pbvm

pbvm (Puppeteer Browser Version Manager) is a browser version management tool based on @puppeteer/browsers. It helps you install, manage, and run multiple versions of Chrome, Chromium, and Firefox across different projects.

Quick start

Installation

npm install -g pbvm-cli

Requirements: Node.js >= 22, pnpm >= 9.

Install your first browser

pbvm create -b chrome -i 134.0.6998.35 -a my-chrome

This downloads Chrome 134.0.6998.35 to the global cache directory and records it in the current directory's browserlist.json.

Open a browser

pbvm open -t my-chrome
pbvm open -t chrome@134.0.6998.35 -u https://example.com

See all commands

pbvm -h

How it works

┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  pbvm CLI   │────▶│  Global Store     │────▶│ browserlist.json │
│  Commands   │     │  (browser binaries)│     │ (project manifest)│
└─────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

• Global Store: browser binaries are cached in standard system data directories and can be shared across multiple projects
• browserlist.json: a manifest file in each project root that records which browsers and aliases the project uses
• Profile: each browser instance has its own user data directory (cookies, preferences, history, etc.), independent of the binaries

Design constraints

To ensure stability, pbvm is designed for development environment use only:

• Auto-update disabled: Firefox uses both policies.json and user.js to block updates; Chromium/Chrome disables updates and first-run wizards via launch flags
• Default browser check disabled: avoids popups that interfere with automation
• No launch path lock-in: you can open a browser from any directory by alias or browser@buildId — no binding to a project directory

Supported browsers

Browser	buildId format	Example
chrome	x.x.x.x (4-part version)	134.0.6998.35
chromium	Numeric revision number	1435764
firefox	channel_version	stable_136.0.0

Documentation site architecture

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