| name | playwright-cli |
| description | Drive a live browser from the CLI with playwright-cli to navigate, interact, snapshot, and capture evidence. Use for ad-hoc browser commands, page inspection, screenshots, traces, network mocking, session management, or interactive debugging—not authoring @playwright/test specs. Keywords: playwright-cli, browser automation, live session, snapshot, console, tracing. |
| license | Complete terms in LICENSE.txt |
Browser Automation with playwright-cli
Quick start
playwright-cli open
playwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli type "search query"
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close
Commands
Core
playwright-cli open [url]
playwright-cli goto <url>
playwright-cli type "<text>"
playwright-cli click <ref>
playwright-cli dblclick <ref>
playwright-cli fill <ref> "<text>" [--submit]
playwright-cli drag <ref> <ref>
playwright-cli drop <ref> [--path=<file> | --data="mime=value"]
playwright-cli hover <ref>
playwright-cli select <ref> "<value>"
playwright-cli upload <path>
playwright-cli check <ref>
playwright-cli uncheck <ref>
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli find "<text>" | --regex "<pattern>" [--regex "/pattern/i"]
playwright-cli eval "<js>" [ref]
playwright-cli dialog-accept ["text"]
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss
playwright-cli resize <w> <h>
playwright-cli close
Navigation & Keyboard
playwright-cli go-back | go-forward | reload
playwright-cli press <key>
playwright-cli keydown | keyup <key>
Mouse
playwright-cli mousemove <x> <y>
playwright-cli mousedown [right]
playwright-cli mouseup [right]
playwright-cli mousewheel <dx> <dy>
Save as
playwright-cli screenshot [ref] [--filename=<f>] [--hires]
playwright-cli pdf --filename=<f>
Tabs
playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-new [url]
playwright-cli tab-close [index]
playwright-cli tab-select <index>
Storage
playwright-cli state-save [file] | state-load <file>
playwright-cli cookie-list [--domain=] | cookie-get <name>
playwright-cli cookie-set <name> <val> [--domain= --httpOnly --secure]
playwright-cli cookie-delete <name> | cookie-clear
playwright-cli localstorage-list | localstorage-get <key>
playwright-cli localstorage-set <key> <val> | localstorage-delete <key> | localstorage-clear
playwright-cli sessionstorage-list | sessionstorage-get <key>
playwright-cli sessionstorage-set <key> <val> | sessionstorage-delete <key> | sessionstorage-clear
Network
playwright-cli route "<glob>" [--status= | --body=]
playwright-cli route-list
playwright-cli unroute ["<glob>"]
DevTools
playwright-cli console [warning|error]
playwright-cli requests
playwright-cli request <index>
playwright-cli run-code "<js>" | --filename=<f>
playwright-cli tracing-start | tracing-stop
playwright-cli video-start <file> | video-chapter "<title>" [--description= --duration=] | video-stop
playwright-cli video-show-actions [--duration= --position=] | video-hide-actions
playwright-cli show --annotate
playwright-cli generate-locator <ref> [--raw]
playwright-cli highlight <ref> [--style=] | highlight <ref> --hide | highlight --hide
Raw output
--raw strips status/snapshot, returns only the result value.
playwright-cli --raw eval "JSON.stringify(performance.timing)"
playwright-cli --raw snapshot > before.yml
playwright-cli click e5
playwright-cli --raw snapshot > after.yml
diff before.yml after.yml
For JSON wrapping: playwright-cli list --json
Open parameters
playwright-cli open --browser=chrome|firefox|webkit|msedge
playwright-cli open --mobile | --device="iPhone 15"
playwright-cli open --persistent | --profile=/path/to/profile
playwright-cli attach --extension=chrome | --cdp=chrome|msedge|http://host:port
playwright-cli open --config=<file>
playwright-cli delete-data
Windows: See references/windows-notes.md for URL escaping rules.
Snapshots
After each command, playwright-cli provides a snapshot of the current browser state.
playwright-cli snapshot [ref] [--filename=] [--depth=N] [--boxes]
playwright-cli find "<text>"
playwright-cli find --regex "\\$[0-9]+\\.[0-9]{2}"
Targeting elements
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli click "#main > button.submit"
playwright-cli click "getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' })"
playwright-cli click "getByTestId('submit-button')"
Browser sessions
playwright-cli -s=<name> open [url] [--persistent | --profile=<dir>]
playwright-cli -s=<name> click e6
playwright-cli -s=<name> close
playwright-cli list
playwright-cli close-all
playwright-cli kill-all
Installation
npx --no-install playwright --version
npx playwright cli
npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
When NOT to Use This Skill
- Authoring or maintaining versioned
@playwright/test spec files (use playwright-e2e-testing).
- Selenium/Java browser automation (use
webapp-selenium-testing).
- Governing a large regression suite, tiers, or CI sharding (use
playwright-regression-testing).
- Long-running recorded test suites — playwright-cli drives a single live, interactive session, not a parallel run.
Red Flags
- Relying on
--debug=cli as a permanent test runner — it is an exploration/debug aid, not a CI executor.
- Leaving background debug sessions running between scenarios — they leak state and ports; always stop them.
- Opening the app URL directly instead of going through the seed test — custom setup in the test is then missed.
- Using sleeps or
networkidle as a fix for timing issues — prefer web-first assertions.
References
Verification
