web-ext run fails to start firefox on macOS

[tomquas]

Is this a feature request or a bug?

bug

What is the current behavior?

web-ext run --verbose --firefox "deved" --firefox-profile=mc02 --profile-create-if-missing --source-dir=$PWD --devtools --no-config-discovery errors out with connection refused message before firefox opens a window.

i tried with several new profiles, to no avail.

one problem seems to be that 'Firefox closed' – see logs below – before remote.js tries to connect?

web-ext run --verbose --firefox "deved" --firefox-profile=mc02 --profile-create-if-missing --source-dir=$PWD --devtools --no-config-discovery
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/program.js][info] Version: 7.8.0
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/program.js][debug] Not discovering config files
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/cmd/run.js][info] Running web extension from /tmp/extension
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/util/manifest.js][debug] Validating manifest at /tmp/extension/manifest.json
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/cmd/run.js][info] Profile directory mc02 already exists
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/extension-runners/firefox-desktop.js][debug] Copying Firefox profile from mc02
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Copying profile directory from "mc02"
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Running Firefox with profile at /var/folders/jh/vlccfrws7bn0gmdj2b34mt040000gn/T/firefox-profileFN6h9Q/
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Executing Firefox binary: /Applications/Firefox Developer Edition.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox args: -start-debugger-server 50539 -foreground -no-remote -profile /var/folders/jh/vlccfrws7bn0gmdj2b34mt040000gn/T/firefox-profileFN6h9Q/
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][info] More info about WebExtensions debugging:
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][info] https://extensionworkshop.com/documentation/develop/debugging/
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to the remote Firefox debugger
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to Firefox on port 50539
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox closed
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/remote.js][debug] Retrying Firefox (0); connection error: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:50539
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to Firefox on port 50539
[.../node_modules/web-ext/lib/firefox/remote.js][debug] Retrying Firefox (1); connection error: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:50539

What is the expected or desired behavior?

run extension debug session

Version information (for bug reports)

• Firefox version: 121.0b6 (64-bit) Dev Ed
• Your OS and version: macos sonoma 14.1.1
• Paste the output of these commands:

node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version
v18.18.2
9.8.1
7.8.0

[jpanther]

I'm having the same issue. It seems to only occur when targeting Firefox Developer Edition.

• Firefox version: 121.0b8 (64-bit) Developer Edition
• Your OS and version: macOS Sonoma 14.1.2
• Paste the output of these commands:

node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version 
v21.3.0
10.2.5
7.9.0

[theowenyoung]

This problem still exists, and currently both firefox and firefox developer versions do not work.

[neurodynamic]

Same issue here. Firefox no longer launches, and instead produces Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:59544. The issue may have started after running the update to macOS Sonoma 14.2.1, but I'm not 100% sure.

[volosovich]

the same problem

node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version
v18.18.0
10.2.0
7.9.0
MacOs 12.6.5 (21G531)

problems start after updating to FF121 both firefox and firefox developer versions do not work.

[fregante]

It doesn't appear in the logs, but if I run the the commands that appear in the log, I get this immediately after:

fish: Job 1, '/Applications/Firefox.app/Conte…' terminated by signal SIGKILL (Forced quit)

[suhaibmujahid]

It stopped working for me after updating Firefox. Downgraded to Firefox 120.0.1, and things are working again.

[volosovich]

on windows it's working ok. I can reproduce problem on macOS

[lesleyjanenorton]

Just hit this and specifying a different binary (web-ext run -f=/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox instead of ../firefox-bin which I also see in your logs and appears to be the default) resolved this for me.

[tieje]

Just hit this and specifying a different binary (web-ext run -f=/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox instead of ../firefox-bin which I also see in your logs and appears to be the default) resolved this for me.

Fixed it for me.

[Rob--W]

This appears to be a macOS-specific issue, tracked at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1871447

The work-around is to use firefox instead of firefox-bin, as mentioned in comments above.
To identify the path, run web-ext run --verbose. Its log output will contain this at some point:

[.../web-ext/lib/firefox/index.js][debug] Executing Firefox binary: /Applications/Firefox Nightly.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin

Run web-ext again, with -f, followed by pasting the path (quoted!) and without the -bin suffix:

`web-ext run -f "/Applications/Firefox Nightly.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox"