Pm2 Test Services

PM2 Test Services Skill

This skill manages PM2 services for serving Playwright test reports, trace viewers, and other test artifacts in development environments.

When This Skill Activates

Claude automatically uses this skill when you:

• Need to serve Playwright HTML reports via PM2
• Want to run a trace viewer for failed tests
• Are managing multiple test-related services
• Need dynamic URLs for workspace environments (Coder, VS Code, Codespaces)
• Want to view or manage PM2 service logs
• Are troubleshooting test report access issues

Why PM2 for Test Services?

PM2 provides:

• Persistent services - Reports stay available after tests complete
• Easy management - Start, stop, restart with simple commands
• Log management - Built-in log viewing and rotation
• Process monitoring - Automatic restart on failure
• Multi-service - Run report server, trace viewer, and more simultaneously

PM2 Service Configuration

Example PM2 Ecosystem File:

// pm2.test.config.js
module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'playwright-report-server',
      script: 'npx',
      args: 'playwright show-report',
      cwd: './playwright-report',
      env: {
        PORT: 9323,
        HOST: '0.0.0.0',
      },
    },
    {
      name: 'playwright-trace-viewer',
      script: 'npx',
      args: 'playwright show-trace',
      cwd: './test-results',
      env: {
        PORT: 9324,
        HOST: '0.0.0.0',
      },
    },
  ],
};

Common PM2 Commands

Starting Services

# Start all services from ecosystem file
pm2 start pm2.test.config.js

# Start specific app
pm2 start playwright-report-server

# Start with custom name
pm2 start npx --name "test-report" -- show-report

Managing Services

# List all services
pm2 status

# Stop all services
pm2 stop all

# Stop specific service
pm2 stop playwright-report-server

# Restart service
pm2 restart playwright-report-server

# Delete service
pm2 delete playwright-report-server

# Delete all services
pm2 delete all

Viewing Logs

# View all logs (streaming)
pm2 logs

# View specific service logs
pm2 logs playwright-report-server

# View last N lines without streaming
pm2 logs playwright-report-server --nostream --lines 50

# View logs with timestamp
pm2 logs --timestamp

# Clear all logs
pm2 flush

Dynamic Workspace URLs

For cloud development environments (Coder, VS Code, Codespaces), you need to generate URLs dynamically based on workspace info.

URL Pattern Templates

Generating Coder URLs

# Get Coder environment info
export CODER_WORKSPACE=$(basename $PWD)
export CODER_OWNER=$(whoami)
export CODER_DOMAIN=${CODER_DOMAIN:-"coder.example.com"}

# Generate service URLs
REPORT_URL="https://playwright-ui--${CODER_WORKSPACE}--${CODER_OWNER}.${CODER_DOMAIN}/"
TRACE_URL="https://playwright-trace--${CODER_WORKSPACE}--${CODER_OWNER}.${CODER_DOMAIN}/"

echo "Report Server: $REPORT_URL"
echo "Trace Viewer: $TRACE_URL"

Package.json Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "test:pm2:start": "pm2 start pm2.test.config.js",
    "test:pm2:stop": "pm2 delete all",
    "test:pm2:restart": "pm2 restart all",
    "test:pm2:status": "pm2 status",
    "test:pm2:logs": "pm2 logs --nostream --lines 50",
    "playwright:url": "node scripts/show-test-urls.js"
  }
}

URL Generation Script

// scripts/show-test-urls.js
const { execSync } = require('child_process');

// Try to detect environment
const env = process.env.CODESPACE_NAME ? 'codespaces' :
            process.env.CODER_WORKSPACE ? 'coder' : 'local';

let reportUrl, traceUrl;

switch (env) {
  case 'coder':
    const workspace = process.env.CODER_WORKSPACE;
    const owner = process.env.CODER_OWNER || process.env.USER;
    const domain = process.env.CODER_DOMAIN || 'coder.example.com';
    reportUrl = `https://playwright-ui--${workspace}--${owner}.${domain}/`;
    traceUrl = `https://playwright-trace--${workspace}--${owner}.${domain}/`;
    break;

  case 'codespaces':
    const codespace = process.env.CODESPACE_NAME;
    reportUrl = `https://9323-${codespace}.preview.app.github.dev/`;
    traceUrl = `https://9324-${codespace}.preview.app.github.dev/`;
    break;

  case 'local':
  default:
    reportUrl = 'http://localhost:9323';
    traceUrl = 'http://localhost:9324';
    break;
}

console.log(`Environment: ${env}`);
console.log(`Report Server: ${reportUrl}`);
console.log(`Trace Viewer: ${traceUrl}`);

// Optional: Open in browser
if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
  execSync(`open ${reportUrl}`);
} else if (process.platform === 'linux') {
  execSync(`xdg-open ${reportUrl}`);
}

Complete Test Workflow

1. Run Tests with PM2 Services

# Start PM2 services before tests
pnpm test:pm2:start

# Run Playwright tests
pnpm test:e2e

# Get service URLs
pnpm playwright:url

# Open report in browser

2. View Traces for Failed Tests

# Ensure trace viewer is running
pm2 start playwright-trace-viewer

# Get trace viewer URL
pnpm playwright:url

# Navigate to URL and open trace files from test-results/

3. Clean Up

# Stop all test services
pnpm test:pm2:stop

# Clear logs
pm2 flush

Service Health Monitoring

Check Service Status

# Detailed status for all services
pm2 status

# Detailed info for specific service
pm2 show playwright-report-server

# Monitor in real-time
pm2 monit

Auto-Restart on Failure

PM2 automatically restarts failed services. Configure restart behavior:

{
  name: 'playwright-report-server',
  script: 'npx',
  args: 'playwright show-report',
  watch: false,
  autorestart: true,
  max_restarts: 3,
  min_uptime: '10s',
}

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

# Check what's using the port
lsof -i :9323
lsof -i :9324

# Kill the process
kill -9 $(lsof -t -i :9323)

# Or use PM2 to stop the service
pm2 stop playwright-report-server

Service Won't Start

# Check PM2 logs
pm2 logs playwright-report-server --nostream

# Check if report directory exists
ls -la playwright-report/

# Verify port is available
netstat -an | grep 9323

URL Not Accessible

# Verify service is running
pm2 status

# Check service is listening on all interfaces
netstat -an | grep 9323

# For Coder environments, verify environment variables
echo $CODER_WORKSPACE
echo $CODER_OWNER
echo $CODER_DOMAIN

# Test local access
curl http://localhost:9323

PM2 Not Persisting Services

# Save current process list
pm2 save

# Setup startup script (runs on system boot)
pm2 startup
# Follow the instructions output by the command

Alternative: Simple HTTP Server

If you don't need PM2's process management, use a simple HTTP server:

# Using Python
cd playwright-report && python3 -m http.server 9323

# Using Node.js http-server
npx http-server playwright-report -p 9323

# Using serve
npx serve playwright-report -l 9323

Quick Reference

Remember: PM2 is ideal for persistent test services in development. Use dynamic URL generation for cloud workspaces, and always clean up services when done to free ports.