# Can I delete Playwright’s chromium_headless_shell folders?

- URL: https://moreroom.app/folders/playwright-chromium-headless-shell
- Item: Playwright headless shell (old versions)
- Location: `~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright` (items inside)
- Verdict: Safe to remove — Rebuilt or re-downloaded automatically when needed.
- Comes back on its own: yes
- Typical size: 100–500 MB per version
- Source: MoreRoom rules catalogue (2026-10-17), by Yando Pte. Ltd.

## What is it?

Recent Playwright versions download a separate, lighter Chromium build used for headless test runs, stored as `chromium_headless_shell-<build>` folders in `~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright`. A new folder appears as Playwright is upgraded, and old ones can linger. Each is typically a few hundred MB.

## What happens if you delete it?

Playwright downloads the headless shell again when a project that needs it runs `npx playwright install`. The newest version is kept, so current projects are not affected.

## How to remove it properly

Run `npx playwright uninstall` in a project to remove browsers that no Playwright installation still uses. Otherwise move the older `chromium_headless_shell-*` folders to the Trash in Finder (Go › Go to Folder… `~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright`).