| name | quality-engineering-playwright-cli |
| description | Standardizes token-efficient browser automation via playwright-cli. Use for web verification, navigation, and capturing snapshots/logs. |
| metadata | {"triggers":{"keywords":["playwright-cli","browser automation","web verify","browser navigate","page verification"]}} |
🎭 Playwright CLI (Web Automation)
Priority: P1 (HIGH)
[!IMPORTANT]
Tier 0 (Infrastructure): Browser process management, named sessions, network/console logs.
Tier 1 (Core Interactions): Clicks, fills, and navigation (open vs goto).
Tier 2 (Verification): Snapshot-based assertions and auth state persistence.
🔌 Activation
Triggers: playwright-cli, browser automation, web verify, snapshot, auth-state.json.
🛠 Core Workflow
| Step | Command | Purpose |
|---|
| 1 | playwright-cli -s={ID} open <url> | Start named session. (Mandatory -s=). |
| 2 | playwright-cli -s={ID} snapshot --aria | Aria Snapshot: YAML-like view for LLM reasoning (Best for assertions). |
| 3 | playwright-cli -s={ID} console | Check for JS errors/warnings. |
| 4 | playwright-cli -s={ID} screenshot | Visual evidence. Use --mask <ref> for dynamic content. |
| 5 | playwright-cli -s={ID} close | MANDATORY Cleanup. |
For a sticky header that appears after scrolling, scroll until the header is visible, use hover on the header (or its stable role/reference) to establish the visible state, then capture the screenshot. Keep the named session open until the evidence is captured.
💡 Agent-Native Optimization
- Aria-First: Use
snapshot --aria as primary way to "see" page. Filters noise.
- Robust Locators: Prefer Role-based references (e.g.
button[name="Submit"]) over fragile CSS classes.
- Visual Stability: evaluated
document.body.style.animation = 'none' to freeze animations before capture.
🚫 Anti-Patterns (Zero-Tolerance)
- Unnamed Sessions: Never omit
-s=. Bare commands collide across concurrent runs.
- Double Open: Use
open for first run; goto for mid-session navigation.
- Unmasked Snapshots: Mask clocks/random IDs before comparison to avoid false positives.
- Orphaned Processes: Always
close session, even on failure.
✅ Evaluation Criteria
- Cleanup Rate: 100% session closure.
- Assertion Quality: 90% of assertions use
snapshot rather than pixels.
- Auth Persistence: Successful re-use of
state-load for multi-step flows.
🔗 References
Canonical response anchors
When this skill applies, preserve the following domain terminology or equivalent concrete examples in the answer when relevant:
- 🎭 Playwright CLI (Web Automation)
Remediation anchors
- Remediation anchors: hover, screenshot
