Node.js Puppeteer PDF generation works in terminal but fails when executed via PHP shell_exec

Other Questions Puppeteer
1

I’m having trouble with a PDF generation script that uses Puppeteer. The script runs perfectly when I execute it directly from the command line, but it fails when I try to run it through a PHP web page using shell_exec.

My setup:
I recently moved to a new VPS running CloudLinux 8.10 with cPanel. The same code worked fine on my old server.

PHP code that calls the script:

$output = shell_exec("node " . __DIR__ . "/generate_pdf.js " . $target_url . " 2>&1");

JavaScript Puppeteer configuration:

const chromeBrowser = await puppeteer.launch({
    headless: true,
    args: ['--no-sandbox']
});
const newPage = await chromeBrowser.newPage();

Error message I’m getting:

Failed to launch the browser process! ../../base/allocator/partition_allocator/partition_address_space.cc(49)
Check failed: reserved_base_address_

I noticed that Apache runs under a specific user account created by cPanel. Even though this user has shell access enabled, the script only works when I run it manually from SSH but not when triggered through the web interface.

I’ve tried setting file permissions and even installed Chromium globally on the server, but I’m still getting browser launch failures. Has anyone encountered similar issues with Puppeteer on cPanel hosting environments?

2

sounds like a memory/privilge issue with the apache user. try adding --disable-dev-shm-usage and --disable-setuid-sandbox to ur puppeteer args. also, check if apache can access /tmp - cPanel can mess with dir permissions sometimes.

3

This partition_allocator error happens when memory allocation fails under restricted user contexts. Hit the same issue after moving to CloudLinux last year. Apache’s user has different memory access patterns than your SSH session. Try setting PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH as an environment variable before launching Node.js through shell_exec - don’t put it in the Puppeteer config. Path resolution sometimes breaks when called from PHP. Check your server’s tmpfs config too. CloudLinux often restricts /dev/shm access, which Puppeteer needs. Add --memory-pressure-off to your launch args and see if the error changes. What worked for me was switching to a socket-based approach. PHP sends requests to a persistent Node.js process running under your user account instead of spawning new processes through shell_exec. Way more reliable on restrictive hosting.

4

Had this exact issue when I moved to CloudLinux with cPanel. It’s usually because cPanel restricts what Apache processes can access - your Apache user can’t reach the same system resources as your SSH user.

First, set an explicit executablePath in your Puppeteer config pointing directly to the Chrome binary. CloudLinux auto-detection fails for restricted users most of the time. Find the path with which google-chrome or which chromium-browser when you’re SSH’d in.

Second, add these launch arguments: --disable-background-timer-throttling, --disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows, and --disable-renderer-backgrounding. They fix resource allocation problems that are common in cPanel setups.

Also check if your host has Node.js execution policies. Some cPanel hosts block certain system calls even when Node.js works fine. Contact support to see if security modules are blocking browser processes for web-triggered scripts.