Playwright mocked responses issue with chrome.tabs.create()

This is a minimal reproduction of an issue with Playwright failing to mock the network response for a new tab opened via extension method chrome.tabs.create().

This repository includes a tiny Manifest v3 extension that works in Edge and Chrome. When installed, the browser action button shows a page that has button "Navigate". When the button is clicked, a new tab is created and activated by invoking chrome.tabs.create(). The new tab navigates to https://example.com/.

Playwright is configured to mock responses for https://example.com/. When using Playwright's page.goto() method to navigate to https://example.com/, the response is mocked. When using the extension button to navigate, the response is not mocked. In fact, the request is not detected at all by context.on("request", ...).

The tests still fail when experimental feature PW_EXPERIMENTAL_SERVICE_WORKER_NETWORK_EVENTS is enabled.

Testing instructions:

# Optionally, uncomment (does not affect test results)
# export PW_EXPERIMENTAL_SERVICE_WORKER_NETWORK_EVENTS=1
npm install
npx playwright install
npm run test

Test output:

Running 2 tests using 1 worker
[chromium] › bubble.spec.js:8:3 › Bubble › navigation via playwright page.goto()
Request detected: chrome-extension://nnbkekbbfepfbgikblfbopdepnlhfjpd/bubble.js
Request detected: https://example.com/
[chromium] › bubble.spec.js:16:3 › Bubble › navigation via chrome.tabs.create()
Request detected: chrome-extension://nnbkekbbfepfbgikblfbopdepnlhfjpd/bubble.js
  1) [chromium] › bubble.spec.js:16:3 › Bubble › navigation via chrome.tabs.create() ───────────────

    Error: Timed out 2000ms waiting for expect(locator).toBeVisible()

    Locator: getByText('mocked!')
    Expected: visible
    Received: <element(s) not found>
    Call log:
      - expect.toBeVisible with timeout 2000ms
      - waiting for getByText('mocked!')


      22 |     await expect(newPage).toHaveURL("https://example.com/");
      23 |     // This fails because the response isn't mocked by Playwright
    > 24 |     await expect(newPage.getByText("mocked!")).toBeVisible({ timeout: 2000 });
         |                                                ^
      25 |   });
      26 | });
      27 |

        at /home/mdmower/source/pw-extension-nav/bubble.spec.js:24:48

  1 failed
    [chromium] › bubble.spec.js:16:3 › Bubble › navigation via chrome.tabs.create() ────────────────
  1 passed (3.5s)