Playwright

Developer ToolsApache-2.0

Fast and reliable end-to-end testing for modern web apps.

Latest v1.63.0 · by MicrosoftWritten in TypeScriptWebsitemicrosoft/playwrightRSS

Release activity

Release activity — 12 releases across 11 days since Nov 25, 2025. Each cell is one day; darker means more releases that day. Nothing is recorded before Nov 25, 2025. Older weeks are hidden at this screen width.
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SundayNo releases on May 24, 2026No releases on May 31, 2026No releases on Jun 7, 2026No releases on Jun 14, 2026No releases on Jun 21, 2026No releases on Jun 28, 2026No releases on Jul 5, 2026No releases on Jul 12, 2026No releases on Jul 19, 2026No releases on Jul 26, 2026No releases on Aug 2, 2026No releases on Aug 9, 2026No releases on Aug 16, 2026No releases on Aug 23, 2026No releases on Aug 30, 2026No releases on Sep 6, 2026
MondayNo releases on May 25, 2026No releases on Jun 1, 2026No releases on Jun 8, 20261 release on Jun 15, 2026No releases on Jun 22, 2026No releases on Jun 29, 2026No releases on Jul 6, 2026No releases on Jul 13, 2026No releases on Jul 20, 2026No releases on Jul 27, 2026No releases on Aug 3, 2026No releases on Aug 10, 2026No releases on Aug 17, 2026No releases on Aug 24, 2026No releases on Aug 31, 2026No releases on Sep 7, 2026
TuesdayNo releases on May 26, 2026No releases on Jun 2, 2026No releases on Jun 9, 2026No releases on Jun 16, 20261 release on Jun 23, 2026No releases on Jun 30, 2026No releases on Jul 7, 2026No releases on Jul 14, 2026No releases on Jul 21, 2026No releases on Jul 28, 2026No releases on Aug 4, 2026No releases on Aug 11, 2026No releases on Aug 18, 2026No releases on Aug 25, 2026No releases on Sep 1, 2026
WednesdayNo releases on May 27, 2026No releases on Jun 3, 2026No releases on Jun 10, 2026No releases on Jun 17, 2026No releases on Jun 24, 2026No releases on Jul 1, 2026No releases on Jul 8, 2026No releases on Jul 15, 2026No releases on Jul 22, 2026No releases on Jul 29, 2026No releases on Aug 5, 2026No releases on Aug 12, 2026No releases on Aug 19, 2026No releases on Aug 26, 2026No releases on Sep 2, 2026
ThursdayNo releases on May 28, 2026No releases on Jun 4, 2026No releases on Jun 11, 2026No releases on Jun 18, 2026No releases on Jun 25, 2026No releases on Jul 2, 2026No releases on Jul 9, 2026No releases on Jul 16, 2026No releases on Jul 23, 20261 release on Jul 30, 2026No releases on Aug 6, 2026No releases on Aug 13, 2026No releases on Aug 20, 2026No releases on Aug 27, 2026No releases on Sep 3, 2026
FridayNo releases on May 29, 2026No releases on Jun 5, 2026No releases on Jun 12, 2026No releases on Jun 19, 2026No releases on Jun 26, 2026No releases on Jul 3, 2026No releases on Jul 10, 2026No releases on Jul 17, 20261 release on Jul 24, 2026No releases on Jul 31, 2026No releases on Aug 7, 2026No releases on Aug 14, 2026No releases on Aug 21, 2026No releases on Aug 28, 20261 release on Sep 4, 2026
SaturdayNo releases on May 30, 2026No releases on Jun 6, 2026No releases on Jun 13, 2026No releases on Jun 20, 2026No releases on Jun 27, 2026No releases on Jul 4, 2026No releases on Jul 11, 2026No releases on Jul 18, 2026No releases on Jul 25, 2026No releases on Aug 1, 2026No releases on Aug 8, 2026No releases on Aug 15, 2026No releases on Aug 22, 2026No releases on Aug 29, 2026No releases on Sep 5, 2026

12 releases since Nov 25, 2025, busiest day 2

Changelog

v1.63.0

Latest
Added 17
  • Tests can now declare a named lock to prevent concurrent execution of tests sharing the same lock name across files, workers, and projects
  • page.frameLocator() and frame.frameLocator() can be called without a selector to search in any frame of the subtree
  • New locator.visible() method returns a locator that matches only visible elements
  • test.step() now accepts subtitle and params options for structured step data in reporters
  • Playwright API steps now report the target locator and call arguments to reporters
  • tracing.start() and testOptions.trace now accept a snapshots object to select dom, aria, and screen snapshot capture

From Playwright

🔒 Test locks

Tests that access a shared resource — an external service, a global account setting — can now declare a named lock. Tests that share a lock name never run concurrently, across files, workers and projects, while everything else keeps running in parallel:

test('update user settings', { lock: 'user-settings' }, async ({ page }) => {
  // never runs at the same time as other tests holding 'user-settings'
});

A test can hold multiple locks, and test.describe() accepts a lock for the whole group. Learn more about test locks.

🪟 Locate across frames

page.frameLocator() and frame.frameLocator() called without a selector search in any frame of the subtree, so you no longer need to locate the iframe first:

// Finds the button in any frame on the page.
await page.frameLocator().getByRole('button').click();

The rest of the locator resolves inside a single frame, just like a regular locator, and an error is thrown when it matches elements in several frames.

👁️ Visible-only locators

New locator.visible() returns a locator that matches only visible elements. It is the recommended replacement for the :visible CSS pseudo-class:

await page.locator('button').visible().click();
🧾 Step params and subtitles

Steps now carry structured data for reporters. Playwright API steps report the target locator and call arguments, and test.step() accepts subtitle and params options for your own steps:

await test.step('Login', async () => {
  // ...
}, { subtitle: 'as admin', params: { user: 'admin' } });

Reporters receive them via testStep.subtitle and testStep.params. For Playwright API steps, the subtitle is the locator or the navigation url — for example, Click with subtitle getByRole('button'). Both are rendered next to the step title in the trace viewer and the HTML report.

🖼️ Aria and screen snapshots in traces

The snapshots option of tracing.start() and the testOptions.trace fixture option now accept an object selecting what to capture on every action:

// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  use: {
    trace: {
      mode: 'on',
      snapshots: { dom: true, aria: true, screen: true }
    },
  },
});

With aria and screen snapshots recorded, the new Display Aria mode in the trace viewer shows the action screenshot side by side with the aria snapshot, and hovering an aria node highlights it on the screenshot.

New APIs
Browser and Context
Locators
const response = await request.get<User>('/api/users/42');
const user = await response.json(); // typed as User
Test runner
  • New standalone testOptions.reducedMotion, testOptions.forcedColors and testOptions.contrast options.
  • New --add-reporter command line option appends a reporter on top of the ones configured in playwright.config, instead of replacing them like --reporter does.
  • New omitTags option for the list, line, dot, github and junit reporters suppresses the tags that are automatically appended to test titles.
Command line
  • npx playwright install --no-remove keeps the browsers of other Playwright installations instead of removing them.
  • npx playwright codegen --http-credentials records against pages behind HTTP authentication.
Miscellaneous
  • New built-in perfetto reporter writes a Trace Event Format file for the Perfetto UI or chrome://tracing, rendering the test run as a timeline with a lane per worker.
  • The HTML report renders a duration waterfall next to test steps.
Announcements
  • ⚠️ The experimental @playwright/experimental-ct-react, @playwright/experimental-ct-react17 and @playwright/experimental-ct-vue packages will no longer be updated. Follow the migration guide to move to the stories model introduced in 1.62. Story ids passed to fixtures.mount() can now be typed through the generated Stories registry.
  • ⚠️ Ubuntu 20.04 is not supported anymore.
  • 🐧 On Linux arm64, Playwright now downloads the Chrome for Testing build of Chromium, the same build used on all other platforms.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 153.0.8010.12
  • Mozilla Firefox 155.0
  • WebKit 26.6

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 153
  • Microsoft Edge 153
View originalPermalink
How v1.63.0 went

v1.62.1

Fixed 5
  • Resolve tsconfig "extends" bare specifier via node_modules walk-up like tsc
  • Resolve directory-form tsconfig project references with "path" relative paths
  • Accessibility snapshot no longer drops button name when text is nested inside spans with aria-hidden SVG
  • Allow page.evaluate() argument type-checking for branded primitive types
  • Include image-type actionable elements in accessibility snapshot

From Playwright

Bug Fixes
  • #41989 [Regression]: tsconfig "extends" bare specifier isn't resolved via node_modules walk-up like tsc (fatal since 1.62)
  • #41998 [Regression]: directory-form tsconfig project references ("path": "../pkg") fail to resolve (fatal since 1.62)
  • #41985 Accessibility snapshot drops button name when text is nested inside spans with aria-hidden SVG
  • #42000 [Regression]: page.evaluate() arg of a branded primitive type (string & { brand }) no longer type-checks since 1.62
  • #42013 [BUG]Image-type actionable elements are not presented in the snapshot.
View originalPermalink
How v1.62.1 went

v1.62.0

Added 14
  • New component testing model with stories and galleries, including fixtures.mount() fixture that navigates to gallery, mounts a story by id, and returns a Locator scoped to the story's root element
  • Most operations and web-first assertions now accept a signal option that takes an AbortSignal to cancel long-running actions, navigations, waits, and assertions
  • expect(page).toHaveScreenshot() and expect(locator).toHaveScreenshot() can now store snapshots in WebP format
  • page.screenshot() and locator.screenshot() accept webp as a type, with quality 100 as lossless and lower values using lossy compression
  • New reporter.preprocess() hook runs after configuration is resolved and before reporter.onBegin() to mark individual tests as skipped, excluded, fixed, or failing
  • New testConfig.retryStrategy option controls when failed tests are retried, with 'isolated' running all retries at the end in a single worker
Removed 1
  • Debian 11 is no longer supported

From Playwright

🧱 New component testing model

Component testing moves to a stories and galleries model. A story wraps your component in one specific scenario — hard-coded props, mock data, providers — and a gallery page that you serve renders stories on demand. The new fixtures.mount() fixture navigates to the gallery, mounts a story by id, and returns a Locator scoped to the story's root element:

test('click should expand', async ({ mount }) => {
  const component = await mount('components/Expandable/Stateful');
  await component.getByRole('button').click();
  await expect(component.getByTestId('expanded')).toHaveValue('true');
});

Pass a story type as a template argument to type-check its props, and use update(props) / unmount() on the returned locator to re-render or tear down within a test.

🛑 Cancel operations with AbortSignal

Most operations and web-first assertions now accept a signal option that takes an AbortSignal, letting you cancel long-running actions, navigations, waits, and assertions:

const controller = new AbortController();
setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 1000);

await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' }).click({ signal: controller.signal });
await expect(page.getByText('Done')).toBeVisible({ signal: controller.signal });

Providing a signal does not disable the default timeout; pass timeout: 0 to disable it.

🖼️ WebP screenshots

expect(page).toHaveScreenshot() and expect(locator).toHaveScreenshot() can now store snapshots in the WebP format — just give the snapshot a .webp name:

// Visual comparisons store the golden snapshot as lossless WebP.
await expect(page).toHaveScreenshot('homepage.webp');

// Standalone screenshots can trade quality for size with lossy WebP.
await page.screenshot({ path: 'homepage.webp', quality: 50 });

page.screenshot() and [locator.screenshot() (https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locator#locator-screenshot) also accept webp as a type, where quality 100 (the default) is lossless and lower values use lossy compression.

🧩 Custom test filtering with Reporter.preprocess()

New reporter.preprocess() hook runs after the configuration is resolved and before reporter.onBegin(), letting a reporter mark individual tests as skipped, excluded, fixed, or failing through a TestRun object:

class MyReporter {
  async preprocess({ config, suite, testRun }) {
    for (const test of suite.allTests()) {
      if (shouldSkip(test))
        testRun.skip(test);
    }
  }
}
🔁 Isolated retries

New testConfig.retryStrategy controls when failed tests are retried. The default 'immediate' retries as soon as a worker is free; 'isolated' runs all retries at the end, one by one in a single worker, to minimize interference with the rest of the suite:

// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  retries: 2,
  retryStrategy: 'isolated',
});
New APIs
Browser and Context
  • New option credentials includes the context's virtual WebAuthn Credentials (passkeys) in the storage state, so they can be persisted and re-seeded into later contexts.
Actions
  • New scroll option ("auto" | "none") on actions to opt out of Playwright's automatic scroll-into-view.
Network
Evaluation
Command line & MCP
Reporters
  • The HTML report's Merge files grouping — previously only a UI toggle — can now be enabled from the config with the new mergeFiles reporter option:
// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  reporter: [['html', { mergeFiles: true }]],
});
Announcements
  • ⚠️ Debian 11 is not supported anymore.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 151.0.7922.34
  • Mozilla Firefox 153.0
  • WebKit 26.5

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 151
  • Microsoft Edge 151
View originalPermalink
How v1.62.0 went

v1.61.1

Fixed 5
  • Expect.extend matcher with same name as default matcher in same expect instance no longer overrides default matchers implementation
  • Playwright UI mode apiRequestContext._wrapApiCall reporting unexpected number of bytes
  • Trace viewer message times in websockets no longer downscaled by 1000
  • Sync loader throwing context.conditions?.includes is not a function on Node 22.15
  • Sync ESM loader registerHooks failing to resolve extensionless .ts subpath imports across pnpm workspace symlinks

From Playwright

Bug Fixes
  • #41365 [Bug]: Expect.Extend matcher with same name as default matcher in same expect instance overrides default matchers implementation to custom matcher
  • #41351 [Bug]: Playwright UI mode: apiRequestContext._wrapApiCall reports unexpected number of bytes (same test passes in headed mode)
  • #41360 [Bug]: Trace viewer: message times in websockets are downscaled by 1000
  • #41311 [Bug]: [Regression]: Sync loader throws "context.conditions?.includes is not a function" on Node 22.15
  • #41371 [Regression]: Sync ESM loader (registerHooks) fails to resolve extensionless .ts subpath imports across pnpm workspace symlinks
View originalPermalink
How v1.61.1 went

v1.61.0

Added 12
  • Add Credentials virtual authenticator API via browserContext.credentials for registering passkeys and handling navigator.credentials ceremonies without hardware keys
  • Add WebStorage API via page.localStorage and page.sessionStorage for reading and writing page storage
  • Add apiResponse.securityDetails() and apiResponse.serverAddr() methods to mirror browser-side response methods
  • Add artifactsDir option in browserType.connectOverCDP() to control where artifacts are stored when attached to an existing browser
  • Add cursor option in screencast.showActions() to control cursor decoration for pointer actions
  • Add timestamp parameter to onFrame callback in screencast.start() indicating when the frame was presented by the browser
Changed 2
  • testInfo.errors now lists each sub-error of an AggregateError as a separate entry
  • HAR and trace recordings now include WebSocket requests

From Playwright

🔑 WebAuthn passkeys

New Credentials virtual authenticator, available via browserContext.credentials, lets tests register passkeys and answer navigator.credentials.create() / navigator.credentials.get() ceremonies in the page — no real hardware key required, works in all browsers:

const context = await browser.newContext();

// Seed a passkey your backend provisioned for a test user.
await context.credentials.create('example.com', {
  id: credentialId,
  userHandle,
  privateKey,
  publicKey,
});
await context.credentials.install();

const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
// The page's navigator.credentials.get() is answered with the seeded passkey.

You can also let the app register a passkey once in a setup test, read it back with credentials.get(), and seed it into later tests — see Credentials for details.

🗃️ Web Storage

New WebStorage API, available via page.localStorage and page.sessionStorage, reads and writes the page's storage for the current origin:

await page.localStorage.setItem('token', 'abc');
const token = await page.localStorage.getItem('token');
const items = await page.sessionStorage.items();
New APIs
Network
Browser and Screencast
  • New option artifactsDir in browserType.connectOverCDP() controls where artifacts such as traces and downloads are stored when attached to an existing browser.
  • New option cursor in screencast.showActions() controls the cursor decoration rendered for pointer actions.
  • The onFrame callback in screencast.start() now receives a timestamp of when the frame was presented by the browser.
Test runner
  • The testOptions.video option now supports the same set of modes as trace: new 'on-all-retries', 'retain-on-first-failure' and 'retain-on-failure-and-retries' values. See the video modes table for which runs are recorded and kept in each mode.
  • Supported expect.soft.poll(...).
  • New fullConfig.argv — a snapshot of process.argv from the runner process, handy for reading custom arguments passed after the -- separator.
  • New fullConfig.failOnFlakyTests mirrors the config option, so reporters can explain why a flaky run failed.
  • testInfo.errors now lists each sub-error of an AggregateError as a separate entry.
  • New -G command line shorthand for --grep-invert.
🛠️ Other improvements
  • Playwright now supports Ubuntu 26.04.
  • HAR and trace recordings now include WebSocket requests.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 149.0.7827.55
  • Mozilla Firefox 151.0
  • WebKit 26.5

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 149
  • Microsoft Edge 149
View originalPermalink
How v1.61.0 went

v1.60.0

Added 15
  • Add tracing.startHar() and tracing.stopHar() to expose HAR recording as a first-class tracing API
  • Add locator.drop() to simulate external drag-and-drop of files or clipboard-like data onto an element
  • Add expect(page).toMatchAriaSnapshot() to work on a Page in addition to a Locator
  • Add boxes option on locator.ariaSnapshot() and page.ariaSnapshot() to append each element's bounding box
  • Add test.abort() to abort the currently running test from a fixture, hook, or route handler
  • Add browser.on('context') event fired when a new context is created on the browser
Changed 1
  • consoleMessage.location() now exposes line and column properties
Deprecated 1
  • consoleMessage.location() properties lineNumber and columnNumber are deprecated

From Playwright

🌐 HAR recording on Tracing

tracing.startHar() / tracing.stopHar() expose HAR recording as a first-class tracing API, with the same content, mode and urlFilter options as recordHar. The returned Disposable makes it easy to scope a recording with await using:

await using har = await context.tracing.startHar('trace.har');
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://playwright.dev');
// HAR is finalized when `har` goes out of scope.
🪝 Drop API

New locator.drop() simulates an external drag-and-drop of files or clipboard-like data onto an element. Playwright dispatches dragenter, dragover, and drop with a synthetic [DataTransfer] in the page context — works cross-browser and is great for testing upload zones:

await page.locator('#dropzone').drop({
  files: { name: 'note.txt', mimeType: 'text/plain', buffer: Buffer.from('hello') },
});

await page.locator('#dropzone').drop({
  data: {
    'text/plain': 'hello world',
    'text/uri-list': 'https://example.com',
  },
});
🎯 Aria snapshots
🛑 test.abort()

New test.abort() aborts the currently running test from a fixture, hook, or route handler with an optional message. Use it when you have detected an unrecoverable misuse and want to fail the test right away:

test('does not publish to the shared page', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.route('**/publish', route => {
    test.abort('Tests must not publish to the shared page. Use the `clone` option.');
    return route.abort();
  });
  // ...
});
New APIs
Browser, Context and Page
Locators and Assertions
Network
  • webSocketRoute.protocols() returns the WebSocket subprotocols requested by the page.
  • New option noDefaults in browserType.connectOverCDP() disables Playwright's default overrides on the default context (download behavior, focus emulation, media emulation), so attaching to a user's daily-driver browser doesn't disturb its state.
Errors and Reporting
Test runner
  • New {testFileBaseName} token in testProject.snapshotPathTemplate — file name without extension.
  • Test runner now errors when a config tries to override a non-option fixture, and rejects workers: 0 or negative values.
🛠️ Other improvements
  • HTML reporter:
    • npx playwright show-report accepts .zip files directly — no need to unzip first.
    • Steps that contain attachments inside nested children show an indicator on the parent step.
    • The repeatEachIndex is shown in the test header when non-zero.
  • Trace Viewer adds a pretty-print toggle for JSON / form request and response bodies in the network details panel.
Breaking Changes ⚠️
  • Removed long-deprecated APIs:
    • Locator.ariaRef() — use the standard locator.ariaSnapshot() pipeline.
    • handle option on BrowserContext.exposeBinding and Page.exposeBinding.
    • logger option on BrowserType.connect and BrowserType.connectOverCDP — use tracing instead.
    • Context options videosPath / videoSize — use recordVideo instead.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 148.0.7778.96
  • Mozilla Firefox 150.0.2
  • WebKit 26.4

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 147
  • Microsoft Edge 147
View originalPermalink
How v1.60.0 went

v1.59.1

Fixed 1
  • Reverted hiding console window when spawning browser processes to fix regressions in codegen, --ui and show commands on Windows

From Playwright

Bug Fixes
  • [Windows] Reverted hiding console window when spawning browser processes, which caused regressions including broken codegen, --ui and show commands (#39990)
View originalPermalink
How v1.59.1 went

v1.59.0

Added 16
  • Add page.screencast API for capturing page content with screencast recordings, action annotations, visual overlays, real-time frame capture, and agentic video receipts
  • Add screencast.start() method to record video with precise start/stop control as an alternative to recordVideo option
  • Add screencast.stop() method to stop video recording
  • Add screencast.showActions() method to enable visual annotations that highlight interacted elements and display action titles during recording with configurable position, duration, and fontSize
  • Add screencast.showChapter() method to add chapter titles and descriptions to recorded video
  • Add screencast.showOverlay() method to add custom HTML overlays on top of the page during recording

From Playwright

🎬 Screencast

New page.screencast API provides a unified interface for capturing page content with:

  • Screencast recordings
  • Action annotations
  • Visual overlays
  • Real-time frame capture
  • Agentic video receipts

Screencast recording — record video with precise start/stop control, as an alternative to the recordVideo option:

await page.screencast.start({ path: 'video.webm' });
// ... perform actions ...
await page.screencast.stop();

Action annotations — enable built-in visual annotations that highlight interacted elements and display action titles during recording:

await page.screencast.showActions({ position: 'top-right' });

screencast.showActions() accepts position ('top-left', 'top', 'top-right', 'bottom-left', 'bottom', 'bottom-right'), duration (ms per annotation), and fontSize (px). Returns a disposable to stop showing actions.

Action annotations can also be enabled in test fixtures via the video option:

// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  use: {
    video: {
      mode: 'on',
      show: {
        actions: { position: 'top-left' },
        test: { position: 'top-right' },
      },
    },
  },
});

Visual overlays — add chapter titles and custom HTML overlays on top of the page for richer narration:

await page.screencast.showChapter('Adding TODOs', {
  description: 'Type and press enter for each TODO',
  duration: 1000,
});

await page.screencast.showOverlay('<div style="color: red">Recording</div>');

Real-time frame capture — stream JPEG-encoded frames for custom processing like thumbnails, live previews, AI vision, and more:

await page.screencast.start({
  onFrame: ({ data }) => sendToVisionModel(data),
  size: { width: 800, height: 600 },
});

Agentic video receipts — coding agents can produce video evidence of their work. After completing a task, an agent can record a walkthrough video with rich annotations for human review:

await page.screencast.start({ path: 'receipt.webm' });
await page.screencast.showActions({ position: 'top-right' });

await page.screencast.showChapter('Verifying checkout flow', {
  description: 'Added coupon code support per ticket #1234',
});

// Agent performs the verification steps...
await page.locator('#coupon').fill('SAVE20');
await page.locator('#apply-coupon').click();
await expect(page.locator('.discount')).toContainText('20%');

await page.screencast.showChapter('Done', {
  description: 'Coupon applied, discount reflected in total',
});

await page.screencast.stop();

The resulting video serves as a receipt: chapter titles provide context, action annotations highlight each interaction, and the visual walkthrough is faster to review than text logs.

🔗 Interoperability

New browser.bind() API makes a launched browser available for playwright-cli, @playwright/mcp, and other clients to connect to.

Bind a browser — start a browser and bind it so others can connect:

const { endpoint } = await browser.bind('my-session', {
  workspaceDir: '/my/project',
});

Connect from playwright-cli — connect to the running browser from your favorite coding agent.

playwright-cli attach my-session
playwright-cli -s my-session snapshot

Connect from @playwright/mcp — or point your MCP server to the running browser.

@playwright/mcp --endpoint=my-session

Connect from a Playwright client — use API to connect to the browser. Multiple clients at a time are supported!

const browser = await chromium.connect(endpoint);

Pass host and port options to bind over WebSocket instead of a named pipe:

const { endpoint } = await browser.bind('my-session', {
  host: 'localhost',
  port: 0,
});
// endpoint is a ws:// URL

Call browser.unbind() to stop accepting new connections.

📊 Observability

Run playwright-cli show to open the Dashboard that lists all the bound browsers, their statuses, and allows interacting with them:

  • See what your agent is doing on the background browsers
  • Click into the sessions for manual interventions
  • Open DevTools to inspect pages from the background browsers.
🐛 CLI debugger for agents

Coding agents can now run npx playwright test --debug=cli to attach and debug tests over playwright-cli — perfect for automatically fixing tests in agentic workflows:

$ npx playwright test --debug=cli
### Debugging Instructions
- Run "playwright-cli attach tw-87b59e" to attach to this test

$ playwright-cli attach tw-87b59e
### Session `tw-87b59e` created, attached to `tw-87b59e`.
Run commands with: playwright-cli --session=tw-87b59e <command>
### Paused
- Navigate to "/" at output/tests/example.spec.ts:4

$ playwright-cli --session tw-87b59e step-over
### Page
- Page URL: https://playwright.dev/
- Page Title: Fast and reliable end-to-end testing for modern web apps | Playwright
### Paused
- Expect "toHaveTitle" at output/tests/example.spec.ts:7
📋 CLI trace analysis for agents

Coding agents can run npx playwright trace to explore Playwright Trace and understand failing or flaky tests from the command line:

$ npx playwright trace open test-results/example-has-title-chromium/trace.zip
  Title:        example.spec.ts:3 › has title

$ npx playwright trace actions --grep="expect"
     # Time       Action                                                  Duration
  ──── ─────────  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ────────
    9. 0:00.859  Expect "toHaveTitle"                                        5.1s  ✗

$ npx playwright trace action 9
  Expect "toHaveTitle"
  Error: expect(page).toHaveTitle(expected) failed
    Expected pattern: /Wrong Title/
    Received string:  "Fast and reliable end-to-end testing for modern web apps | Playwright"
    Timeout: 5000ms
  Snapshots
    available: before, after
    usage:     npx playwright trace snapshot 9 --name <before|after>

$ npx playwright trace snapshot 9 --name after
### Page
- Page Title: Fast and reliable end-to-end testing for modern web apps | Playwright

$ npx playwright trace close
♻️ await using

Many APIs now return async disposables, enabling the await using syntax for automatic cleanup:

await using page = await context.newPage();
{
  await using route = await page.route('**/*', route => route.continue());
  await using script = await page.addInitScript('console.log("init script here")');
  await page.goto('https://playwright.dev');
  // do something
}
// route and init script have been removed at this point
🔍 Snapshots and Locators
New APIs
Screencast
Storage, Console and Errors
Miscellaneous
🛠️ Other improvements
  • UI Mode has an option to only show tests affected by source changes.
  • UI Mode and Trace Viewer have improved action filtering.
  • HTML Reporter shows the list of runs from the same worker.
  • HTML Reporter allows filtering test steps for quick search.
  • New trace mode 'retain-on-failure-and-retries' records a trace for each test run and retains all traces when an attempt fails — great for comparing a passing trace with a failing one from a flaky test.
Known Issues ⚠️⚠️
  • navigator.platform emulation can cause Ctrl or Meta dispatching errors (https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/40009). Pass PLAYWRIGHT_NO_UA_PLATFORM = '1' environment variable while we are issuing a patch release. Let us know in the issue how it affected you.
Breaking Changes ⚠️
  • Removed macOS 14 support for WebKit. We recommend upgrading your macOS version, or keeping an older Playwright version.
  • Removed @playwright/experimental-ct-svelte package.
  • junit test reporter now differentiates between types of errors, so some of the previous <failure>s are now reported as <error>s.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 147.0.7727.15
  • Mozilla Firefox 148.0.2
  • WebKit 26.4

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 146
  • Microsoft Edge 146
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How v1.59.0 went

v1.58.2

Fixed 2
  • Make paths via stdin work in trace viewer
  • Do not force swiftshader on chromium mac

From Playwright

Highlights

#39121 fix(trace viewer): make paths via stdin work #39129 fix: do not force swiftshader on chromium mac

Browser Versions
  • Chromium 145.0.7632.6
  • Mozilla Firefox 146.0.1
  • WebKit 26.0
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How v1.58.2 went

v1.58.1

Fixed 1
  • fix local network permissions for msedge

From Playwright

Highlights

#39036 fix(msedge): fix local network permissions #39037 chore: update cft download location #38995 chore(webkit): disable frame sessions on fronzen builds

Browser Versions
  • Chromium 145.0.7632.6
  • Mozilla Firefox 146.0.1
  • WebKit 26.0
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How v1.58.1 went

v1.58.0

Added 5
  • Add token-efficient CLI mode of operation with skills for Playwright
  • Show Timeline in HTML report Speedboard tab for merged reports
  • Add system theme option in UI Mode and Trace Viewer that follows OS dark/light mode preference
  • Add search functionality (Cmd/Ctrl+F) in code editors of UI Mode and Trace Viewer
  • Add isLocal option to browserType.connectOverCDP() for file system optimizations when running on the same host as the CDP server
Changed 2
  • Reorganize network details panel in UI Mode and Trace Viewer for better usability
  • Automatically format JSON responses for readability in UI Mode and Trace Viewer
Removed 4
  • Remove _react and _vue selectors
  • Remove :light selector engine suffix
  • Remove devtools option from browserType.launch()
  • Remove macOS 13 support for WebKit

From Playwright

📣 Playwright CLI+SKILLs 📣

We are adding a new token-efficient CLI mode of operation to Playwright with the skills located at playwright-cli. This brings the long-awaited official SKILL-focused CLI mode to our story and makes it more coding agent-friendly.

It is the first snapshot with the essential command set (which is already larger than the original MCP!), but we expect it to grow rapidly. Unlike the token use, that one we expect to go down since snapshots are no longer forced into the LLM!

Timeline

If you're using merged reports, the HTML report Speedboard tab now shows the Timeline:

Timeline chart in the HTML report

UI Mode and Trace Viewer Improvements
  • New 'system' theme option follows your OS dark/light mode preference
  • Search functionality (Cmd/Ctrl+F) is now available in code editors
  • Network details panel has been reorganized for better usability
  • JSON responses are now automatically formatted for readability

Thanks to @cpAdm for contributing these improvements!

Miscellaneous

browserType.connectOverCDP() now accepts an isLocal option. When set to true, it tells Playwright that it runs on the same host as the CDP server, enabling file system optimizations.

Breaking Changes ⚠️
  • Removed _react and _vue selectors. See locators guide for alternatives.
  • Removed :light selector engine suffix. Use standard CSS selectors instead.
  • Option devtools from browserType.launch() has been removed. Use args: ['--auto-open-devtools-for-tabs'] instead.
  • Removed macOS 13 support for WebKit. We recommend to upgrade your macOS version, or keep using an older Playwright version.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 145.0.7632.6
  • Mozilla Firefox 146.0.1
  • WebKit 26.0

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

  • Google Chrome 144
  • Microsoft Edge 144
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How v1.58.0 went

v1.57.0

Added 8
  • Add Speedboard tab to HTML reporter showing all executed tests sorted by slowness
  • Add wait field to testConfig.webServer to wait until webserver logs match a regular expression, with support for named capture groups to extract values into environment variables
  • Add testConfig.tag property to add a tag to all tests in a run
  • Add worker.on('console') event emitted when JavaScript within the worker calls console API methods
  • Add locator.description() method to return locator description previously set with locator.describe(), and update Locator.toString() to use the description when available
  • Add steps option in locator.click() and locator.dragTo() to configure the number of mousemove events emitted while moving the mouse pointer
  • Report network requests issued by Service Workers and allow routing through BrowserContext in Chromium, with opt-out via PLAYWRIGHT_DISABLE_SERVICE_WORKER_NETWORK environment variable
  • Dispatch console messages from Service Workers through worker.on('console') event with opt-out via PLAYWRIGHT_DISABLE_SERVICE_WORKER_CONSOLE environment variable
Changed 1
  • Switch from Chromium to Chrome for Testing builds for both headed and headless browsers, except on Arm64 Linux which continues to use Chromium
Removed 1
  • Remove Page#accessibility API after 3 years of deprecation

From Playwright

Speedboard

In HTML reporter, there's a new tab we call "Speedboard":

It shows you all your executed tests sorted by slowness, and can help you understand where your test suite is taking longer than expected. Take a look at yours - maybe you'll find some tests that are spending a longer time waiting than they should!

Chrome for Testing

Starting with this release, Playwright switches from Chromium, to using Chrome for Testing builds. Both headed and headless browsers are subject to this. Your tests should still be passing after upgrading to Playwright 1.57.

We're expecting no functional changes to come from this switch. The biggest change is the new icon and title in your toolbar.

If you still see an unexpected behaviour change, please file an issue.

On Arm64 Linux, Playwright continues to use Chromium.

Waiting for webserver output

testConfig.webServer added a wait field. Pass a regular expression, and Playwright will wait until the webserver logs match it.

import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';

export default defineConfig({
  webServer: {
    command: 'npm run start',
    wait: {
      stdout: '/Listening on port (?<my_server_port>\\d+)/'
    },
  },
});

If you include a named capture group into the expression, then Playwright will provide the capture group contents via environment variables:

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test.use({ baseUrl: `http://localhost:${process.env.MY_SERVER_PORT ?? 3000}` });

test('homepage', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/');
});

This is not just useful for capturing varying ports of dev servers. You can also use it to wait for readiness of a service that doesn't expose an HTTP readiness check, but instead prints a readiness message to stdout or stderr.

Breaking Change

After 3 years of being deprecated, we removed Page#accessibility from our API. Please use other libraries such as Axe if you need to test page accessibility. See our Node.js guide for integration with Axe.

New APIs
  • New property testConfig.tag adds a tag to all tests in this run. This is useful when using merge-reports.
  • worker.on('console') event is emitted when JavaScript within the worker calls one of console API methods, e.g. console.log or console.dir. worker.waitForEvent() can be used to wait for it.
  • locator.description() returns locator description previously set with locator.describe(), and Locator.toString() now uses the description when available.
  • New option steps in locator.click() and locator.dragTo() that configures the number of mousemove events emitted while moving the mouse pointer to the target element.
  • Network requests issued by Service Workers are now reported and can be routed through the BrowserContext, only in Chromium. You can opt out using the PLAYWRIGHT_DISABLE_SERVICE_WORKER_NETWORK environment variable.
  • Console messages from Service Workers are dispatched through worker.on('console'). You can opt out of this using the PLAYWRIGHT_DISABLE_SERVICE_WORKER_CONSOLE environment variable.
Browser Versions
  • Chromium 143.0.7499.4
  • Mozilla Firefox 144.0.2
  • WebKit 26.0
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How v1.57.0 went
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