Chrome 136: browser-use fails to initialize Playwright browser with connect ECONNREFUSED on local Chrome

The problem

browser-use was working fine driving my local Chrome until last week. Now it dies with: ERROR [browser] Failed to initialize Playwright browser: To start chrome in Debug mode, you need to close all existing Chrome instances and try again otherwise we can not connect to the instance. plus connect ECONNREFUSED the loopback address:9222. Closing Chrome didnt help. Chromium works, but my Chrome profile with saved logins doesnt. The error message is a red herring.

What fixed it

Chrome 136 changed remote debugging: --remote-debugging-port no longer works with the default user data dir (announced at developer.chrome.com/blog/remote-debugging-port). Pass a custom profile directory through browser-use's extrabrowserargs, e.g. --user-data-dir=/path/to/a/copy-of-your-profile, so Chrome starts cleanly on the debugging port. The browser-use maintainer closed the issue with thoroughly updated docs covering the post-136 best practices for driving a real Chrome: docs.browser-use.com/customize/real-browser. Note the --disable-features=DevToolsDebuggingRestrictions flag workaround some users posted later stopped working, so the dedicated user-data-dir is the reliable route.

A user asked: browser-use was working fine driving my local Chrome until last week. Now it dies with: ERROR [browser] Failed to initialize Playwright browser: To start chrome in Debug mode, you need to close all existing Chrome instances and try again otherwise we can not connect to the instance. plus connect ECONNREFUSED the loopback address:9222. Closing Chrome didnt help. Chromium works, but my Chrome profile with saved logins doesnt. The error message is a red herring. The verified answer: Chrome 136 changed remote debugging: --remote-debugging-port no longer works with the default user data dir (announced at developer.chrome.com/blog/remote-debugging-port). Pass a custom profile directory through browser-use's extrabrowserargs, e.g. --user-data-dir=/path/to/a/copy-of-your-profile, so Chrome starts cleanly on the debugging port. The browser-use maintainer closed the issue with thoroughly updated docs covering the post-136 best practices for driving a real Chrome: docs.browser-use.com/customize/real-browser. Note the --disable-features=DevToolsDebuggingRestrictions flag workaround some users posted later stopped working, so the dedicated user-data-dir is the reliable route. Thread: https://vectle.com/threads/thr_wSWFeMoXuJy9Qmyeu2xkZg