Playwright Testing

Playwright is a modern end-to-end testing framework for web applications. It provides reliable, fast, and cross-browser testing with excellent developer experience.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use another skill instead when...
Writing E2E browser tests	Writing unit tests (use vitest-testing)
Testing across Chromium, Firefox, WebKit	Testing Python code (use python-testing)
Setting up visual regression testing	Analyzing test quality (use test-quality-analysis)
Mocking network requests in E2E tests	Generating property-based tests (use property-based-testing)
Testing mobile viewports	Testing API contracts only (use api-testing)

Core Expertise

Cross-browser: Test on Chromium, Firefox, WebKit (Safari)
Reliable: Auto-wait, auto-retry, no flaky tests
Fast: Parallel execution, browser context isolation
Modern: TypeScript-first, async/await, auto-complete
Multi-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

Installation

bun create playwright                  # Initialize (recommended)
bun add --dev @playwright/test         # Or install manually
bunx playwright install                # Install browsers
bunx playwright install --with-deps    # With system deps (Linux)
bunx playwright --version              # Verify

Configuration (playwright.config.ts)

import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: './tests',
  timeout: 30000,
  use: {
    baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
    trace: 'on-first-retry',
  },
  projects: [
    {
      name: 'chromium',
      use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] },
    },
  ],
});

Essential Commands

bunx playwright test                           # Run all tests
bunx playwright test tests/login.spec.ts       # Specific file
bunx playwright test --headed                  # See browser
bunx playwright test --debug                   # Debug mode
bunx playwright test --project=chromium        # Specific browser
bunx playwright test --ui                      # UI mode
bunx playwright codegen http://localhost:3000  # Record tests
bunx playwright show-report                    # Last report
bunx playwright show-trace trace.zip           # Trace viewer
bunx playwright test --update-snapshots        # Update snapshots

Writing Tests

Basic Test Structure

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('basic test', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/Example/);
});

test.describe('login flow', () => {
  test('should login successfully', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/login');
    await page.fill('input[name="email"]', 'user@example.com');
    await page.fill('input[name="password"]', 'password123');
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('/dashboard');
  });
});

Selectors and Locators

// Text/Role selectors (recommended)
await page.getByText('Sign in').click();
await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' }).click();
await page.getByLabel('Email').fill('user@example.com');
await page.getByPlaceholder('Enter your name').fill('John');
await page.getByTestId('login-button').click();

// CSS/XPath selectors
await page.locator('.button-primary').click();
await page.locator('xpath=//button[text()="Submit"]').click();

// Chaining
await page.locator('.card').filter({ hasText: 'Product' }).getByRole('button').click();

Key Assertions

Assertion	Description
`toHaveTitle(title)`	Page title
`toHaveURL(url)`	Page URL
`toBeVisible()`	Element visible
`toBeEnabled()`	Element enabled
`toHaveText(text)`	Element text
`toContainText(text)`	Partial text
`toHaveAttribute(name, value)`	Attribute value
`toHaveClass(class)`	CSS class
`toHaveValue(value)`	Input value
`toBeEmpty()`	Empty input
`toHaveCount(n)`	Element count
`not.toBeDisabled()`	Negation

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
Quick test	`bunx playwright test --reporter=line --bail`
CI test	`bunx playwright test --reporter=github`
Single browser	`bunx playwright test --project=chromium --reporter=line`
Debug failing	`bunx playwright test --trace on --reporter=line`
Headed debug	`bunx playwright test --headed --debug`

For detailed examples, advanced patterns, and best practices, see REFERENCE.md.

References

Official docs: https://playwright.dev
Configuration: https://playwright.dev/docs/test-configuration
API reference: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-test
Best practices: https://playwright.dev/docs/best-practices
CI/CD: https://playwright.dev/docs/ci
Trace viewer: https://playwright.dev/docs/trace-viewer

playwright-testing