verify-discord

name	verify-discord
description	Verify Discord bot changes by running the bot and testing commands in Discord via Playwright CLI. Use when the user asks to test, verify, or check bot commands in Discord.

Verify Discord Bot via Playwright CLI

Prerequisites

• playwright-cli installed globally (npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest)
• Chromium browser installed (playwright-cli install-browser chromium)
• Persistent profile main pre-authenticated to Discord

Workflow

1. Start the bot

node src/index.js

Run in the background. Check the console output and confirm the bot has started successfully before proceeding.

To verify the bot is still running later, read the end of the terminal file to check for an exit_code footer (which means the process has exited). If present, the bot has stopped and needs to be restarted. Do not rely on the running_for_seconds header alone -- it may be stale.

2. Open Discord

playwright-cli -s=main open "https://discord.com/channels/1093395679516311615/1492580497866625197" --headed --persistent

This opens the Pokestar Alpha server, #dev-private channel.

3. Verify the page loaded

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot --depth=3

Confirm the page loaded to the correct server and channel. Check the page title or take a deeper snapshot to look for the server name and channel name in the navigation or header areas.

4. Find and click the chat input

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[role='textbox']"

This returns the chat input ref (e.g. e404). Click it:

playwright-cli -s=main click <ref>

5. Enter a slash command

Command definitions and their parameters are in src/config/commandConfig.js.

Fast method: fill (preferred when you know the params)

If you know the command and its parameter names, use fill to paste the entire command at once. Discord will auto-parse the param: value syntax.

playwright-cli -s=main fill "[role='textbox']" "/commandname param1: value1 param2: value2"

Then press Enter to send. This is the fastest method.

Manual method: type with autocomplete

Use this when you need to discover available params or aren't sure of the exact syntax.

playwright-cli -s=main type "/commandname"

Check the autocomplete listbox and click the matching option:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[role='listbox']"
playwright-cli -s=main click <option-ref>

Required parameters: After selecting a command, the cursor is placed in the first required parameter field. Type the value directly. If there are multiple required params, pressing Tab moves to the next one.

Optional parameters: After all required params are filled, press Tab to bring up the optional parameter list. Then:

1. Press ArrowDown to select the first optional param
2. Use ArrowDown/ArrowUp to navigate to the desired param
3. Press Enter to activate that param field
4. Type the value

Snapshot [role='listbox'] after pressing Tab to see the available optional params and confirm selection state.

6. Send the command

playwright-cli -s=main press Enter

After pressing Enter, verify the command was actually sent by snapshotting the textbox:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[role='textbox']"

If the textbox is empty (shows only the placeholder like Message #channel-name), the command sent successfully. If the textbox still contains command text, the command did not send. Common causes:

• Discord opened an optional parameters list — press Enter again to dismiss and send
• A required parameter is missing — snapshot the command bar area to identify what's needed
• The command input has an error — check for error indicators in the surrounding UI

Keep pressing Enter or fixing the issue until the textbox is cleared.

7. Verify bot output

Wait a few seconds for the bot to respond, then snapshot the message list:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[data-list-id='chat-messages']" --depth=6

Read the snapshot to verify the bot's response content. The most recent messages appear at the bottom of the list.

8. Interact with bot UI components

Bot responses can include buttons, select menus, and modals. Snapshot the bot's message to find interactive elements:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[data-list-id='chat-messages'] li:last-of-type" --depth=6

Buttons

Find buttons by their label text in the snapshot (e.g. button "Filter / Sort" [ref=e1234]) and click by ref:

playwright-cli -s=main click <button-ref>

After clicking, wait briefly and snapshot the message again to verify the updated output. Some buttons toggle additional rows of buttons or change the embed content in place.

Select menus

Select menus appear as a button with a label like "Select a pokemon" and aria-haspopup="listbox". Click the select menu to open it:

playwright-cli -s=main click <select-ref>

Then snapshot the listbox to see available options:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[role='listbox']" --depth=5

Click the desired option by ref:

playwright-cli -s=main click <option-ref>

Note: If the page has multiple select menus (from different bot messages), the CSS selector [role='listbox'] may not be unique. Use eval to identify the correct element, or snapshot the specific message's subtree.

Modals

Some buttons open a modal dialog (e.g. search input). After clicking the triggering button, check for a modal:

playwright-cli -s=main snapshot "[role='dialog']" --depth=6

The modal will contain form fields (textboxes), a Cancel button, and a Submit button. Fill in the fields and submit:

playwright-cli -s=main fill <textbox-ref> "value"
playwright-cli -s=main click <submit-ref>

After submitting, the modal closes and the bot updates its response. Snapshot the message list to verify.

9. Cleanup

Close the browser and stop the bot when done:

playwright-cli -s=main close

Stop the bot process (kill the node src/index.js process).

Tips

• Always save screenshots to .playwright/output/ to keep the project root clean:

  playwright-cli -s=main screenshot --filename=.playwright/output/name.png
  

  Snapshots and console logs already go there via outputDir in the config, but screenshots require an explicit --filename path.
• Use --depth=N on snapshots to limit output size. Discord's DOM is large; start shallow and drill into specific elements.
• Use playwright-cli -s=main snapshot <ref> to snapshot a specific element for more detail.
• Ephemeral messages (visible only to you) appear in the snapshot with "Only you can see this" text.
• If the session auth expires, re-open headed and log in again manually.