Facing SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN issue when downloading browsers

[hongkheng]

Hi, I'm facing self-signed certificates issues when trying to install playwright-go and install the browsers to be able to run end to end tests in Golang.

This is the command I ran

go install github.com/playwright-community/playwright-go/cmd/[email protected]
playwright install --with-deps

Output and error

Downloading Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169) from https://cdn.playwright.dev/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/chromium/1169/chromium-mac-arm64.zip
Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain
    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
    at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
    at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12) {
  code: 'SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN'
}
Downloading Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169) from https://playwright.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/chromium/1169/chromium-mac-arm64.zip
Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain
    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
    at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
    at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12) {
  code: 'SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN'
}
Downloading Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169) from https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/chromium/1169/chromium-mac-arm64.zip
Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain
    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
    at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
    at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12) {
  code: 'SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN'
}
Downloading Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169) from https://cdn.playwright.dev/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/chromium/1169/chromium-mac-arm64.zip
Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain
    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
    at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
    at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12) {
  code: 'SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN'
}
Downloading Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169) from https://playwright.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/chromium/1169/chromium-mac-arm64.zip
Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain
    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
    at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
    at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12) {
  code: 'SELF_SIGNED_CERT_IN_CHAIN'
}
Failed to install browsers
Error: Failed to download Chromium 136.0.7103.25 (playwright build v1169), caused by
Error: Download failure, code=1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/Users/[email protected]/Library/Caches/ms-playwright-go/1.52.0/package/lib/server/registry/browserFetcher.js:94:32)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:518:28)
    at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:293:12)
2025/06/20 17:24:50 could not run driver: exit status 1

I know the error could be due to using a corporate mac laptop in corporate network. I even tried to set NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS with the custom .pem files but to no avail. Is there a setting or code that needs to be enabled so that the browsers can be downloaded?

Greatly appreciate any help on this 🙏 I would like to be able to run and write the tests in Go. Else my team will have re-write the tests in Javascript instead.

[tien-tran-ts]

did you try this ?
NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 go run github.com/playwright-community/playwright-go/cmd/playwright install