playwright-cli

---
name: playwright-cli
description: >
  Automate browser interactions, test web pages and work with Playwright tests using the playwright-cli command.
  Use when the user wants to open a browser, navigate pages, click elements, fill forms, take screenshots,
  run Playwright tests, debug browser automation, or perform any CLI-based browser interaction.
allowed-tools: Bash(playwright-cli:*) Bash(npx:*) Bash(npm:*)
---

# Browser Automation with playwright-cli

## Quick start

```bash
# open new browser
playwright-cli open
# navigate to a page
playwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
# interact with the page using refs from the snapshot
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli type "page.click"
playwright-cli press Enter
# take a screenshot (rarely used, as snapshot is more common)
playwright-cli screenshot
# close the browser
playwright-cli close
```

## Commands

### Core

```bash
playwright-cli open
# open and navigate right away
playwright-cli open https://example.com/
playwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli type "search query"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli dblclick e7
# --submit presses Enter after filling the element
playwright-cli fill e5 "user@example.com"  --submit
playwright-cli drag e2 e8
playwright-cli hover e4
playwright-cli select e9 "option-value"
playwright-cli upload ./document.pdf
playwright-cli check e12
playwright-cli uncheck e12
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli eval "document.title"
playwright-cli eval "el => el.textContent" e5
# get element id, class, or any attribute not visible in the snapshot
playwright-cli eval "el => el.id" e5
playwright-cli eval "el => el.getAttribute('data-testid')" e5
playwright-cli dialog-accept
playwright-cli dialog-accept "confirmation text"
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss
playwright-cli resize 1920 1080  # see references/responsive-testing.md for device presets
playwright-cli close
```

### Navigation

```bash
playwright-cli go-back
playwright-cli go-forward
playwright-cli reload
```

### Keyboard

```bash
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli press ArrowDown
playwright-cli keydown Shift
playwright-cli keyup Shift
```

### Mouse

```bash
playwright-cli mousemove 150 300
playwright-cli mousedown
playwright-cli mousedown right
playwright-cli mouseup
playwright-cli mouseup right
playwright-cli mousewheel 0 100
```

### Save as

```bash
playwright-cli screenshot
playwright-cli screenshot e5
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=page.png
playwright-cli pdf --filename=page.pdf
```

### Tabs

```bash
playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-new
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/page
playwright-cli tab-close
playwright-cli tab-close 2
playwright-cli tab-select 0
```

### Storage

```bash
playwright-cli state-save
playwright-cli state-save auth.json
playwright-cli state-load auth.json

# Cookies
playwright-cli cookie-list
playwright-cli cookie-list --domain=example.com
playwright-cli cookie-get session_id
playwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123
playwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123 --domain=example.com --httpOnly --secure
playwright-cli cookie-delete session_id
playwright-cli cookie-clear

# LocalStorage
playwright-cli localstorage-list
playwright-cli localstorage-get theme
playwright-cli localstorage-set theme dark
playwright-cli localstorage-delete theme
playwright-cli localstorage-clear

# SessionStorage
playwright-cli sessionstorage-list
playwright-cli sessionstorage-get step
playwright-cli sessionstorage-set step 3
playwright-cli sessionstorage-delete step
playwright-cli sessionstorage-clear
```

### Network

```bash
playwright-cli route "**/*.jpg" --status=404
playwright-cli route "https://api.example.com/**" --body='{"mock": true}'
playwright-cli route-list
playwright-cli unroute "**/*.jpg"
playwright-cli unroute
```

### DevTools

```bash
playwright-cli console
playwright-cli console warning
playwright-cli network
playwright-cli run-code "async page => await page.context().grantPermissions(['geolocation'])"
playwright-cli run-code --filename=script.js
playwright-cli tracing-start
playwright-cli tracing-stop
playwright-cli video-start video.webm
playwright-cli video-chapter "Chapter Title" --description="Details" --duration=2000
playwright-cli video-stop
```

## Open parameters
```bash
# Use specific browser when creating session
playwright-cli open --browser=chrome
playwright-cli open --browser=firefox
playwright-cli open --browser=webkit
playwright-cli open --browser=msedge
# Connect to browser via extension
playwright-cli open --extension

# Use persistent profile (by default profile is in-memory)
playwright-cli open --persistent
# Use persistent profile with custom directory
playwright-cli open --profile=/path/to/profile

# Start with config file
playwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

# Close the browser
playwright-cli close
# Delete user data for the default session
playwright-cli delete-data
```

## Snapshots

After each command, playwright-cli provides a snapshot of the current browser state.

```bash
> playwright-cli goto https://example.com
### Page
- Page URL: https://example.com/
- Page Title: Example Domain
### Snapshot
[Snapshot](.playwright-cli/page-2026-02-14T19-22-42-679Z.yml)
```

You can also take a snapshot on demand using `playwright-cli snapshot` command. All the options below can be combined as needed.

```bash
# default - save to a file with timestamp-based name
playwright-cli snapshot

# save to file, use when snapshot is a part of the workflow result
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=after-click.yaml

# snapshot an element instead of the whole page
playwright-cli snapshot "#main"

# limit snapshot depth for efficiency, take a partial snapshot afterwards
playwright-cli snapshot --depth=4
playwright-cli snapshot e34
```

## Targeting elements

By default, use refs from the snapshot to interact with page elements.

```bash
# get snapshot with refs
playwright-cli snapshot

# interact using a ref
playwright-cli click e15
```

You can also use css selectors or Playwright locators.

```bash
# css selector
playwright-cli click "#main > button.submit"

# role locator
playwright-cli click "getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' })"

# test id
playwright-cli click "getByTestId('submit-button')"
```

## Browser Sessions

```bash
# create new browser session named "mysession" with persistent profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --persistent
# same with manually specified profile directory (use when requested explicitly)
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession click e6
playwright-cli -s=mysession close  # stop a named browser
playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data  # delete user data for persistent session

playwright-cli list
# Close all browsers
playwright-cli close-all
# Forcefully kill all browser processes
playwright-cli kill-all
```

## Installation

If global `playwright-cli` command is not available, try a local version via `npx playwright-cli`:

```bash
npx --no-install playwright-cli --version
```

When local version is available, use `npx playwright-cli` in all commands. Otherwise, install `playwright-cli` as a global command:

```bash
npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
```

## Example: Form submission

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com/form
playwright-cli snapshot

playwright-cli fill e1 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli fill e2 "password123"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close
```

## Example: Multi-tab workflow

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/other
playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-select 0
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close
```

## Example: Debugging with DevTools

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli click e4
playwright-cli fill e7 "test"
playwright-cli console
playwright-cli network
playwright-cli close
```

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli tracing-start
playwright-cli click e4
playwright-cli fill e7 "test"
playwright-cli tracing-stop
playwright-cli close
```

## Troubleshooting

```bash
# Element refs (e1, e5, etc.) become stale after page changes — re-snapshot
playwright-cli snapshot

# Command times out — increase timeout in run-code or check network
playwright-cli run-code "async page => {
  await page.locator('.slow-element').waitFor({ timeout: 15000 });
}"

# Browser becomes unresponsive — kill and restart
playwright-cli kill-all
playwright-cli open https://example.com
```

## Reference guides

### Testing
* **Running and debugging tests** [references/playwright-tests.md](references/playwright-tests.md) — run, grep, shard, debug, reporters
* **Test generation** [references/test-generation.md](references/test-generation.md) — auto-generate code, POM pattern, assertions catalog
* **Accessibility testing** [references/accessibility-testing.md](references/accessibility-testing.md) — ARIA audit, heading hierarchy, keyboard nav, contrast
* **Responsive testing** [references/responsive-testing.md](references/responsive-testing.md) — device viewports, breakpoints, touch, media queries

### Automation
* **Authentication patterns** [references/authentication-patterns.md](references/authentication-patterns.md) — OAuth, MFA/TOTP, token injection, multi-user
* **Request mocking** [references/request-mocking.md](references/request-mocking.md) — intercept, mock, modify, block network requests
* **Running Playwright code** [references/running-code.md](references/running-code.md) — geolocation, permissions, shadow DOM, retries, performance
* **Browser session management** [references/session-management.md](references/session-management.md) — named sessions, isolation, concurrent use
* **Storage state** [references/storage-state.md](references/storage-state.md) — cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, IndexedDB

### Debugging & Recording
* **Tracing** [references/tracing.md](references/tracing.md) — DOM snapshots, network, console logs
* **Video recording** [references/video-recording.md](references/video-recording.md) — screencast, chapters, overlay annotations
* **Inspecting element attributes** [references/element-attributes.md](references/element-attributes.md) — id, class, data-* via eval

### DevOps
* **CI/CD integration** [references/ci-cd-integration.md](references/ci-cd-integration.md) — GitHub Actions, Docker, sharding, artifacts

• SKILL.md 10 KB
• references/accessibility-testing.md 7 KB
• references/authentication-patterns.md 6 KB
• references/ci-cd-integration.md 5 KB
• references/element-attributes.md 1 KB
• references/playwright-tests.md 3 KB
• references/request-mocking.md 2 KB
• references/responsive-testing.md 4 KB
• references/running-code.md 9 KB
• references/session-management.md 4 KB
• references/storage-state.md 5 KB
• references/test-generation.md 5 KB
• references/tracing.md 3 KB
• references/video-recording.md 5 KB