---
key: testing.playwright-mcp-download-and-recovery
title: '2026-07-21 — Playwright-MCP: curl download endpoints, never open a tab or `window.open` (#542)'
status: active
since: '2026-07-21'
supersedes: none
superseded-by: none
rule: In Playwright-MCP E2E, fetch file-download endpoints with curl — never a browser tab or `window.open` — and if browser tools stall repeatedly, `pkill -f ms-playwright-mcp` and drive a fresh session.
signals: 'Playwright MCP · file download endpoint · window.open · browser tab stall · `ms-playwright-mcp` · paths: n/a · issues: #542'
mechanics: '`pkill -f ms-playwright-mcp` then re-drive from a fresh MCP session.'
---

Download endpoints hand the browser a file rather than a page; the tab has nothing to snapshot and the
tool waits on navigation that never completes. curl gives you the bytes and the status code directly.

Repeated stalls are a wedged MCP browser process, not a slow app — kill it and restart rather than
retrying the same call.