First identify which stage failed: WeasyPrint fetches HTML resources such as CSS and images, while Playwright navigates a browser before printing the page. A timeout, missing image, HTTP error, and JavaScript exception have different fixes; increasing a timeout without identifying the failure can leave the PDF incomplete.
Identify the renderer and the failing stage
For static HTML and CSS, WeasyPrint can render a URL or markup and fetch linked resources. It does not provide the browser execution path needed by JavaScript-driven pages. Playwright controls a browser, so navigation, page scripts, later data loading, and PDF printing are separate stages.
- WeasyPrint: look for warnings naming a failed resource URL, such as a stylesheet, font, or image.
- Playwright: distinguish a failed or timed-out navigation from an HTTP error response, a failed subresource, or a page-script exception.
Record the library and installed version, input type (URL, file, or string), full warning or exception, and failing URL before changing configuration. Defaults and CLI options can vary by installed version; verify them against the documentation for that version.
Fix WeasyPrint URL fetching and resource errors
Make relative URLs resolvable
When HTML is supplied as a string, pass a useful base_url so relative links to stylesheets, images, and fonts have a location from which to resolve. A URL or filename input may provide that context, but confirm the actual URLs in the warning output. The default fetcher supports file and HTTP URLs; its documented HTTP client does not provide advanced cookie or authentication handling. A custom URL fetcher can add request behavior or handle selected schemes. See WeasyPrint API reference.
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Understand the timeout
WeasyPrint’s current First Steps documentation states a default timeout of 10 seconds for HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP resources. This is a timeout for fetching those resources, not a maximum duration for all rendering work; it does not apply to other protocols such as file://. If a resource is expected to be slow, configure the fetch behavior rather than assuming that this setting controls every stage. See WeasyPrint First Steps.
Decide whether a failed asset is fatal
By default, fetcher errors are caught and emitted as warnings, so output may still be produced with missing assets. That can be appropriate for optional decoration but not for a required stylesheet or image. A custom fetcher can raise FatalURLFetchingError for a required resource to stop rendering instead of silently generating an incomplete PDF.
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Debug in this order: capture the warning and URL; verify reachability from the conversion environment; check redirects, credentials, TLS and network policy; confirm the base URL; then adjust timeout or custom request behavior. The CLI provides --timeout, --allowed-protocols, --no-http-redirects, and --fail-on-http-errors. Check the installed version’s CLI documentation for exact availability and semantics: WeasyPrint command line.
Fix Playwright navigation and readiness errors
Inspect the navigation response and wait condition
page.goto() waits for the load event by default. Its documented wait conditions are commit, domcontentloaded, load, and networkidle. The Python API documents a 30-second default navigation timeout, configurable at the page or browser-context level. A larger timeout can help only when the expected operation is genuinely slow; choose a wait condition that corresponds to the content the PDF needs. See Playwright Python page.goto API.
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A 404 or 500 response does not by itself make page.goto() throw. Inspect the returned response and its status. An invalid URL, navigation timeout, unreachable or nonresponsive server, or failed main resource is a different class of problem from a later script exception or failed image request.
Wait for the content, not just the load event
A page can keep fetching data or filling in its interface after load. Playwright labels networkidle discouraged for readiness checks; its API describes it as no network connections for at least 500 ms. Instead, wait for an application-specific signal or the element that must appear in the PDF, inspect the resulting content, and then call page.pdf(). See Playwright navigation guide.
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Separate errors in logs
Attach listeners for failed requests and uncaught page errors. Playwright’s Python API exposes the weberror event for unhandled page exceptions; its TimeoutError identifies an operation terminated by a timeout. Keep these separate in logs so a page navigation delay is not misdiagnosed as a JavaScript error or a failed secondary resource. See Playwright Python Page API and Playwright TimeoutError API.
Use a diagnostic sequence before retrying
- Record the renderer, installed version, input form, full exception or warning, and any named resource URL.
- Classify the failure as main-document navigation, resource fetch, HTTP response status, or page-script error.
- Verify scheme, base URL, reachability from the worker, authentication, redirects, and response status.
- For WeasyPrint, inspect or customize the URL fetcher and decide which missing assets should stop conversion. For Playwright, inspect the navigation response plus request and page error events.
- Wait for the specific content the PDF needs; do not treat a longer timeout or
networkidleas a universal fix. - Inspect the generated PDF for missing styles, images, fonts, or stale content. A completed API call does not prove the intended page was rendered.
- Retry only plausible transient network failures, with a bounded retry policy. Do not repeatedly retry invalid URLs, deterministic HTTP errors, or script exceptions without changing their cause.
Common symptoms and fixes
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check or change |
|---|---|---|
| WeasyPrint warning names a stylesheet, font, or image | A secondary resource could not be fetched, even if the main HTML loaded | Check the named URL, base URL, reachability, redirects, authentication, TLS, and resource-specific timeout. |
| WeasyPrint creates a PDF but styling or images are missing | A fetch error was logged as a warning and rendering continued | Review warnings; make required-resource failures fatal with a suitable custom fetcher. |
Playwright times out in page.goto() |
The main navigation did not reach the selected wait condition in time | Inspect server reachability and pending navigation work; select the appropriate wait condition and adjust timeout only when the expected operation needs it. |
| Playwright returns a response but the page shows an error | The server returned an HTTP status such as 404 or 500 | Inspect the returned response status; handle the server error rather than expecting navigation to throw. |
| PDF is missing content populated by JavaScript | The page was printed before the application finished rendering that content | Wait for the relevant element or application-ready signal and verify its content before printing. |
| Navigation succeeds but an image or script is absent | A subresource failed independently | Log failed requests and inspect the particular resource, rather than treating this as a main-navigation failure. |
Choose the right renderer and protect the conversion service
| Need | WeasyPrint | Playwright |
|---|---|---|
| Static HTML and CSS with linked resources | Fits resource fetching and rendering; provide a base URL when needed. | Can render in a browser, but browser execution may be unnecessary for static content. |
| JavaScript-generated page content | Not the browser-execution path described by its URL/resource rendering model. | Use browser navigation and wait for an application-specific readiness signal. |
| Failure policy | Fetcher errors are warnings by default; a custom fetcher can make selected required-resource errors fatal. | Inspect navigation response, request failures, and uncaught page errors separately. |
| Network and readiness controls | Configure resource-fetch timeout and URL policy. | Choose navigation wait conditions and content-specific readiness checks. |
If your service renders user-supplied HTML or CSS, treat both as untrusted input. WeasyPrint warns that such content can create security problems. Sanitize or truncate user-controlled content, limit rendering time and memory, restrict external URL access, and enforce process and network controls rather than trusting document URLs. See WeasyPrint security guidance.
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