Playwright Testing Skill

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

Agent Skills: Playwright Testing

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