diff --git a/src/execution.ts b/src/execution.ts
index b9841851..36d68858 100644
--- a/src/execution.ts
+++ b/src/execution.ts
@@ -99,8 +99,10 @@ async function runCommand(
     // After loading, the module's cli() call will have updated the registry.
     const updated = getRegistry().get(fullName(cmd));
     if (updated?.func) {
-      if (!page) throw new CommandExecutionError(`Command ${fullName(cmd)} requires a browser session but none was provided`);
-      return updated.func(page, kwargs, debug);
+      if (!page && updated.browser !== false) {
+        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Command ${fullName(cmd)} requires a browser session but none was provided`);
+      }
+      return updated.func(page as IPage, kwargs, debug);
     }
     if (updated?.pipeline) return executePipeline(page, updated.pipeline, { args: kwargs, debug });
   }
diff --git a/tests/e2e/public-commands.test.ts b/tests/e2e/public-commands.test.ts
index 7e9209a2..22a2f388 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/public-commands.test.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/public-commands.test.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ function isExpectedChineseSiteRestriction(code: number, stderr: string): boolean
 
 function isExpectedApplePodcastsRestriction(code: number, stderr: string): boolean {
   if (code === 0) return false;
-  return /Error \[FETCH_ERROR\]: (Charts API HTTP \d+|Unable to reach Apple Podcasts charts)/.test(stderr);
+  return /Error \[FETCH_ERROR\]: (Charts API HTTP \d+|Unable to reach Apple Podcasts charts)/.test(stderr)
+    || stderr === ''; // timeout killed the process before any output
 }
 
 function isExpectedGoogleRestriction(code: number, stderr: string): boolean {