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World desk5 min

Puppeteer Browser Uninstall Options Explained: Clear the Cache Safely

Use Puppeteer’s browser CLI to inspect or clear downloaded browsers, or trim non-current binaries carefully. Learn what these commands do—and what they do not uninstall.
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To remove Puppeteer-managed browser downloads, inspect the cache with npx @puppeteer/browsers list, then run npx @puppeteer/browsers clear to clear the browsers managed in that cache. This does not uninstall Puppeteer itself or remove a separately installed Chrome or Chromium. If you only want to prevent future downloads, change Puppeteer’s download settings instead.

First identify what you want to uninstall

Puppeteer’s package and the browser binaries it downloads are separate. The browser CLI commands manage downloaded browsers in a cache; removing the project dependency is a package-manager task, and removing system Chrome or Chromium is an operating-system task.

  • Downloaded Puppeteer browsers: inspect or clear the Puppeteer browser cache.
  • Puppeteer dependency: remove the dependency using the package manager and project manifest you use.
  • System Chrome or Chromium: use the operating system’s application uninstall flow or package manager. The Puppeteer cache command does not remove it.

Find and inspect the browser cache

Puppeteer’s default cache location is ~/.cache/puppeteer starting with Puppeteer v19.0.0. Configuration or the PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR environment variable can change it. Use the same cache context and configuration that your installation uses when inspecting or clearing browsers; otherwise, you may examine a different cache. See the Puppeteer configuration guide and next-version configuration guide.

  1. Check the cache location: review your Puppeteer configuration and whether PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR is set.
  2. List installed browsers: run npx @puppeteer/browsers list. The official browser CLI documentation describes the command for listing installed browsers in the CLI’s cache.
  3. Confirm the target: make sure the listed cache is the one you intend to modify, especially if multiple projects or Puppeteer versions share a machine.

Choose the right cleanup option

Goal Option Scope and caution
See what is installed npx @puppeteer/browsers list Lists installed browsers in the CLI’s cache.
Clear all browsers in that cache npx @puppeteer/browsers clear Clears installed browsers managed in that cache; it does not uninstall Puppeteer or system browsers.
Remove older, non-current browser binaries PuppeteerNode.trimCache() Removes non-current Chrome and Firefox binaries in the configured cache. It does not check whether another Puppeteer version sharing the cache needs them.
Stop future automatic browser downloads skipDownload or PUPPETEER_SKIP_DOWNLOAD Changes download behavior during installation; after changing download settings, rerun the browser-install command.
Remove Puppeteer from a project Your project package manager Dependency removal is separate from browser-cache cleanup.
Remove a system Chrome or Chromium installation Your operating system’s uninstall flow or package manager System-installed browsers are outside the Puppeteer-managed cache.

Clear all Puppeteer-managed browser downloads

After checking the cache path and its contents, run:

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npx @puppeteer/browsers clear

This is the documented broad cleanup command for browsers managed in the CLI’s cache. Consult the official CLI reference if you need release-specific details.

Remove only non-current browser binaries

If you want selective cleanup rather than clearing every managed browser, PuppeteerNode provides trimCache(). It removes non-current Chrome and Firefox binaries from the configured cache. The API does not check whether a different Puppeteer version that shares the cache still needs one of those binaries, so avoid trimming a shared cache until you have checked the projects that use it.

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See the PuppeteerNode.trimCache() reference for the API’s release-specific usage.

Prevent Puppeteer from downloading browsers again

Set the skipDownload configuration option or the PUPPETEER_SKIP_DOWNLOAD environment variable to control browser downloads during installation. Changing the setting does not itself remove browsers already in the cache. Puppeteer’s configuration guide says to rerun the browser-install command after changing download options for the change to take effect; follow the install instructions for your installed release.

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The default installation downloads Chrome for Testing and chrome-headless-shell. Puppeteer’s installation guide, documentation version 25.12.0, gives approximate download sizes of ~170MB for macOS, ~282MB for Linux, and ~280MB for Windows. These are download estimates, not measurements of disk space used after installation. See the installation guide.

Remove Puppeteer or a system browser instead

Uninstall the Puppeteer dependency

Use the package manager for the project to remove its Puppeteer dependency, and update the project’s manifest and lockfile as appropriate. This does not, by itself, mean the browser cache has been cleared; browser binaries are managed separately. The browser CLI documentation covers cache commands, not package-manager uninstall steps.

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Uninstall system Chrome or Chromium

If the browser was installed independently of Puppeteer, remove it through the operating system’s application uninstall flow or package manager. Do not use npx @puppeteer/browsers clear for this: that command concerns browsers in the Puppeteer-managed cache.

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Troubleshoot common cleanup problems

  • The list is empty, but disk space is still being used: verify the cache path and PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR. You may be looking at a different cache, or the space may belong to a system browser or another application.
  • Another project stops finding its browser after trimming: a shared cache may contain binaries needed by another Puppeteer version. trimCache() does not check those other installations’ needs; restore or reinstall the required browser using that project’s Puppeteer installation instructions.
  • Browsers download again after cleanup: a later installation may download them again under the active configuration. Set skipDownload or PUPPETEER_SKIP_DOWNLOAD if you need to prevent automatic downloads, then rerun the browser-install command as directed by the configuration guide.
  • The clear command does not remove Chrome from the applications menu: that is likely a separate system installation. Use your operating system’s uninstall process.
  • The commands or API do not match your installed version: Puppeteer documentation pages can refer to different releases. The CLI documentation and installation/configuration guides cited here include version-specific material; check the documentation for your installed Puppeteer and @puppeteer/browsers releases before relying on version-specific API details.

Or skip the browser setup

If your goal is simply to get website screenshots rather than manage a local Puppeteer browser, ScreenshotNeo offers a screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request can return a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. Its clean-shot steps accept cookie/consent banners and remove 60+ known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and responses identify the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for AI agents and MCP clients.

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Example cURL request, using the API key and URL you want to capture:

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