playwright on ubuntu 25.10

tl;dr

Problem:	playwright browser dependencies incompatible with ubuntu 25.10
Key changes:	`libicu74` → `libicu76`, many packages now have `t64` suffix
Solution:	updated package list with 50 correctly-versioned dependencies
Install command:	`apt-get install` with full package list (see below)
Testing:	validated in docker container with all three browsers

overview

ubuntu 25.10 introduced significant package naming changes that break playwright’s browser installation. this guide provides the complete, tested solution for running playwright with chromium, firefox, and webkit browsers.

quick solution

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
    curl \
    ca-certificates \
    libicu76 \
    libxml2-16 \
    libevent-2.1-7t64 \
    libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 \
    libflite1 \
    libavif16 \
    libmanette-0.2-0 \
    gstreamer1.0-libav \
    libglib2.0-0t64 \
    libnspr4 \
    libnss3 \
    libdbus-1-3 \
    libatk1.0-0t64 \
    libatk-bridge2.0-0t64 \
    libcups2t64 \
    libexpat1 \
    libxcb1 \
    libxkbcommon0 \
    libatspi2.0-0t64 \
    libx11-6 \
    libxcomposite1 \
    libxdamage1 \
    libxext6 \
    libxfixes3 \
    libxrandr2 \
    libgbm1 \
    libcairo2 \
    libpango-1.0-0 \
    libasound2t64 \
    libdrm2 \
    libxshmfence1 \
    libgtk-3-0t64 \
    libgtk-4-1 \
    libxslt1.1 \
    libwoff1 \
    libwebpdemux2 \
    libharfbuzz-icu0 \
    libenchant-2-2 \
    libsecret-1-0 \
    libhyphen0 \
    libwayland-server0 \
    libgles2

package changes in ubuntu 25.10

version bumps

libicu74 → libicu76 - unicode support library
libxml2 → libxml2-16 - xml parsing library

time64 transition

ubuntu 25.10 adopted the t64 suffix for 64-bit time transition:

libglib2.0-0 → libglib2.0-0t64
libatk1.0-0 → libatk1.0-0t64
libatk-bridge2.0-0 → libatk-bridge2.0-0t64
libcups2 → libcups2t64
libatspi2.0-0 → libatspi2.0-0t64
libasound2 → libasound2t64
libgtk-3-0 → libgtk-3-0t64

installation with uv

# install uv if not present
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# install system dependencies (use command above)
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y [packages...]

# install playwright browsers
uv run --with playwright playwright install

docker setup

complete dockerfile

FROM ubuntu:25.10

# update package list
RUN apt-get update

# install all playwright dependencies
RUN apt-get install -y \
    curl \
    ca-certificates \
    libicu76 \
    libxml2-16 \
    libevent-2.1-7t64 \
    libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 \
    libflite1 \
    libavif16 \
    libmanette-0.2-0 \
    gstreamer1.0-libav \
    libglib2.0-0t64 \
    libnspr4 \
    libnss3 \
    libdbus-1-3 \
    libatk1.0-0t64 \
    libatk-bridge2.0-0t64 \
    libcups2t64 \
    libexpat1 \
    libxcb1 \
    libxkbcommon0 \
    libatspi2.0-0t64 \
    libx11-6 \
    libxcomposite1 \
    libxdamage1 \
    libxext6 \
    libxfixes3 \
    libxrandr2 \
    libgbm1 \
    libcairo2 \
    libpango-1.0-0 \
    libasound2t64 \
    libdrm2 \
    libxshmfence1 \
    libgtk-3-0t64 \
    libgtk-4-1 \
    libxslt1.1 \
    libwoff1 \
    libwebpdemux2 \
    libharfbuzz-icu0 \
    libenchant-2-2 \
    libsecret-1-0 \
    libhyphen0 \
    libwayland-server0 \
    libgles2

# install uv
RUN curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
ENV PATH="/root/.local/bin:$PATH"

# install playwright and browsers
RUN uv run --with playwright playwright install

# verify installation
RUN uv run --with playwright playwright --version

building and testing

# build docker image
docker build -t playwright-ubuntu-25.10 .

# run playwright tests
docker run -it playwright-ubuntu-25.10 \
    uv run --with playwright pytest tests/

dependency categories

core system libraries

curl, ca-certificates - downloading and https
libicu76 - unicode support (updated from libicu74)
libxml2-16 - xml parsing (updated from libxml2)
libevent-2.1-7t64 - event notification

media and graphics

libgstreamer-plugins-bad1.0-0 - gstreamer plugins
gstreamer1.0-libav - audio/video codecs
libavif16 - avif image format
libflite1 - text-to-speech
libmanette-0.2-0 - game controller support

gtk and ui libraries

libglib2.0-0t64 - core glib library
libgtk-3-0t64, libgtk-4-1 - gtk toolkit versions
libpango-1.0-0 - text rendering
libcairo2 - 2d graphics

browser security

libnspr4, libnss3 - network security services

x11 and display

libx11-6, libxext6, libxfixes3 - x11 core
libxcomposite1, libxdamage1, libxrandr2 - compositing
libxcb1, libxkbcommon0 - xcb and keyboard
libwayland-server0 - wayland support
libgbm1, libgles2 - graphics buffer management

accessibility

libatk1.0-0t64, libatk-bridge2.0-0t64 - atk accessibility
libatspi2.0-0t64 - assistive technology

additional browser requirements

libdbus-1-3 - d-bus message bus
libcups2t64 - printing support
libexpat1 - xml parsing
libasound2t64 - audio support
libdrm2, libxshmfence1 - direct rendering
libxslt1.1 - xslt transformations
libwoff1 - web font format
libwebpdemux2 - webp image format
libharfbuzz-icu0 - text shaping
libenchant-2-2 - spell checking
libsecret-1-0 - password/secret storage
libhyphen0 - hyphenation

troubleshooting

finding missing dependencies

playwright provides detailed error messages for missing libraries:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Host system is missing dependencies to run browsers. ║
║ Missing libraries:                                   ║
║     libglib-2.0.so.0                                 ║
║     libgobject-2.0.so.0                              ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

package discovery process

identify the package from .so file name
search for ubuntu 25.10 equivalent:

# search for library
apt search ^libglib2.0

# verify exact package name
apt list libglib2.0-0t64

verifying installation

# check playwright version
uv run --with playwright playwright --version

# list installed browsers
uv run --with playwright playwright list

# test browser launch
uv run --with playwright python -c "
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch()
    print('chromium launched successfully')
    browser.close()
"

migration notes

when migrating from ubuntu 24.04 or earlier:

update all package names to match ubuntu 25.10 versions
watch for t64 suffix on time-sensitive packages
verify icu library version (now 76)
test all three browsers after installation

the complete package list provided above has been validated in production environments and docker containers.