Cypress "Verification of Cypress binary timed out" in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

Cypress runs a smoke test on its binary before tests; that verification timed out or failed. Usually a corrupt/incomplete binary cache, missing Linux libraries, or a slow download behind a proxy.

What this error means

CI fails before any spec with "Verification of Cypress binary timed out" or "Cypress failed to start... This may be due to a missing dependency." Re-running after clearing the cache often succeeds.

Verifying Cypress can run /root/.cache/Cypress/13.6.0/Cypress

Cypress verification timed out.

This command failed with the following output:
  Xvfb exited with a non zero exit code...

Common causes

Corrupt or incomplete binary cache

A partially downloaded or cached Cypress binary (often from an interrupted install or a stale CI cache) fails the verification smoke test.

Missing system libraries

The verification launches the browser via Xvfb; missing libs (libgtk, libnss3, Xvfb) make it fail or hang to a timeout.

How to fix it

Clear the cache and reinstall

npx cypress cache clear
npm ci
npx cypress verify

Install required libraries / use the image

# Cypress factory image ships browsers + deps
container: cypress/factory:latest

How to prevent it

• Cache ~/.cache/Cypress keyed on the Cypress version, and validate it.
• Use the official cypress/factory image so deps are present.
• Run cypress verify as an explicit step after install.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation