playwright-cli

name	playwright-cli
description	Automates browser interactions for web testing, form filling, screenshots, and data extraction. Use when the user needs to navigate websites, interact with web pages, fill forms, take screenshots, test web applications, or extract information from web pages.
allowed-tools	Bash(playwright-cli:*)

Browser Automation with playwright-cli

Drive a real browser from the terminal using playwright-cli. Treat this skill as CLI-first automation. Do not pivot to @playwright/test unless the user explicitly asks for test files.

Quick start

playwright-cli open https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli type "page.click"
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli screenshot
playwright-cli close

If playwright-cli is not found globally, fall back to bunx playwright-cli:

bunx playwright-cli open https://example.com
bunx playwright-cli click e1

Core workflow

1. Open the page.
2. Snapshot to get stable element refs.
3. Interact using refs from the latest snapshot.
4. Re-snapshot after navigation or significant DOM changes.
5. Capture artifacts (screenshot, pdf, traces) when useful.

Minimal loop:

playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot

When to snapshot again

Snapshot again after:

• Navigation (goto, go-back, go-forward, reload)
• Clicking elements that change the UI substantially
• Opening/closing modals or menus
• Tab switches

Refs can go stale. When a command fails due to a missing ref, snapshot again.

Snapshots

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

> 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. If --filename is not provided, a new snapshot file is created with a timestamp. Default to automatic file naming; use --filename= when the artifact is part of the workflow result.

playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=after-login.yaml

Commands

Core

playwright-cli open
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
playwright-cli fill e5 "[e-mail]"
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
playwright-cli dialog-accept
playwright-cli dialog-accept "confirmation text"
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss
playwright-cli resize 1920 1080
playwright-cli close

Navigation

playwright-cli go-back
playwright-cli go-forward
playwright-cli reload

Keyboard

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

Mouse

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

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

Tabs

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

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

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

playwright-cli console
playwright-cli console warning
playwright-cli network
playwright-cli run-code "async page => await page.context().grantPermissions(['geolocation'])"
playwright-cli tracing-start
playwright-cli tracing-stop
playwright-cli video-start
playwright-cli video-stop video.webm

Open parameters

# Browser selection
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

# Persistent profiles (default is in-memory)
playwright-cli open --persistent
playwright-cli open --profile=/path/to/profile

# Config file
playwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

# Delete user data for default session
playwright-cli delete-data

Browser sessions

# Named session with persistent profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --persistent
# Named session with custom profile directory
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession click e6
playwright-cli -s=mysession close
playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data

playwright-cli list
playwright-cli close-all
playwright-cli kill-all

Example: Form submission

playwright-cli open https://example.com/form
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli fill e1 "[e-mail]"
playwright-cli fill e2 "password123"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close

Example: Multi-tab workflow

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

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

Guardrails

• Always snapshot before referencing element ids like e12.
• Re-snapshot when refs seem stale.
• Prefer explicit commands over eval and run-code unless needed.
• When you do not have a fresh snapshot, use placeholder refs like eX and say why; do not bypass refs with run-code.
• Use --headed when a visual check will help.
• Default to CLI commands and workflows, not Playwright test specs.

References

• Request mocking references/request-mocking.md
• Running Playwright code references/running-code.md
• Browser session management references/session-management.md
• Storage state (cookies, localStorage) references/storage-state.md
• Test generation references/test-generation.md
• Tracing references/tracing.md
• Video recording references/video-recording.md