~/notes/software-renderers-hide-gpu-bugs

Software renderers hide GPU bugs

SwiftShader is perfect for screenshots and blind to memory pressure, driver resets and real frame times.

2026-11-09 · 1 min read · written in English

#testing
#webgl
#playwright

Headless Chromium usually runs WebGL on SwiftShader, a CPU renderer. It never runs out of video memory and never times out a draw call, so context loss simply does not happen there.

For performance and stability, run headed with the real driver:

bash

--use-angle=d3d11 --ignore-gpu-blocklist

Keep SwiftShader for visual regression; use the real GPU for "does it survive on an office PC".