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To get started with Playwright, initialize Playwright Test in a JavaScript or TypeScript project, install the browser binaries for your configured projects, write a test with an accessible locator and an observable assertion, then run it with npx playwright test. Playwright Test supplies the runner, assertions, isolated browser contexts, parallel execution, and debugging tools for end-to-end tests.
What Playwright is—and what you need
Playwright Test is an end-to-end testing framework for modern web applications. It can automate Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit on Windows, Linux, and macOS, locally or in CI. It supports headless and headed runs, plus mobile-device emulation for Chrome on Android and Mobile Safari. See the installation guide and verify its requirements against the stable documentation and your environment: that linked page is explicitly the Next documentation path, and its listed runtime and operating-system requirements may change.
The workflow below assumes a JavaScript or TypeScript project and Node.js. Use the package manager already used by your project so dependencies and lockfiles remain consistent. For a new project, the initializer can create a starter test directory and configuration; for an existing project, review what it adds before committing the changes.
Initialize Playwright Test
Run one of the following from your project directory:
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npm init playwright@latestyarn create playwrightpnpm create playwright
The setup prompts you to choose JavaScript or TypeScript, a test directory, whether to add a GitHub Actions workflow, and whether to install browsers. The initializer can also be run later; the setup guide says it does not overwrite existing tests. Inspect the generated playwright.config.ts, package manifest and lockfile, and example test. The config is where browser projects, timeouts, retries, and reporters are centralized.
Install the browser binaries for your projects
Playwright’s browser binaries are tied to its release. Install the browsers required by your configured projects, and repeat the install after updating Playwright if it reports that a browser is missing. The browser guide documents these commands:
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npx playwright installinstalls the default browser set.npx playwright install chromiuminstalls Chromium only.- On Linux,
npx playwright install --with-depscan install browsers and required system dependencies, or usenpx playwright install-depsfor dependencies.
Browser files use disk space and are stored in OS-specific caches by default; exact sizes vary by release. The browser guide also covers listing and uninstalling browser installations, shared or hermetic browser locations, proxy and custom-download-host environment variables, and supplying a trusted custom root certificate when needed. Do not disable certificate checks to work around a download problem.
Playwright browsers versus branded Chrome and Edge
The default Chromium project uses Playwright’s Chromium build. Branded Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are separate channels and are not installed by default. If you specifically need to test those distributions, install the relevant browser and configure the matching channel in your project. Otherwise, the docs recommend the default latest Chromium configuration for most use cases.
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Choose a browser matrix
The default setup can include Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. Projects let you express which engines or browser channels to test; use the full configured matrix for broad coverage or select one project while developing. The right matrix depends on the browsers your users need, your operating systems, and whether mobile emulation is relevant—not simply on whether a browser can launch.
Write a first test with an observable result
Create a test file in the configured test directory, such as tests/getting-started.spec.ts. This example checks both the page title and a visible heading after following a link:
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import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
test('navigation reaches the installation guide', async ({ page }) => {
await page.goto('https://playwright.dev/');
await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/Playwright/);
await page.getByRole('link', { name: 'Get started' }).click();
await expect(
page.getByRole('heading', { name: /installation/i })
).toBeVisible();
});Use a URL and link name that match the site version you intend to test; the example illustrates the test pattern, not a guarantee that a site’s navigation labels never change. The page fixture gives the test a page to control. Playwright isolates tests with separate browser contexts, so each test can start without sharing browser state with another.
Prefer locators that describe the element the way a user or assistive technology identifies it, such as getByRole with a name. Positional selectors can break when page structure changes. Playwright waits for actionability conditions before actions and its web-first assertions wait for the expected state. A fixed sleep is usually a weaker substitute: it can make tests slow and still fail under variable load. This action-then-outcome style checks more than whether a browser opened; it verifies what the user-visible page did. See Writing tests for locator and assertion details.
Run the test and inspect the result
From the project directory, run:
npx playwright testPlaywright runs tests headlessly by default against configured projects and reports results in the terminal. The running and debugging guide documents these useful variants:
npx playwright test --project=chromiumruns only the named configured project. Replacechromiumwith a project name from your config.npx playwright test --headedopens browser windows so you can watch interactions.npx playwright test --uiopens UI mode for interactive execution, step inspection, watch mode, locator picking, and trace integration.npx playwright show-reportopens the HTML test report after a run has produced one.
Use the CLI for a quick pass, headed mode when the interaction itself is hard to understand, and UI mode or traces when you need to inspect the sequence of actions and failure context.
Optional: use the VS Code extension
The Playwright VS Code extension adds Test Explorer controls, individual test runs and debugging with breakpoints, a live browser, test recording, locator picking, and trace viewing. It is an editor convenience; the command-line setup and run flow are sufficient to begin.
Troubleshoot common setup and run failures
- Missing browser executable after a package update: install binaries matching the installed Playwright release with
npx playwright install, or install just the configured engine, such asnpx playwright install chromium. - Linux launch failure or missing system library: install the required operating-system dependencies with
npx playwright install --with-depsornpx playwright install-deps. Follow the browser guide for supported platform details. - Chrome or Edge channel cannot be found: branded browsers are not included by default. Install the desired channel and ensure the project uses the corresponding channel configuration, or use Playwright’s bundled Chromium instead.
- Browser download fails behind a proxy or artifact mirror: consult the browser guide’s proxy and custom-download-host environment-variable instructions. If your environment uses a private certificate authority, supply its trusted root certificate rather than disabling certificate verification.
- A test fails intermittently around a click or page transition: check that the locator identifies the intended element and that the assertion describes the expected resulting state. Prefer a locator-based action and web-first assertion over arbitrary delay.
- The terminal failure lacks enough context: rerun with
--headedto watch the browser, or use--uito inspect steps and traces. The HTML report is available withnpx playwright show-reportwhen a report has been generated.
Or skip the browser setup
Playwright is for interactive browser tests. If your task is to save a page as a screenshot or PDF rather than test browser behavior, ScreenshotNeo offers a one-request screenshot API. For other Playwright scenarios, use the setup above; a screenshot endpoint is not a replacement for an end-to-end test.
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curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo removes cookie banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before the shot; each cleanup step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and response headers identify the page verdict and billing status. It also provides an MCP server with screenshot, page-info, and PDF-capture tools for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 shots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.
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