diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 61f18481e23a8..ab40643d05a80 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -2279,8 +2279,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 	grunt.registerTask( 'qunit', 'Runs QUnit tests.', function() {
 		var done = this.async();
 		grunt.util.spawn( {
-			cmd: 'npx',
-			args: [ 'playwright', 'test', '--config', 'tests/qunit/playwright.config.js' ],
+			cmd: 'npm',
+			args: [ 'exec', '--no', '--', 'playwright', 'test', '--config', 'tests/qunit/playwright.config.js' ],
 			opts: { stdio: 'inherit' }
 		}, function( error, result, code ) {
 			if ( code !== 0 ) {
@@ -2363,15 +2363,15 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
 	grunt.registerTask( 'wp-packages:update', 'Update WordPress packages', function() {
 		const distTag = grunt.option('dist-tag') || 'latest';
 		grunt.log.writeln( `Updating WordPress packages (--dist-tag=${distTag})` );
-		spawn( 'npx', [ 'wp-scripts', 'packages-update', `--dist-tag=${distTag}` ], {
+		spawn( 'npm', [ 'exec', '--no', '--', 'wp-scripts', 'packages-update', `--dist-tag=${distTag}` ], {
 			cwd: __dirname,
 			stdio: 'inherit',
 		} );
 	} );
 
 	grunt.registerTask( 'browserslist:update', 'Update the local database of browser supports', function() {
-		grunt.log.writeln( `Updating browsers list` );
-		spawn( 'npx', [ 'update-browserslist-db@latest' ], {
+		grunt.log.writeln( 'Updating browsers list' );
+		spawn( 'npm', [ 'exec', '--no', '--', 'update-browserslist-db' ], {
 			cwd: __dirname,
 			stdio: 'inherit',
 		} );
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 78985e8f955c0..43a39bb195c39 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@
 				"sinon-test": "~3.1.6",
 				"source-map-loader": "5.0.0",
 				"typescript": "6.0.3",
+				"update-browserslist-db": "1.2.3",
 				"uuid": "14.0.1",
 				"wait-on": "9.0.10",
 				"webpack": "5.108.4"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e3e14f9828f0f..d2558fc374f78 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@
 		"sinon-test": "~3.1.6",
 		"source-map-loader": "5.0.0",
 		"typescript": "6.0.3",
+		"update-browserslist-db": "1.2.3",
 		"uuid": "14.0.1",
 		"wait-on": "9.0.10",
 		"webpack": "5.108.4"
diff --git a/tests/qunit/playwright.config.js b/tests/qunit/playwright.config.js
index fc6651e0917ac..9e49301727a6a 100644
--- a/tests/qunit/playwright.config.js
+++ b/tests/qunit/playwright.config.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ module.exports = defineConfig( {
 	workers: 1,
 	use: {
 		headless: true,
-		/* This avoids the need to run `npx playwright install` in CI. */
+		/* The system Chrome channel avoids a browser download in CI. */
 		channel: process.env.CI ? 'chrome' : undefined,
 	},
 	reporter: process.env.CI ? 'github' : 'list',