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How to Record a Website with a Headless Browser

Website recording can mean test code, video, or a debugging trace. Learn which output fits and how to move from Playwright’s interactive recorder to headless runs.

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“Recording” a website can mean generating reusable test code, saving a video of a browser session, or capturing a trace for debugging. These are different artifacts. For a headless workflow, use an interactive recorder such as Playwright Codegen to bootstrap actions, then run the resulting script headlessly; configure video or tracing separately if you need those outputs. Codegen itself opens a browser window and the Playwright Inspector—it is not the headless recording step.

Choose what you need to record

Output What it contains Best fit
Test code Replayable actions and, where added, assertions Automating a repeatable user journey
Video A viewable recording of a browser session Sharing or reviewing what a user flow looked like
Trace Structured execution evidence such as DOM snapshots, screenshots, network activity, and console logs Diagnosing why an automated run behaved unexpectedly

One run can produce more than one artifact, but none substitutes for the others: a video is not a robust test, and a trace is not simply a screen recording.

Generate a test from an interactive recording

Playwright Codegen watches interactions in a visible browser and shows generated code in Playwright Inspector. The official guide’s example is:

npx playwright codegen demo.playwright.dev/todomvc

Open the target page, perform the clicks and form entry you want to automate, then stop and copy or edit the generated code from Inspector. Codegen analyzes the rendered page and recommends locators, favoring roles, text, and test IDs. It can generate basic actions such as clicking and filling, and assertions for visibility, text, or value. Treat the result as a starting point: review selectors, add meaningful assertions, and handle application-specific timing or state before relying on it as a test. See Playwright’s Codegen guide and Generating tests.

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Run the resulting script headlessly

Codegen’s interactive capture is not headless. Use the generated or hand-written Playwright test in the environment where you want automation to run. For a Playwright Test project, the configuration can specify a headless browser; for a direct script, launch the browser with headless: true. The exact setup depends on your installed Playwright version and project. For custom interactive inspection, the documentation’s page.pause() approach requires a headed run.

Codegen can also be configured for viewport and device emulation, color scheme, geolocation, language, timezone, and authenticated state. Choose those settings to reflect the scenario you are testing; they do not make the interactive recording itself headless.

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Record a video of a Playwright Test run

For Playwright Test, set the video option in the test configuration. The documented modes are off, on, retain-on-failure, and on-first-retry. They let you choose whether to record no video, every test, only failed tests, or the first retry. Playwright saves videos when the browser context closes. See Playwright video recording.

If you create a browser context manually, use its video-recording option and await context closure before expecting the file to be finalized. The API documentation states that a page has a video object when its context was created with recordVideo, and that the video is guaranteed to be written on context close. See Playwright Video API.

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Playwright also documents CLI-based WebM session recording with start and stop commands, plus optional sizing and chapter markers. Consult its CLI documentation for the current command syntax. Puppeteer’s Page.record() page describes MP4 output, but it is in the next-version documentation and marked experimental; verify that it exists in your installed release before building a workflow around it.

Capture a trace to debug behavior

A trace is usually the better artifact when the question is “what happened at this step?” Playwright tracing can capture DOM snapshots, screenshots, network activity, and console logs at steps, which you can inspect in Trace Viewer. Configure tracing for the run or test according to the Trace Viewer guide; tracing is diagnostic evidence rather than a replacement for assertions in a test.

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Puppeteer also documents a tracing interface and page screenshots. Check the Puppeteer tracing API for the release you use. The cited documentation does not establish a complete cross-version feature matrix, so do not assume the same options or lifecycle across frameworks.

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Example cURL request (replace the target URL as needed):

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Troubleshoot common recording problems

  • The recorder will not run headlessly: Codegen is an interactive browser-and-Inspector workflow. Generate the test visibly, then execute the script in a headless environment rather than trying to make Codegen’s interactive session headless.
  • The generated test breaks when the page changes: Review its locators and assertions. Prefer stable accessible roles, meaningful text, or test IDs where appropriate; generated code is a useful starting point, not a guarantee that a test will remain reliable.
  • The video file is missing or incomplete: Confirm video recording is enabled for the test or context, and wait for the browser context to close. With a manually created context, explicitly await its close so the video can be finalized.
  • The video directory contains too many files: Select a retention mode that matches the debugging need, such as retaining failures or recording on the first retry instead of recording every run.
  • You cannot tell why an action failed from the video: Capture a trace as well. Its DOM snapshots, screenshots, network activity, and console logs provide more diagnostic context than a human-readable video alone.
  • A Puppeteer recording example is unavailable: The cited Page.record() API is labeled experimental in next-version docs. Verify availability in the release actually installed; do not assume a next-version API works in a stable release.

Plan for reliability and cost

Recording every run creates more artifacts to store and inspect; failure-only or retry-based retention can limit that volume while preserving useful evidence. Closing the browser context is part of correct video finalization, not just cleanup. For repeatable tests, treat generated interactions as a draft and make the expected outcome explicit with assertions. Framework behavior, installation requirements, and feature availability can vary by release; consult the official documentation for the version in your project rather than assuming cross-version compatibility.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Playwright Codegen itself record a headless session?

No. Its documented interactive workflow opens a browser window and Playwright Inspector. Use it to generate a script, then run that script headlessly.

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Should I use video or a trace to debug a failed test?

Use a trace when you need step-level context such as DOM snapshots, network activity, and console logs; use video when a viewable record of the session is the main need.

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