Playwright CLI

Playwright CLI (npx playwright)

Browser automation and testing framework. Run tests, capture screenshots, generate test code, and automate web interactions.

• Official repo: https://github.com/microsoft/playwright
• Docs: https://playwright.dev/docs/intro

Setup

npx playwright install              # Install browser binaries
npx playwright install chromium     # Install only Chromium
npx playwright install --with-deps  # Install browsers + system deps

Common Commands

Running Tests

npx playwright test                          # Run all tests
npx playwright test tests/login.spec.ts      # Run specific test file
npx playwright test --grep "login"           # Run tests matching pattern
npx playwright test --project=chromium       # Run on specific browser
npx playwright test --headed                 # Run with visible browser
npx playwright test --debug                  # Run in debug mode
npx playwright test --reporter=json          # JSON output for parsing

Code Generation

npx playwright codegen https://example.com   # Record actions as test code
npx playwright codegen --target javascript   # Generate JS code

Screenshots and PDFs

npx playwright screenshot https://example.com screenshot.png
npx playwright screenshot --full-page https://example.com full.png
npx playwright pdf https://example.com page.pdf

Trace Viewer

npx playwright test --trace on              # Record traces
npx playwright show-trace trace.zip         # View trace file

Test Report

npx playwright show-report                  # Open HTML report

Agent Best Practices

• Use --reporter=json for machine-parseable test results
• Use npx playwright codegen to generate test scaffolding, then refine
• Always install browsers first with npx playwright install
• Use --project=chromium to run on a single browser for speed
• Screenshots are useful for visual verification of page state
• Use --trace on when debugging flaky tests

Example Workflows

Take a screenshot of a page

npx playwright screenshot --full-page https://example.com /tmp/screenshot.png

Run tests and get JSON results

npx playwright test --reporter=json 2>/dev/null | jq '.suites[].specs[] | {title, ok}'