Playwright Skill

Playwright Skill

> Opinionated, production-tested Playwright guidance — every pattern includes when (and when _not_) to use it.

50+ reference guides covering the full Playwright surface: selectors, assertions, fixtures, page objects, network mocking, auth, visual regression, accessibility, API testing, CI/CD, debugging, and more — with TypeScript and JavaScript examples throughout.

Golden Rules

• getByRole() over CSS/XPath — resilient to markup changes, mirrors how users see the page
• Never page.waitForTimeout() — use expect(locator).toBeVisible() or page.waitForURL()
• Web-first assertions — expect(locator) auto-retries; expect(await locator.textContent()) does not
• Isolate every test — no shared state, no execution-order dependencies
• baseURL in config — zero hardcoded URLs in tests
• Retries: 2 in CI, 0 locally — surface flakiness where it matters
• Traces: 'on-first-retry' — rich debugging artifacts without CI slowdown
• Fixtures over globals — share state via test.extend(), not module-level variables
• One behavior per test — multiple related expect() calls are fine

10. Mock external services only — never mock your own app; mock third-party APIs, payment gateways, email

Guide Index

Writing Tests

| What you're doing | Guide | Deep dive |

| -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |

| Choosing selectors | locators.md | locator-strategy.md |

| Assertions & waiting | assertions-and-waiting.md | |

| Organizing test suites | test-organization.md | test-architecture.md |

| Playwright config | configuration.md | |

| Page objects | page-object-model.md | pom-vs-fixtures-vs-helpers.md |

| Fixtures & hooks | fixtures-and-hooks.md | |

| Test data | test-data-management.md | |

| Auth & login | authentication.md | auth-flows.md |

| API testing (REST/GraphQL) | api-testing.md | |

| Visual regression | visual-regression.md | |

| Accessibility | accessibility.md | |

| Mobile & responsive | mobile-and-responsive.md | |

| Component testing | component-testing.md | |

| Network mocking | network-mocking.md | when-to-mock.md |

| Forms & validation | forms-and-validation.md | |

| File uploads/downloads | file-operations.md | file-upload-download.md |

| Error & edge cases | error-and-edge-cases.md | |

| CRUD flows | crud-testing.md | |

| Drag and drop | drag-and-drop.md | |

| Search & filter UI | search-and-filter.md | |

Debugging & Fixing

| Problem | Guide |

| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |

| General debugging workflow | debugging.md |

| Specific error message | error-index.md |

| Flaky / intermittent tests | flaky-tests.md |

| Common beginner mistakes | common-pitfalls.md |

Framework Recipes

| Framework | Guide |

| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |

| Next.js (App Router + Pages Router) | nextjs.md |

| React (CRA, Vite) | react.md |

| Vue 3 / Nuxt | vue.md |

| Angular | angular.md |

Migration Guides

| From | Guide |

| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |

| Cypress | from-cypress.md |

| Selenium / WebDriver | from-selenium.md |

Architecture Decisions

| Question | Guide |

| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |

| Which locator strategy? | locator-strategy.md |

| E2E vs component vs API? | test-architecture.md |

| Mock vs real services? | when-to-mock.md |

| POM vs fixtures vs helpers? | pom-vs-fixtures-vs-helpers.md |

CI/CD & Infrastructure

| Topic | Guide |

| --------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |

| GitHub Actions | ci-github-actions.md |

| GitLab CI | ci-gitlab.md |

| CircleCI / Azure DevOps / Jenkins | ci-other.md |

| Parallel execution & sharding | parallel-and-sharding.md |

| Docker & containers | docker-and-containers.md |

| Reports & artifacts | reporting-and-artifacts.md |

| Code coverage | test-coverage.md |

| Global setup/teardown | global-setup-teardown.md |

| Multi-project config | projects-and-dependencies.md |

Specialized Topics

| Topic | Guide |

| ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| Multi-user & collaboration | multi-user-and-collaboration.md |

| WebSockets & real-time | websockets-and-realtime.md |

| Browser APIs (geo, clipboard, permissions) | browser-apis.md |

| iframes & Shadow DOM | iframes-and-shadow-dom.md |

| Canvas & WebGL | canvas-and-webgl.md |

| Service workers & PWA | service-workers-and-pwa.md |

| Electron apps | electron-testing.md |

| Browser extensions | browser-extensions.md |

| Security testing | security-testing.md |

| Performance & benchmarks | performance-testing.md |

| i18n & localization | i18n-and-localization.md |

| Multi-tab & popups | multi-context-and-popups.md |

| Clock & time mocking | clock-and-time-mocking.md |

| Third-party integrations | third-party-integrations.md |

CLI Browser Automation

| What you're doing | Guide |

| ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| CLI browser interaction | playwright-cli/SKILL.md |

| Core commands (open, click, fill, navigate) | core-commands.md |

| Network mocking & interception | request-mocking.md |

| Running custom Playwright code | running-custom-code.md |

| Multi-session browser management | session-management.md |

| Cookies, localStorage, auth state | storage-and-auth.md |

| Test code generation from CLI | test-generation.md |

| Tracing and debugging | tracing-and-debugging.md |

| Screenshots, video, PDF | screenshots-and-media.md |

| Device & environment emulation | device-emulation.md |

| Complex multi-step workflows | advanced-workflows.md |

Language Note

All guides include TypeScript and JavaScript examples. When the project uses .js files or has no tsconfig.json, examples are adapted to plain JavaScript.