Struggling to set up and run a basic Cypress Github Action because of Xvfb

[Thebarda]

Hello, dear Cypress maintainers,

I'm using Cypress 10.3.1 and I struggle to run use a basic implementation of Cypress Github Action

Here is my job configuration:

end-to-end:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: cypress-io/github-action@v4.2.0
        with:
          browser: chrome
          install-command: npm ci --legacy-peer-deps

As you may see it's a very basic configuration, nothing fancy.

And it returns the following error and verifying cypress installation:

[command]/opt/hostedtoolcache/node/16.17.0/x64/bin/npx cypress verify
| 
| [STARTED] Task without title.
| [FAILED] Your system is missing the dependency: Xvfb
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] Install Xvfb and run Cypress again.
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] Read our documentation on dependencies for more information:
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] https://on.cypress.io/required-dependencies
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] If you are using Docker, we provide containers with all required dependencies installed.
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] ----------
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] Error: spawn Xvfb ENOENT
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] ----------
| [FAILED] 
| [FAILED] Platform: linux-x64 (Ubuntu - 20.04)
| [FAILED] Cypress Version: 10.3.1
| Your system is missing the dependency: Xvfb
| 
| Install Xvfb and run Cypress again.
| 
| Read our documentation on dependencies for more information:
| 
| https://on.cypress.io/required-dependencies
| 
| If you are using Docker, we provide containers with all required dependencies installed.
| 
| ----------
| 
| Error: spawn Xvfb ENOENT
| 
| ----------
| 
| Platform: linux-x64 (Ubuntu - 20.04)
| Cypress Version: 10.3.1

It tried with Ubuntu 22.04 as a runner, I tried to downgrade the action to 4.1.0 and nothing resolved the issue.

What did I do wrong?

[seanohue]

Not a Cypress maintainer but I came across this issue while searching for a solution to a related problem and I'm interested to see what you find out.

I ran into this same issue recently and ended up trying the advice here to use a Docker container with the necessary dependencies to run the tests in (see here). However, this still failed for me with an NPM 243 error.

Do you still see this error if you run the Action in a container such as one of these provided by Cypress?

[XavierLeTohic]

We fixed this issue by adding this step with recommend linux dependencies and setting DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

      - name: Setup xvfb (Linux)
        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
        run: |
          sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update
          sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install libgtk2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgbm-dev libnotify-dev libgconf-2-4 libnss3 libxss1 libasound2 libxtst6 xauth xvfb

[MikeMcC399]

@Thebarda

Are you still having a problem with this or can this issue be closed?

Were you running on a self-hosted runner? I have not seen this problem on GitHub-hosted runners.

https://on.cypress.io/required-dependencies explains about installing missing dependencies.

[moshie]

Yep this problem seems to happen for self-hosted runners you need to install the dependencies using apt as mentioned by @XavierLeTohic

[MikeMcC399]

@moshie

Yep this problem seems to happen for self-hosted runners you need to install the dependencies using apt as mentioned by

Thanks for the feedback!

• So the problem is resolved by following the documentation Getting started > Installing Cypress > Linux Prerequisites.

• There is however a current issue Cypress starts Xvfb even when running with Chrome Headless cypress#19868 open in Cypress which says that it should not be necessary to require xvfb for Chrome Headless.

I would tend to suggest to close this issue and for anyone impacted to subscribe to the main Cypress one (cypress-io/cypress#19868). Maybe the original submitter @Thebarda has some comment?

[moshie]

Another solution is to use the cypress included container in your github action

container: 
      image: cypress/included:11.2.0