How can I reliably wait for a page to fully load in Playwright when `waitForLoadState()` sometimes fails?

General Discussions
1

I’ve been using page.waitForLoadState('networkidle') to wait for full page loading in Playwright, and it usually works. However, recently I encountered random errors like:

Error: page.waitForLoadState: Navigation failed because the page was closed!

I also tried other states like 'load' and `'domcontentloaded, but the issue persists. Is there an alternative method in Playwright to ensure a page has fully loaded before continuing with test actions?

2

Sometimes page.waitForLoadState(‘networkidle’) fails because the page navigates or reloads unexpectedly, causing the “page was closed” error. A reliable approach is to combine navigation with the load state in a single call:

await page.goto(‘https://example.com’, { waitUntil: ‘networkidle’ });

This ensures Playwright waits for the navigation to complete and the network to settle. I find this more stable than calling waitForLoadState separately after navigation.

3

Another approach I’ve used is to wait for multiple load states sequentially, which handles pages with dynamic scripts better:


await page.waitForLoadState('domcontentloaded');
await page.waitForLoadState('load');
await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle');

This can reduce random failures because it ensures the DOM is ready, resources are loaded, and network requests are quiet. It adds a bit of overhead but increases reliability for complex pages.

4

Sometimes the best way to know a page is “ready” is to wait for a key element you need to interact with:

await page.waitForSelector(‘#main-content’, { state: ‘visible’, timeout: 5000 });

This avoids relying on networkidle entirely. I often prefer this in real-world testing because it ensures the page is practically ready for interaction, which is usually more important than waiting for every network request.