Playwright Testing

Overview

This skill helps AI agents write reliable end-to-end tests using Playwright. It covers project setup, writing tests with auto-waiting locators, page object patterns, authentication handling, API mocking, visual regression, accessibility testing, and CI/CD integration.

Instructions

Step 1: Project Setup

npm init playwright@latest
# Or add to existing project:
npm install -D @playwright/test && npx playwright install

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

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: './tests',
  fullyParallel: true,
  forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
  retries: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
  workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
  reporter: [['html', { open: 'never' }], ['junit', { outputFile: 'test-results/junit.xml' }]],
  use: {
    baseURL: process.env.BASE_URL || 'http://localhost:3000',
    trace: 'on-first-retry',
    screenshot: 'only-on-failure',
  },
  projects: [
    { name: 'chromium', use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] } },
    { name: 'firefox', use: { ...devices['Desktop Firefox'] } },
    { name: 'webkit', use: { ...devices['Desktop Safari'] } },
    { name: 'mobile-chrome', use: { ...devices['Pixel 5'] } },
  ],
  webServer: {
    command: 'npm run dev',
    url: 'http://localhost:3000',
    reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
  },
});

Step 2: Write Tests

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

test.describe('Homepage', () => {
  test('displays hero and navigates to features', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/');
    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: /welcome/i })).toBeVisible();
    await page.getByRole('link', { name: 'View Features' }).click();
    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/.*features/);
  });

  test('shows search results', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/');
    await page.getByPlaceholder('Search...').fill('playwright');
    await page.getByPlaceholder('Search...').press('Enter');
    await expect(page.getByTestId('search-results')).toBeVisible();
    await expect(page.getByTestId('search-result-item')).toHaveCount(10);
  });
});

Step 3: Authentication Pattern

// tests/auth.setup.ts — authenticate once, reuse across tests
import { test as setup } from '@playwright/test';
import path from 'path';

const authFile = path.join(__dirname, '.auth/user.json');

setup('authenticate', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/login');
  await page.getByLabel('Email').fill('test@example.com');
  await page.getByLabel('Password').fill('password123');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Sign in' }).click();
  await expect(page).toHaveURL('/dashboard');
  await page.context().storageState({ path: authFile });
});

// In config: add setup dependency
// projects: [
//   { name: 'setup', testMatch: /.*\.setup\.ts/ },
//   { name: 'chromium', use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'], storageState: 'tests/.auth/user.json' }, dependencies: ['setup'] },
// ]

Step 4: Page Object Pattern

// tests/pages/login.page.ts
import { Page, Locator, expect } from '@playwright/test';

export class LoginPage {
  readonly emailInput: Locator;
  readonly passwordInput: Locator;
  readonly submitButton: Locator;
  readonly errorMessage: Locator;

  constructor(private page: Page) {
    this.emailInput = page.getByLabel('Email');
    this.passwordInput = page.getByLabel('Password');
    this.submitButton = page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Sign in' });
    this.errorMessage = page.getByRole('alert');
  }

  async goto() { await this.page.goto('/login'); }
  async login(email: string, password: string) {
    await this.emailInput.fill(email);
    await this.passwordInput.fill(password);
    await this.submitButton.click();
  }
  async expectError(msg: string) { await expect(this.errorMessage).toContainText(msg); }
}

// tests/login.spec.ts
test.describe('Login', () => {
  let loginPage: LoginPage;
  test.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => { loginPage = new LoginPage(page); await loginPage.goto(); });

  test('successful login redirects to dashboard', async ({ page }) => {
    await loginPage.login('test@example.com', 'password123');
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('/dashboard');
  });
  test('invalid credentials show error', async () => {
    await loginPage.login('wrong@example.com', 'wrong');
    await loginPage.expectError('Invalid email or password');
  });
});

Step 5: API Mocking

test('shows error state when API fails', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.route('**/api/projects', (route) => route.fulfill({
    status: 500, contentType: 'application/json',
    body: JSON.stringify({ error: 'Internal server error' }),
  }));
  await page.goto('/dashboard');
  await expect(page.getByText('Failed to load projects')).toBeVisible();
});

test('modify API response for premium features', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.route('**/api/user', async (route) => {
    const response = await route.fetch();
    const json = await response.json();
    json.plan = 'enterprise';
    await route.fulfill({ response, json });
  });
  await page.goto('/settings');
  await expect(page.getByText('Enterprise Plan')).toBeVisible();
});

Step 6: Visual & Accessibility Testing

test('homepage visual regression', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/');
  await expect(page).toHaveScreenshot('homepage.png', { fullPage: true, maxDiffPixelRatio: 0.01 });
});
// Update snapshots: npx playwright test --update-snapshots

import AxeBuilder from '@axe-core/playwright';
test('no accessibility violations', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/');
  const results = await new AxeBuilder({ page }).withTags(['wcag2a', 'wcag2aa']).analyze();
  expect(results.violations).toEqual([]);
});

Step 7: CI Integration

# .github/workflows/e2e.yml
name: E2E Tests
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: 20, cache: npm }
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps
      - run: npx playwright test
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with: { name: playwright-report, path: playwright-report/, retention-days: 30 }

Useful Commands

npx playwright test                          # Run all tests
npx playwright test tests/login.spec.ts      # Specific file
npx playwright test --headed                 # See browser
npx playwright test --project=chromium       # Specific browser
npx playwright test --debug                  # Step-through debugger
npx playwright codegen http://localhost:3000 # Record actions
npx playwright show-report                   # View HTML report

Examples

Example 1: Add e2e tests for a login flow with page objects

User prompt: "Write Playwright tests for our login page that test successful login, invalid credentials, and form validation, using the page object pattern."

The agent will:

1. Create tests/pages/login.page.ts with locators for email, password, submit button, and error message using role-based selectors (getByLabel, getByRole)
2. Add goto(), login(), and expectError() methods to the page object
3. Write three tests: successful login verifying redirect to /dashboard, invalid credentials checking the error alert, and empty form submission checking validation messages
4. Set up beforeEach to instantiate the page object and navigate to /login

Example 2: Mock API responses to test error and empty states

User prompt: "Add tests for our dashboard that verify it handles API errors gracefully and shows an empty state when there are no projects."

The agent will:

1. Use page.route('**/api/projects', ...) to intercept the API call
2. For the error test: fulfill with status 500 and verify the "Failed to load projects" message and Retry button appear
3. For the empty test: fulfill with status 200 and an empty projects array, then verify the "No projects yet" empty state is shown
4. Both tests run in isolation without needing a real backend, making them fast and reliable in CI

Guidelines

• Use role-based locators (getByRole, getByLabel, getByText) over CSS selectors — more resilient to DOM changes
• Add data-testid attributes only when no semantic locator works
• Never use page.waitForTimeout() — use auto-waiting locators or expect with timeout
• Run auth setup once and share state across tests via storageState
• Use page objects for complex pages to keep tests readable
• Mock external APIs in tests — test UI behavior, not third-party services
• Run tests in parallel (fullyParallel: true) for speed
• Capture traces on first retry — invaluable for debugging flaky tests in CI
• Use webServer config to auto-start your dev server during tests
• Keep visual snapshots in version control and review changes in PRs