playwright-cli

Playwright CLI with SKILLS

Playwright CLI vs Playwright MCP

This package provides CLI interface into Playwright. If you are using coding agents, that is the best fit.

CLI: Modern coding agents increasingly favor CLI–based workflows exposed as SKILLs over MCP because CLI invocations are more token-efficient: they avoid loading large tool schemas and verbose accessibility trees into the model context, allowing agents to act through concise, purpose-built commands. This makes CLI + SKILLs better suited for high-throughput coding agents that must balance browser automation with large codebases, tests, and reasoning within limited context windows.
MCP: MCP remains relevant for specialized agentic loops that benefit from persistent state, rich introspection, and iterative reasoning over page structure, such as exploratory automation, self-healing tests, or long-running autonomous workflows where maintaining continuous browser context outweighs token cost concerns. Learn more about Playwright MCP.

Key Features

Token-efficient. Does not force page data into LLM.

Requirements

Node.js 18 or newer
Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or any other coding agent.

Getting Started

Installation

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

Installing skills

Claude Code, GitHub Copilot and others will use the locally installed skills.

bash
playwright-cli install --skills

Skills-less operation

Point your agent at the CLI and let it cook. It'll read the skill off playwright-cli --help on its own:

Test the "add todo" flow on https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc using playwright-cli.
Check playwright-cli --help for available commands.

Demo

> Use playwright skills to test https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc/.
  Take screenshots for all successful and failing scenarios.

Your agent will be running commands, but it does not mean you can't play with it manually:

playwright-cli open https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc/ --headed
playwright-cli type "Buy groceries"
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli type "Water flowers"
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli check e21
playwright-cli check e35
playwright-cli screenshot

Headed operation

Playwright CLI is headless by default. If you'd like to see the browser, pass --headed to open:

bash
playwright-cli open https://playwright.dev --headed

Sessions

Playwright CLI keeps the browser profile in memory by default. Your cookies and storage state
are preserved between CLI calls within the session, but lost when the browser closes. Use
--persistent to save the profile to disk for persistence across browser restarts.

You can use different instances of the browser for different projects with sessions. Pass -s= to
the invocation to talk to a specific browser.

bash
playwright-cli open https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli -s=example open https://example.com --persistent
playwright-cli list

You can run your coding agent with the PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION environment variable:

bash
PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION=todo-app claude .

Or instruct it to prepend -s= to the calls.

Manage your sessions as follows:

bash
playwright-cli list                     # list all sessions
playwright-cli close-all                # close all browsers
playwright-cli kill-all                 # forcefully kill all browser processes

Monitoring

Use playwright-cli show to open a visual dashboard that lets you see and control all running
browser sessions. This is useful when your coding agents are running browser automation in the
background and you want to observe their progress or step in to help.

bash
playwright-cli show

The dashboard opens a window with two views:

Session grid — shows all active sessions grouped by workspace, each with a live screencast
preview, session name, current URL, and page title. Click any session to zoom in.
Session detail — shows a live view of the selected session with a tab bar, navigation
controls (back, forward, reload, address bar), and full remote control. Click into the viewport
to take over mouse and keyboard input; press Escape to release.

From the grid you can also close running sessions or delete data for inactive ones.

Commands

Core

bash
playwright-cli open [url]               # open browser, optionally navigate to url
playwright-cli goto <url>               # navigate to a url
playwright-cli close                    # close the page
playwright-cli type <text>              # type text into editable element
playwright-cli click <ref> [button]     # perform click on a web page
playwright-cli dblclick <ref> [button]  # perform double click on a web page
playwright-cli fill <ref> <text>        # fill text into editable element
playwright-cli fill <ref> <text> --submit # fill and press Enter
playwright-cli drag <startRef> <endRef> # perform drag and drop between two elements
playwright-cli drop <ref> --path=<file> # drop files onto an element (from outside the page)
playwright-cli drop <ref> --data="k=v"  # drop data onto an element
playwright-cli hover <ref>              # hover over element on page
playwright-cli select <ref> <val>       # select an option in a dropdown
playwright-cli upload <file>            # upload one or multiple files
playwright-cli check <ref>              # check a checkbox or radio button
playwright-cli uncheck <ref>            # uncheck a checkbox or radio button
playwright-cli snapshot                 # capture page snapshot to obtain element ref
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=f    # save snapshot to specific file
playwright-cli snapshot <ref>           # snapshot a specific element
playwright-cli snapshot --depth=N       # limit snapshot depth for efficiency
playwright-cli eval <func> [ref]        # evaluate javascript expression on page or element
playwright-cli dialog-accept [prompt]   # accept a dialog
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss           # dismiss a dialog
playwright-cli resize <w> <h>           # resize the browser window

bash
playwright-cli go-back                  # go back to the previous page
playwright-cli go-forward               # go forward to the next page
playwright-cli reload                   # reload the current page

Keyboard

bash
playwright-cli press <key>              # press a key on the keyboard, `a`, `arrowleft`
playwright-cli keydown <key>            # press a key down on the keyboard
playwright-cli keyup <key>              # press a key up on the keyboard

Mouse

bash
playwright-cli mousemove <x> <y>        # move mouse to a given position
playwright-cli mousedown [button]       # press mouse down
playwright-cli mouseup [button]         # press mouse up
playwright-cli mousewheel <dx> <dy>     # scroll mouse wheel

Save as

bash
playwright-cli screenshot [ref]         # screenshot of the current page or element
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=f  # save screenshot with specific filename
playwright-cli pdf                      # save page as pdf
playwright-cli pdf --filename=page.pdf  # save pdf with specific filename

Tabs

bash
playwright-cli tab-list                 # list all tabs
playwright-cli tab-new [url]            # create a new tab
playwright-cli tab-close [index]        # close a browser tab
playwright-cli tab-select <index>       # select a browser tab

Storage

bash
playwright-cli state-save [filename]    # save storage state
playwright-cli state-load <filename>    # load storage state

# Cookies
playwright-cli cookie-list [--domain]   # list cookies
playwright-cli cookie-get <name>        # get a cookie
playwright-cli cookie-set <name> <val>  # set a cookie
playwright-cli cookie-delete <name>     # delete a cookie
playwright-cli cookie-clear             # clear all cookies

# LocalStorage
playwright-cli localstorage-list        # list localStorage entries
playwright-cli localstorage-get <key>   # get localStorage value
playwright-cli localstorage-set <k> <v> # set localStorage value
playwright-cli localstorage-delete <k>  # delete localStorage entry
playwright-cli localstorage-clear       # clear all localStorage

# SessionStorage
playwright-cli sessionstorage-list      # list sessionStorage entries
playwright-cli sessionstorage-get <k>   # get sessionStorage value
playwright-cli sessionstorage-set <k> <v> # set sessionStorage value
playwright-cli sessionstorage-delete <k>  # delete sessionStorage entry
playwright-cli sessionstorage-clear     # clear all sessionStorage

Network

bash
playwright-cli route <pattern> [opts]   # mock network requests
playwright-cli route-list               # list active routes
playwright-cli unroute [pattern]        # remove route(s)

DevTools

bash
playwright-cli console [min-level]      # list console messages
playwright-cli requests                 # list all network requests since loading the page
playwright-cli request <index>          # show details for a specific request
playwright-cli run-code <code>          # run playwright code snippet
playwright-cli run-code --filename=f    # run playwright code from a file
playwright-cli tracing-start            # start trace recording
playwright-cli tracing-stop             # stop trace recording
playwright-cli video-start [filename]   # start video recording
playwright-cli video-chapter <title>    # add a chapter marker to the video
playwright-cli video-show-actions       # annotate each action with a callout in the video
playwright-cli video-hide-actions       # stop annotating actions in the video
playwright-cli video-stop               # stop video recording
playwright-cli show                     # open the visual dashboard
playwright-cli show --annotate          # launch dashboard for UI review / design feedback
playwright-cli generate-locator <ref>   # generate a playwright locator for an element
playwright-cli highlight <ref>          # show a persistent highlight overlay
playwright-cli highlight <ref> --style= # highlight with a custom CSS style
playwright-cli highlight <ref> --hide   # hide highlight on a specific element
playwright-cli highlight --hide         # hide all page highlights

Open parameters

bash
playwright-cli open --browser=chrome    # use specific browser
playwright-cli attach --extension=chrome # connect via Playwright Extension
playwright-cli attach --cdp=chrome      # attach to running Chrome/Edge by channel
playwright-cli attach --cdp=<url>       # attach via CDP endpoint
playwright-cli detach                   # detach an attached session, leaves the external browser running
playwright-cli open --persistent        # use persistent profile
playwright-cli open --profile=<path>    # use custom profile directory
playwright-cli open --config=file.json  # use config file
playwright-cli close                    # close the browser
playwright-cli delete-data              # delete user data for default session

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

# include each element's bounding box as [box=x,y,width,height]
playwright-cli snapshot --boxes

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')"

Sessions

bash
playwright-cli -s=name <cmd>            # run command in named session
playwright-cli -s=name close            # stop a named browser
playwright-cli -s=name delete-data      # delete user data for named browser
playwright-cli list                     # list all sessions
playwright-cli close-all                # close all browsers
playwright-cli kill-all                 # forcefully kill all browser processes

Local 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

Configuration file

The Playwright CLI can be configured using a JSON configuration file. You can specify the configuration file using the --config command line option:

bash
playwright-cli --config path/to/config.json open example.com

Playwright CLI will load config from .playwright/cli.config.json by default so that you did not need to specify it every time.

<details> <summary>Configuration file schema</summary>

typescript
{
  /**
   * The browser to use.
   */
  browser?: {
    /**
     * The type of browser to use.
     */
    browserName?: 'chromium' | 'firefox' | 'webkit';

    /**
     * Keep the browser profile in memory, do not save it to disk.
     */
    isolated?: boolean;

    /**
     * Path to a user data directory for browser profile persistence.
     * Temporary directory is created by default.
     */
    userDataDir?: string;

    /**
     * Launch options passed to
     * @see https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsertype#browser-type-launch-persistent-context
     *
     * This is useful for settings options like `channel`, `headless`, `executablePath`, etc.
     */
    launchOptions?: playwright.LaunchOptions;

    /**
     * Context options for the browser context.
     *
     * This is useful for settings options like `viewport`.
     */
    contextOptions?: playwright.BrowserContextOptions;

    /**
     * Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint to connect to an existing browser instance in case of Chromium family browsers.
     */
    cdpEndpoint?: string;

    /**
     * CDP headers to send with the connect request.
     */
    cdpHeaders?: Record<string, string>;

    /**
     * Timeout in milliseconds for connecting to CDP endpoint. Defaults to 30000 (30 seconds). Pass 0 to disable timeout.
     */
    cdpTimeout?: number;

    /**
     * Remote endpoint to connect to an existing Playwright server.
     */
    remoteEndpoint?: string;

    /**
     * Paths to TypeScript files to add as initialization scripts for Playwright page.
     */
    initPage?: string[];

    /**
     * Paths to JavaScript files to add as initialization scripts.
     * The scripts will be evaluated in every page before any of the page's scripts.
     */
    initScript?: string[];
  },

  /**
   * If specified, saves the Playwright video of the session into the output directory.
   */
  saveVideo?: {
    width: number;
    height: number;
  };

  /**
   * The directory to save output files.
   */
  outputDir?: string;

  /**
   * Whether to save snapshots, console messages, network logs and other session logs to a file or to the standard output. Defaults to "stdout".
   */
  outputMode?: 'file' | 'stdout';

  console?: {
    /**
     * The level of console messages to return. Each level includes the messages of more severe levels. Defaults to "info".
     */
    level?: 'error' | 'warning' | 'info' | 'debug';
  },

  network?: {
    /**
     * List of origins to allow the browser to request. Default is to allow all. Origins matching both `allowedOrigins` and `blockedOrigins` will be blocked.
     */
    allowedOrigins?: string[];

    /**
     * List of origins to block the browser to request. Origins matching both `allowedOrigins` and `blockedOrigins` will be blocked.
     */
    blockedOrigins?: string[];
  };

  /**
   * Specify the attribute to use for test ids, defaults to "data-testid".
   */
  testIdAttribute?: string;

  timeouts?: {
    /*
     * Configures default action timeout: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-set-default-timeout. Defaults to 5000ms.
     */
    action?: number;

    /*
     * Configures default navigation timeout: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-set-default-navigation-timeout. Defaults to 60000ms.
     */
    navigation?: number;
  };

  /**
   * Whether to allow file uploads from anywhere on the file system.
   * By default (false), file uploads are restricted to paths within the MCP roots only.
   */
  allowUnrestrictedFileAccess?: boolean;

  /**
   * Specify the language to use for code generation.
   */
  codegen?: 'typescript' | 'none';
}

</details> <details> <summary>Configuration via env</summary>

Environment
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS` comma-separated list of hosts this server is allowed to serve from. Defaults to the host the server is bound to. Pass '*' to disable the host check.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` semicolon-separated list of TRUSTED origins to allow the browser to request. Default is to allow all. Important: does not serve as a security boundary and does not affect redirects.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOW_UNRESTRICTED_FILE_ACCESS` allow access to files outside of the workspace roots. Also allows unrestricted access to file:// URLs. By default access to file system is restricted to workspace root directories (or cwd if no roots are configured) only, and navigation to file:// URLs is blocked.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BLOCKED_ORIGINS` semicolon-separated list of origins to block the browser from requesting. Blocklist is evaluated before allowlist. If used without the allowlist, requests not matching the blocklist are still allowed. Important: does not serve as a security boundary and does not affect redirects.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BLOCK_SERVICE_WORKERS` block service workers
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BROWSER` browser or chrome channel to use, possible values: chrome, firefox, webkit, msedge.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CAPS` comma-separated list of additional capabilities to enable, possible values: vision, pdf.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_ENDPOINT` CDP endpoint to connect to.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_HEADERS` CDP headers to send with the connect request, multiple can be specified.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_TIMEOUT` timeout for the CDP connection.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CONFIG` path to the configuration file.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CONSOLE_LEVEL` level of console messages to return: "error", "warning", "info", "debug". Each level includes the messages of more severe levels.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_DEVICE` device to emulate, for example: "iPhone 15"
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXECUTABLE_PATH` path to the browser executable.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION` Connect to a running browser instance (Edge/Chrome only). Requires the "Playwright MCP Bridge" browser extension to be installed.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_GRANT_PERMISSIONS` List of permissions to grant to the browser context, for example "geolocation", "clipboard-read", "clipboard-write".
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HEADLESS` whether to run browser in headless mode, headless by default.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_IGNORE_HTTPS_ERRORS` ignore https errors
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_INIT_PAGE` path to TypeScript file to evaluate on Playwright page object
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_INIT_SCRIPT` path to JavaScript file to add as an initialization script. The script will be evaluated in every page before any of the page's scripts. Can be specified multiple times.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ISOLATED` keep the browser profile in memory, do not save it to disk.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SANDBOX` whether to enable the browser sandbox.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_DIR` path to the directory for output files.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PROXY_BYPASS` comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com,chromium.org,.domain.com"
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PROXY_SERVER` specify proxy server, for example "http://myproxy:3128" or "socks5://myproxy:8080"
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SAVE_TRACE` Whether to save the Playwright Trace of the session into the output directory.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SAVE_VIDEO` Whether to save the video of the session into the output directory. For example "--save-video=800x600"
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SECRETS_FILE` path to a file containing secrets in the dotenv format
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_STORAGE_STATE` path to the storage state file for isolated sessions.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TEST_ID_ATTRIBUTE` specify the attribute to use for test ids, defaults to "data-testid"
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TIMEOUT_ACTION` specify action timeout in milliseconds, defaults to 5000ms
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TIMEOUT_NAVIGATION` specify navigation timeout in milliseconds, defaults to 60000ms
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_USER_AGENT` specify user agent string
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_USER_DATA_DIR` path to the user data directory. If not specified, a temporary directory will be created.
`PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_VIEWPORT_SIZE` specify browser viewport size in pixels, for example "1280x720"

</details>

Specific tasks

The installed skill includes detailed reference guides for common tasks:

Running and Debugging Playwright tests — run, debug and manage Playwright test suites
Request mocking — intercept and mock network requests
Running Playwright code — execute arbitrary Playwright scripts
Browser session management — manage multiple browser sessions
Spec-driven testing (plan / generate / heal) — drive tests from a written spec
Storage state (cookies, localStorage) — persist and restore browser state
Test generation — generate Playwright tests from interactions
Tracing — record and inspect execution traces
Video recording — capture browser session videos
Inspecting element attributes — get element id, class, or any attribute not visible in the snapshot

Playwright cli

playwright-cli

Playwright CLI vs Playwright MCP

Key Features

Requirements

Getting Started

Installation

Installing skills

Skills-less operation

Demo

Headed operation

Sessions

Monitoring

Commands

Core

Navigation

Keyboard

Mouse

Save as

Tabs

Storage

Network

DevTools

Open parameters

Snapshots

Targeting elements

Sessions

Local installation

Configuration file

Specific tasks

Contributors

playwright-cli

Playwright CLI vs Playwright MCP

Key Features

Requirements

Getting Started

Installation

Installing skills

Skills-less operation

Demo

Headed operation

Sessions

Monitoring

Commands

Core

Navigation

Keyboard

Mouse

Save as

Tabs

Storage

Network

DevTools

Open parameters

Snapshots

Targeting elements

Sessions

Local installation

Configuration file

Specific tasks

Contributors

Related Repositories