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Freedom251 › Blog › authentication

How to Take a Screenshot of a Page Behind a Login with Playwright

By Freedom251 Team · · 6 min read

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To capture a page that requires login, sign in within a Playwright browser context, confirm the authenticated state, navigate to the protected page, and call page.screenshot(). For repeated runs, save the context’s storage state after login and load it in later runs. Treat that saved state like a password: it can contain credentials that let someone access the account.

Take a screenshot after signing in

For a one-off capture, log in and take the screenshot in the same browser context. Replace the example URLs, labels, and post-login signal with ones that match your application. This example uses Playwright’s locator methods to find form controls by their accessible labels and role.

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import { chromium } from 'playwright';

const browser = await chromium.launch();
const context = await browser.newContext();
const page = await context.newPage();

await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
await page.getByLabel('Email').fill(process.env.TEST_EMAIL!);
await page.getByLabel('Password').fill(process.env.TEST_PASSWORD!);
await page.getByRole('button', { name: /sign in/i }).click();

// Replace this with a reliable signal that login has completed.
await page.waitForURL('https://example.com/');

await page.goto('https://example.com/account/reports');
await page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Reports' }).waitFor();
await page.screenshot({ path: 'reports.png', fullPage: true });

await browser.close();

Set TEST_EMAIL and TEST_PASSWORD in your environment rather than putting account credentials in source code. Do not rely on an arbitrary sleep to guess when login is finished: wait for an expected URL or a visible account control, then wait for a landmark on the destination page before capturing. See the Playwright authentication guide and locator documentation.

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Save and reuse login state

For a test suite or recurring script, authenticate once and save the browser context’s storage state. A setup project can do this before dependent tests run, so those tests start with the saved state instead of repeating the login flow.

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Create the authentication setup

// tests/auth.setup.ts
import { test as setup, expect } from '@playwright/test';

setup('authenticate', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
  await page.getByLabel('Email').fill(process.env.TEST_EMAIL!);
  await page.getByLabel('Password').fill(process.env.TEST_PASSWORD!);
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: /sign in/i }).click();
  await expect(page.getByRole('button', { name: /account/i })).toBeVisible();
  await page.context().storageState({ path: 'playwright/.auth/user.json' });
});

The visible account control is the proof point here; adapt it to an element that only appears after successful authentication. Configure the test project to load playwright/.auth/user.json with its storageState setting and make that project depend on the setup project. Playwright’s authentication guide documents this setup-project pattern.

Choose shared or per-worker state

  • Shared read-only account: Reuse one state file when tests can run simultaneously without changing shared server-side data.
  • Tests that mutate account data: Give each parallel worker its own account and state file, so concurrent tests do not interfere. Playwright’s guide shows how to identify worker-specific state using parallelIndex.
  • Multiple user roles: Save separate state files and load each in a separate browser context when a test needs to act as different users.

If the application supports API login, you can authenticate with an API request and save that request context’s storage state instead of driving the login form. Confirm the resulting state works in a browser context before relying on it; see Playwright’s API authentication guidance.

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Know what Playwright storage state includes

Playwright’s documented storage-state flow includes cookies and local storage. The BrowserContext API also documents optional IndexedDB capture, added in Playwright v1.51, and virtual WebAuthn credential storage, added in v1.61. Check the API reference for your installed version before depending on either option.

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storageState does not automatically preserve sessionStorage. If the application depends on it, Playwright’s authentication guide describes a manual workaround: read the relevant values, save them separately, and inject them with context.addInitScript() before the protected application loads. Use this only when the application actually relies on session storage.

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Choose the screenshot area

Use a viewport capture for what is currently visible, a full-page capture for content below the fold, or a locator screenshot to isolate one element. Wait for the page to reach the state you intend to document before capturing.

// Current viewport
await page.screenshot({ path: 'viewport.png' });

// Entire page, including content below the fold
await page.screenshot({ path: 'full-page.png', fullPage: true });

// A specific region
await page.getByRole('main').screenshot({ path: 'main.png' });

The Page API documentation covers viewport and full-page captures; locators can capture an element. For visual regression tests, Playwright Test’s toHaveScreenshot() waits for consecutive screenshots to stabilize before comparing them. Snapshots default to PNG unless you use a supported alternate extension; see the visual comparisons guide.

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Protect and refresh saved state

  • Store state in a directory such as playwright/.auth and add that path to .gitignore.
  • Never commit the state file to a public or private repository. Playwright warns that usable cookies or headers in it may allow someone to impersonate the account.
  • Saved state can expire. Rerun the setup to refresh it when authentication no longer works.
  • If state only needs to last for a test run, store it in the test project’s output directory so Playwright can clean it before a run.

Playwright’s authentication guide says: “We strongly discourage checking them into private or public repositories.”

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Troubleshoot failed or unexpected captures

  • The protected page redirects to login: Confirm that setup waited for a successful-login signal before saving state, that the test loaded the intended state file, and that the state has not expired.
  • Login appears successful but the app is unauthenticated: Check whether the application stores authentication in session storage, which the ordinary storage-state flow does not preserve. Use the documented manual workaround only if needed.
  • The screenshot is blank or missing content: Wait for a page-specific landmark, such as the expected heading, before capturing. A successful navigation alone does not establish that the useful content has rendered.
  • Parallel tests affect each other: If tests change server-side data, stop sharing one account; use separate accounts and state per worker.
  • Authentication state exposes an account: Remove the file from version control, restrict access to it, and generate fresh state if usable credentials may have been exposed.
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curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/account/reports -o shot.webp

Pass an access key and target URL; the service returns an image or PDF. This is not a substitute for a login workflow: do not assume a protected page will be accessible without supplying authentication supported by the API. ScreenshotNeo’s Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots. Sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month with no card.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I reuse one Playwright login state for different browser projects?

Yes. Configure each project that needs the same account to load its state file; use separate files when projects need different user roles or isolation.

Does a full-page screenshot include content loaded only as I scroll?

Not necessarily. If the application lazy-loads content, make sure that content has loaded before taking the capture.

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authenticationbrowser automationEnd-to-End TestingPlaywrightweb screenshots

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