error scraping Amazon product https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-Strix-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B0DZZWMB2L/ref=sr_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-2: BrowserType.launch: Executable doesn't exist at /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1169/chrome-linux/headless_shell ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Looks like Playwright was just installed or updated. ║ ║ Please run the following command to download new browsers: ║ ║ ║ ║ playwright install ║ ║ ║ ║ <3 Playwright Team ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

    Thank you very much!

Attachments

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3 Replies

Railway
BOT

7 months ago

Hey there! We've found the following might help you get unblocked faster:

If you find the answer from one of these, please let us know by solving the thread!

admsehrglobal
PROOP

7 months ago

thanks for the reply, do you know how should I install or modify the dockercompose file?thanks

+11

admsehrglobal

thanks for the reply, do you know how should I install or modify the dockercompose file?thanks

smolpaw
HOBBY

7 months ago

Can you try this Dockerfile ?
Also do check the memory limit in your service settings and temporarily set it to something generous

FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm

ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
    POETRY_VIRTUALENVS_IN_PROJECT=true \
    POETRY_VIRTUALENVS_CREATE=true \
    ENV_STATE=production \
    PYTHONFAULTHANDLER=1 \
    # Playwright environment variables
    PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/ms-playwright \
    PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD=0 \
    # Memory optimization environment variables
    MALLOC_ARENA_MAX=2 \
    MALLOC_MMAP_THRESHOLD_=131072 \
    MALLOC_TRIM_THRESHOLD_=131072 \
    MALLOC_TOP_PAD_=131072 \
    MALLOC_MMAP_MAX_=65536 \
    # Python memory optimization
    PYTHONMALLOC=malloc

WORKDIR /code

# Install system dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    dos2unix \
    curl \
    # Python compilation dependencies
    libpq-dev \
    gcc \
    python3-dev \
    libmagic1 \
    # Playwright browser dependencies
    libnss3 \
    libnspr4 \
    libatk1.0-0 \
    libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
    libcups2 \
    libdrm2 \
    libxkbcommon0 \
    libxcomposite1 \
    libxdamage1 \
    libxfixes3 \
    libxrandr2 \
    libgbm1 \
    libasound2 \
    libatspi2.0-0 \
    libxshmfence1 \
    # Font and display dependencies
    fonts-liberation \
    fonts-noto-color-emoji \
    libcurl4 \
    libgtk-3-0 \
    libpango-1.0-0 \
    libcairo2 \
    libdbus-1-3 \
    xvfb \
    # OpenGL dependencies
    libgl1-mesa-glx \
    libegl1 \
    libgles2 \
    # X11 dependencies
    libx11-xcb1 \
    libxcursor1 \
    libxi6 \
    libxtst6 \
    # Clean up apt cache to reduce image size
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
    && apt-get clean

# Install Poetry
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir poetry==1.7.1

# Copy dependency files
COPY pyproject.toml poetry.lock ./

# Install project dependencies
RUN poetry install --no-interaction --no-ansi $(test "$ENV_STATE" == production && echo "--no-dev") \
    && poetry cache clear pypi --all

# Create Playwright browsers directory with proper permissions
RUN mkdir -p /ms-playwright \
    && chmod 755 /ms-playwright

# Install Playwright and browsers using the virtual environment
RUN /code/.venv/bin/python -m playwright install --with-deps chromium \
    && /code/.venv/bin/python -m playwright install-deps chromium

# Verify Playwright installation and list installed browsers
RUN echo "Verifying Playwright installation..." \
    && ls -la /ms-playwright/ \
    && /code/.venv/bin/python -c "from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright; print('Playwright installed successfully')"

# Set proper ownership and permissions for the Playwright cache
RUN chown -R root:root /ms-playwright \
    && find /ms-playwright -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \; \
    && find /ms-playwright -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

# Copy application code
COPY . .

# Fix line endings and set proper permissions
RUN dos2unix /code/start-django.sh \
    && chmod +x /code/start-django.sh \
    && mkdir -p /code/media /code/staticfiles \
    && chmod -R 755 /code/media /code/staticfiles

# Expose the application port
EXPOSE 8000

# Set the entrypoint
ENTRYPOINT ["bash", "/code/start-django.sh"]
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