Error - Wait not respected

Our script might sometimes look as if it were not honoring the waits we are specifying, instead proceeding and potentially running into an error on the next instruction.

For example: we are waiting for an element, e.g. with page.waitForSelector, but the script immediately proceeds to the next instruction. This can result in an element not found error or similar on the following step in our script.

Possible causes

  • Not-so-obvious possible cause: the element we are waiting for is already in the DOM, possibly not visible in our inspection but already matching our state requirements.

How to avoid confusion

Try querying for the element in the browser console during inspection. If the element is found, inspect its attributes (e.g. visibility) and ensure they match your expectations.

Note that this list neither is nor aims to be complete: additional possible causes most likely exist for this error.


Last updated on March 27, 2024. You can contribute to this documentation by editing this page on Github