playwright

name	playwright
description	Render web pages with JavaScript using Playwright for sites that need browser rendering or have issues with simple HTTP fetching. Use when this capability is needed.
metadata	{"author":"eddmann"}

Playwright Skill

Use Playwright to render JavaScript-heavy websites, take screenshots, and extract content that regular HTTP fetching can't handle.

Installation

Playwright will be installed automatically via uv dependencies, but you may need to install browsers:

# Install browsers (run once)
playwright install chromium
# Or for all browsers
playwright install

Core Operations

Basic Page Rendering

uv run - "https://example.com" <<'EOF'
# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.12"
# dependencies = ["playwright>=1.0", "beautifulsoup4>=4.0"]
# ///

import sys
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print("Usage: script <url>")
    sys.exit(1)

url = sys.argv[1]
print(f"🎭 Rendering: {url}")

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page()

    try:
        # Navigate and wait for page to load
        page.goto(url, wait_until='networkidle')

        # Get basic info
        title = page.title()
        content = page.content()

        print(f"✅ Page loaded successfully")
        print(f"📄 Title: {title}")
        print(f"📏 Content length: {len(content)} characters")
        print(f"🔗 Final URL: {page.url}")

        # Extract and clean text content
        text_content = page.evaluate("""
            () => {
                // Remove script and style elements
                const scripts = document.querySelectorAll('script, style, nav, header, footer');
                scripts.forEach(el => el.remove());

                // Get main content
                const main = document.querySelector('main, article, .content, .post, .entry') || document.body;
                return main.innerText || document.body.innerText;
            }
        """)

        # Clean and limit output
        clean_text = '\n'.join(line.strip() for line in text_content.split('\n') if line.strip())

        print(f"\n📝 EXTRACTED CONTENT:")
        print("=" * 80)
        print(clean_text[:3000])  # First 3000 chars
        if len(clean_text) > 3000:
            print(f"\n... (truncated, full content is {len(clean_text)} characters)")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ Error loading page: {e}")
    finally:
        browser.close()
EOF

Take Screenshot

uv run - "https://example.com" "screenshot.png" <<'EOF'
# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.12"
# dependencies = ["playwright>=1.0"]
# ///

import sys
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
from pathlib import Path

if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print("Usage: script <url> [output_file]")
    sys.exit(1)

url = sys.argv[1]
output_file = sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv) > 2 else "screenshot.png"

print(f"📸 Taking screenshot of: {url}")

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
    page = browser.new_page()

    # Set viewport size
    page.set_viewport_size({"width": 1280, "height": 720})

    try:
        page.goto(url, wait_until='networkidle')

        # Take full page screenshot
        page.screenshot(path=output_file, full_page=True)

        # Get file size
        file_size = Path(output_file).stat().st_size
        print(f"✅ Screenshot saved: {output_file} ({file_size:,} bytes)")
        print(f"📄 Page title: {page.title()}")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"❌ Error taking screenshot: {e}")
    finally:
        browser.close()
EOF

Debugging

If a method call fails or you're unsure what's available on the page object, introspect it:

uv run -c "from playwright.sync_api import Page; print([m for m in dir(Page) if not m.startswith('_')])"

For full library docs, fetch the README:

webfetch https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-python

Usage Patterns

1. When webfetch fails: Use basic rendering for JavaScript sites
2. Screenshots: Visual documentation or debugging
3. Dynamic content: Add page.wait_for_timeout(ms) for slow-rendering JS

Use this when the built-in webfetch tool encounters:

• JavaScript-only content
• Dynamic loading
• Complex single-page applications

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