Implementation:Microsoft Playwright HttpServer

Overview

HttpServer provides a configurable HTTP server with route handling, static file serving, and optional WebSocket upgrade support, used for Playwright's internal servers like the trace viewer.

Description

The HttpServer class wraps a Node.js HTTP server with:

• Route matching -- supports both prefix-based and exact-path route handlers
• Static file serving -- serves files from directories with proper MIME type detection
• WebSocket support -- optional WebSocket upgrade handling using the wsServer library
• URL management -- generates both precise and human-readable URL prefixes
• GUID-based security -- optional WebSocket paths include a GUID for access control

Usage

Used internally for the trace viewer server, HTML reporter server, and other built-in HTTP-based tools.

Code Reference

Source Location

packages/playwright-core/src/server/utils/httpServer.ts (228 lines)

Class Signature

export type ServerRouteHandler = (request: http.IncomingMessage, response: http.ServerResponse) => boolean;

export class HttpServer {
  constructor()
  server(): http.Server
  routePrefix(prefix: string, handler: ServerRouteHandler): void
  routePath(path: string, handler: ServerRouteHandler): void
  serveFile(request: http.IncomingMessage, response: http.ServerResponse, absoluteFilePath: string, headers?: Record<string, string>): boolean
  async start(options?: { port?: number; host?: string; preferredPort?: number }): Promise<string>
  async stop(): Promise<void>
  urlPrefix(purpose?: 'human-readable'): string
}

Import

import { HttpServer } from './server/utils/httpServer';
import type { ServerRouteHandler } from './server/utils/httpServer';

I/O Contract

Inputs

• Route handlers registered via routePrefix or routePath
• Start options: port, hostname

Outputs

• HTTP server listening on the specified port
• URL prefix string for constructing full URLs
• Route handlers return true if they handled the request

Related Pages

• Microsoft_Playwright_WsServer -- WebSocket server implementation
• Microsoft_Playwright_NetworkUtils -- HTTP request and server creation utilities