Playwright Cli Automation

---
name: "Playwright CLI Automation"
description: "CLI-first browser automation using Playwright CLI for navigation, form filling, snapshots, screenshots, data extraction, and UI-flow debugging from the terminal."
version: 1.0.0
author: openai
license: MIT
tags: [playwright, cli, browser, automation, snapshot, screenshot]
testingTypes: [e2e, integration]
frameworks: [playwright]
languages: [typescript, javascript]
domains: [web]
agents: [claude-code, cursor, github-copilot, windsurf, codex, aider, continue, cline, zed, bolt]
---

# Playwright CLI Automation

Drive a real browser from the terminal using `playwright-cli`. Prefer the bundled wrapper script so the CLI works even when it is not globally installed.
Treat this skill as CLI-first automation. Do not pivot to `@playwright/test` unless the user explicitly asks for test files.

## Prerequisite check (required)

Before proposing commands, check whether `npx` is available (the wrapper depends on it):

```bash
command -v npx >/dev/null 2>&1
```

If it is not available, pause and ask the user to install Node.js/npm (which provides `npx`). Provide these steps verbatim:

```bash
# Verify Node/npm are installed
node --version
npm --version

# If missing, install Node.js/npm, then:
npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
playwright-cli --help
```

Once `npx` is present, proceed with the wrapper script. A global install of `playwright-cli` is optional.

## Core workflow

1. Open the page.
2. Snapshot to get stable element refs.
3. Interact using refs from the latest snapshot.
4. Re-snapshot after navigation or significant DOM changes.
5. Capture artifacts (screenshot, pdf, traces) when useful.

Minimal loop:

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
```

## When to snapshot again

Snapshot again after:

- navigation
- clicking elements that change the UI substantially
- opening/closing modals or menus
- tab switches

Refs can go stale. When a command fails due to a missing ref, snapshot again.

## Recommended patterns

### Form fill and submit

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com/form
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli fill e1 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli fill e2 "password123"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
```

### Debug a UI flow with traces

```bash
playwright-cli open https://example.com --headed
playwright-cli tracing-start
# ...interactions...
playwright-cli tracing-stop
```

### Multi-tab work

```bash
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com
playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-select 0
playwright-cli snapshot
```

## Guardrails

- Always snapshot before referencing element ids like `e12`.
- Re-snapshot when refs seem stale.
- Prefer explicit commands over `eval` and `run-code` unless needed.
- Use `--headed` when a visual check will help.
- Default to CLI commands and workflows, not Playwright test specs.