diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/trace/viewer/traceViewer.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/trace/viewer/traceViewer.ts
index 02d834a758..57e1ca0912 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/trace/viewer/traceViewer.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/trace/viewer/traceViewer.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ import type { Page } from '../../page';
 type Options = { app?: string, headless?: boolean, host?: string, port?: number, isServer?: boolean };
 
 export async function showTraceViewer(traceUrls: string[], browserName: string, options?: Options): Promise<Page> {
+  const stdinServer = options?.isServer ? new StdinServer() : undefined;
+
   const { headless = false, host, port, app } = options || {};
   for (const traceUrl of traceUrls) {
     let traceFile = traceUrl;
@@ -113,46 +115,59 @@ export async function showTraceViewer(traceUrls: string[], browserName: string,
     page.on('close', () => process.exit());
   }
 
+  if (options?.isServer)
+    params.push('isServer');
   const searchQuery = params.length ? '?' + params.join('&') : '';
   await page.mainFrame().goto(serverSideCallMetadata(), urlPrefix + `/trace/${app || 'index.html'}${searchQuery}`);
-
-  if (options?.isServer)
-    runServer(page);
-
+  stdinServer?.setPage(page);
   return page;
 }
 
-function runServer(page: Page) {
-  let liveTraceTimer: NodeJS.Timeout | undefined;
-  const loadTrace = (url: string) => {
-    clearTimeout(liveTraceTimer);
-    page.mainFrame().evaluateExpression(`window.setTraceURL(${JSON.stringify(url)})`, false, undefined).catch(() => {});
-  };
+class StdinServer {
+  private _pollTimer: NodeJS.Timeout | undefined;
+  private _traceUrl: string | undefined;
+  private _page: Page | undefined;
 
-  const pollLoadTrace = (url: string) => {
-    loadTrace(url);
-    liveTraceTimer = setTimeout(() => {
-      pollLoadTrace(url);
+  constructor() {
+    process.stdin.on('data', data => {
+      const url = data.toString().trim();
+      if (url === this._traceUrl)
+        return;
+      this._traceUrl = url;
+      if (url.endsWith('.json'))
+        this._pollLoadTrace(url);
+      else
+        this._loadTrace(url);
+    });
+    process.stdin.on('close', () => this._selfDestruct());
+  }
+
+  setPage(page: Page) {
+    this._page = page;
+    if (this._traceUrl)
+      this._loadTrace(this._traceUrl);
+  }
+
+  private _loadTrace(url: string) {
+    clearTimeout(this._pollTimer);
+    this._page?.mainFrame().evaluateExpression(`window.setTraceURL(${JSON.stringify(url)})`, false, undefined).catch(() => {});
+  }
+
+  private _pollLoadTrace(url: string) {
+    this._loadTrace(url);
+    this._pollTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+      this._pollLoadTrace(url);
     }, 500);
-  };
+  }
 
-  process.stdin.on('data', data => {
-    const url = data.toString().trim();
-    if (url.endsWith('.json'))
-      pollLoadTrace(url);
-    else
-      loadTrace(url);
-  });
-  process.stdin.on('close', () => selfDestruct());
-}
-
-function selfDestruct() {
-  // Force exit after 30 seconds.
-  setTimeout(() => process.exit(0), 30000);
-  // Meanwhile, try to gracefully close all browsers.
-  gracefullyCloseAll().then(() => {
-    process.exit(0);
-  });
+  private _selfDestruct() {
+    // Force exit after 30 seconds.
+    setTimeout(() => process.exit(0), 30000);
+    // Meanwhile, try to gracefully close all browsers.
+    gracefullyCloseAll().then(() => {
+      process.exit(0);
+    });
+  }
 }
 
 function traceDescriptor(traceName: string) {
diff --git a/packages/trace-viewer/src/sw.ts b/packages/trace-viewer/src/sw.ts
index 79a8e2b7e3..6dec512f16 100644
--- a/packages/trace-viewer/src/sw.ts
+++ b/packages/trace-viewer/src/sw.ts
@@ -49,8 +49,6 @@ async function loadTrace(traceUrl: string, traceFileName: string | null, clientI
   } catch (error: any) {
     if (error?.message?.includes('Cannot find .trace file') && await traceModel.hasEntry('index.html'))
       throw new Error('Could not load trace. Did you upload a Playwright HTML report instead? Make sure to extract the archive first and then double-click the index.html file or put it on a web server.');
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-    console.error(error);
     if (traceFileName)
       throw new Error(`Could not load trace from ${traceFileName}. Make sure to upload a valid Playwright trace.`);
     throw new Error(`Could not load trace from ${traceUrl}. Make sure a valid Playwright Trace is accessible over this url.`);
diff --git a/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbench.css b/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbench.css
index e4ba7cdf77..031039c51d 100644
--- a/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbench.css
+++ b/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbench.css
@@ -30,9 +30,16 @@
   line-height: 24px;
 }
 
+body .drop-target {
+  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);
+}
+
+body.dark-mode .drop-target {
+  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);
+}
+
 .drop-target .title {
   font-size: 24px;
-  color: #666;
   font-weight: bold;
   margin-bottom: 30px;
 }
@@ -81,7 +88,7 @@
   flex-basis: 48px;
   line-height: 48px;
   font-size: 16px;
-  color: white;
+  color: #cccccc;
 }
 
 .workbench .header .toolbar-button {
diff --git a/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbenchLoader.tsx b/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbenchLoader.tsx
index 4917201a90..d23bd5ba74 100644
--- a/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbenchLoader.tsx
+++ b/packages/trace-viewer/src/ui/workbenchLoader.tsx
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import { Workbench } from './workbench';
 
 export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
 }> = () => {
+  const [isServer, setIsServer] = React.useState<boolean>(false);
   const [traceURLs, setTraceURLs] = React.useState<string[]>([]);
   const [uploadedTraceNames, setUploadedTraceNames] = React.useState<string[]>([]);
   const [model, setModel] = React.useState<MultiTraceModel>(emptyModel);
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
   const [processingErrorMessage, setProcessingErrorMessage] = React.useState<string | null>(null);
   const [fileForLocalModeError, setFileForLocalModeError] = React.useState<string | null>(null);
 
-  const processTraceFiles = (files: FileList) => {
+  const processTraceFiles = React.useCallback((files: FileList) => {
     const blobUrls = [];
     const fileNames = [];
     const url = new URL(window.location.href);
@@ -54,22 +55,25 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
     setUploadedTraceNames(fileNames);
     setDragOver(false);
     setProcessingErrorMessage(null);
-  };
+  }, []);
 
-  const handleDropEvent = (event: React.DragEvent<HTMLDivElement>) => {
+  const handleDropEvent = React.useCallback((event: React.DragEvent<HTMLDivElement>) => {
     event.preventDefault();
     processTraceFiles(event.dataTransfer.files);
-  };
+  }, [processTraceFiles]);
 
-  const handleFileInputChange = (event: any) => {
+  const handleFileInputChange = React.useCallback((event: any) => {
     event.preventDefault();
     if (!event.target.files)
       return;
     processTraceFiles(event.target.files);
-  };
+  }, [processTraceFiles]);
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
-    const newTraceURLs = new URL(window.location.href).searchParams.getAll('trace');
+    const params = new URL(window.location.href).searchParams;
+    const newTraceURLs = params.getAll('trace');
+    setIsServer(params.has('isServer'));
+
     // Don't accept file:// URLs - this means we re opened locally.
     for (const url of newTraceURLs) {
       if (url.startsWith('file:')) {
@@ -80,11 +84,16 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
 
     (window as any).setTraceURL = (url: string) => {
       setTraceURLs([url]);
+      setDragOver(false);
+      setProcessingErrorMessage(null);
     };
-    // Don't re-use blob file URLs on page load (results in Fetch error)
-    if (!newTraceURLs.some(url => url.startsWith('blob:')))
+    if (earlyTraceURL) {
+      (window as any).setTraceURL(earlyTraceURL);
+    } else if (!newTraceURLs.some(url => url.startsWith('blob:'))) {
+      // Don't re-use blob file URLs on page load (results in Fetch error)
       setTraceURLs(newTraceURLs);
-  }, [setTraceURLs]);
+    }
+  }, []);
 
   React.useEffect(() => {
     (async () => {
@@ -104,7 +113,8 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
             params.set('traceFileName', uploadedTraceNames[i]);
           const response = await fetch(`contexts?${params.toString()}`);
           if (!response.ok) {
-            setTraceURLs([]);
+            if (!isServer)
+              setTraceURLs([]);
             setProcessingErrorMessage((await response.json()).error);
             return;
           }
@@ -118,7 +128,7 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
         setModel(emptyModel);
       }
     })();
-  }, [traceURLs, uploadedTraceNames]);
+  }, [isServer, traceURLs, uploadedTraceNames]);
 
   return <div className='vbox workbench' onDragOver={event => { event.preventDefault(); setDragOver(true); }}>
     <div className='hbox header'>
@@ -128,9 +138,9 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
       <div className='spacer'></div>
       <ToolbarButton icon='color-mode' title='Toggle color mode' toggled={false} onClick={() => toggleTheme()}></ToolbarButton>
     </div>
-    {!!progress.total && <div className='progress'>
-      <div className='inner-progress' style={{ width: (100 * progress.done / progress.total) + '%' }}></div>
-    </div>}
+    <div className='progress'>
+      <div className='inner-progress' style={{ width: progress.total ? (100 * progress.done / progress.total) + '%' : 0 }}></div>
+    </div>
     <Workbench model={model} />
     {fileForLocalModeError && <div className='drop-target'>
       <div>Trace Viewer uses Service Workers to show traces. To view trace:</div>
@@ -140,7 +150,7 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
         <div>3. Drop the trace from the download shelf into the page</div>
       </div>
     </div>}
-    {!dragOver && !fileForLocalModeError && (!traceURLs.length || processingErrorMessage) && <div className='drop-target'>
+    {!isServer && !dragOver && !fileForLocalModeError && (!traceURLs.length || processingErrorMessage) && <div className='drop-target'>
       <div className='processing-error'>{processingErrorMessage}</div>
       <div className='title'>Drop Playwright Trace to load</div>
       <div>or</div>
@@ -153,6 +163,9 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
       <div style={{ maxWidth: 400 }}>Playwright Trace Viewer is a Progressive Web App, it does not send your trace anywhere,
         it opens it locally.</div>
     </div>}
+    {isServer && (!traceURLs.length || processingErrorMessage) && <div className='drop-target'>
+      <div className='title'>Select test to see the trace</div>
+    </div>}
     {dragOver && <div className='drop-target'
       onDragLeave={() => { setDragOver(false); }}
       onDrop={event => handleDropEvent(event)}>
@@ -162,3 +175,9 @@ export const WorkbenchLoader: React.FunctionComponent<{
 };
 
 export const emptyModel = new MultiTraceModel([]);
+
+let earlyTraceURL: string | undefined = undefined;
+
+(window as any).setTraceURL = (url: string) => {
+  earlyTraceURL = url;
+};