Browser Automation with playwright-cli

Why playwright-cli?

Modern coding agents increasingly favor CLI–based workflows exposed as SKILLs over MCP because CLI invocations are more token-efficient: they avoid loading large tool schemas and verbose accessibility trees into the model context, allowing agents to act through concise, purpose-built commands. This makes CLI + SKILLs better suited for high-throughput coding agents that must balance browser automation with large codebases, tests, and reasoning within limited context windows. This CLI is a skill for AI coding agents.

Quick start

playwright-cli open https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli type "page.click"
playwright-cli press Enter

Core workflow

Navigate: playwright-cli open https://example.com
Interact using refs from the snapshot
Re-snapshot after significant changes

Commands

Core

playwright-cli open https://example.com/
playwright-cli close
playwright-cli type "search query"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli dblclick e7
playwright-cli fill e5 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli drag e2 e8
playwright-cli hover e4
playwright-cli select e9 "option-value"
playwright-cli upload ./document.pdf
playwright-cli check e12
playwright-cli uncheck e12
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli eval "document.title"
playwright-cli eval "el => el.textContent" e5
playwright-cli dialog-accept
playwright-cli dialog-accept "confirmation text"
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss
playwright-cli resize 1920 1080

Navigation

playwright-cli go-back
playwright-cli go-forward
playwright-cli reload

Keyboard

playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli press ArrowDown
playwright-cli keydown Shift
playwright-cli keyup Shift

Mouse

playwright-cli mousemove 150 300
playwright-cli mousedown
playwright-cli mousedown right
playwright-cli mouseup
playwright-cli mouseup right
playwright-cli mousewheel 0 100

Save as

playwright-cli screenshot
playwright-cli screenshot e5
playwright-cli pdf

Tabs

playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-new
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/page
playwright-cli tab-close
playwright-cli tab-close 2
playwright-cli tab-select 0

Troubleshooting

Command not found (Windows)

If you get an error saying playwright-cli is not recognized, your global npm directory (typically %AppData%\npm) is likely missing from your PATH.

Permanent Fix (Command Line):

Run this in PowerShell, then restart your terminal:

$npmPath = (npm config get prefix); if ($env:Path -notlike "*$npmPath*") { [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User") + ";$npmPath", "User"); Write-Host "Added $npmPath to User PATH. Restart terminal to apply." -ForegroundColor Green }

Verification:

playwright-cli --version

Where to get the path?

The playwright-cli is usually installed globally via npm (e.g., npm install -g playwright-cli). After installation, you can find the absolute path to the binary using the following commands:

WSL / Linux: Use which playwright-cli Windows: Use where.exe playwright-cli

DevTools

playwright-cli console
playwright-cli console warning
playwright-cli network
playwright-cli run-code "async page => await page.context().grantPermissions(['geolocation'])"
playwright-cli tracing-start
playwright-cli tracing-stop
playwright-cli video-start
playwright-cli video-stop video.webm

Configuration

# Configure the session
playwright-cli config --config my-config.json
playwright-cli config --headed --isolated --browser=firefox
# Configure named session
playwright-cli --session=mysession config my-config.json
# Start with configured session
playwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

Sessions

playwright-cli --session=mysession open example.com
playwright-cli --session=mysession click e6
playwright-cli session-list
playwright-cli session-stop mysession
playwright-cli session-stop-all
playwright-cli session-delete
playwright-cli session-delete mysession

Example: Form submission

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

Example: Multi-tab workflow

playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/other
playwright-cli tab-list
playwright-cli tab-select 0
playwright-cli snapshot

Example: Debugging with DevTools

playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli click e4
playwright-cli fill e7 "test"
playwright-cli console
playwright-cli network

playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli tracing-start
playwright-cli click e4
playwright-cli fill e7 "test"
playwright-cli tracing-stop

Specific tasks

Request mocking references/request-mocking.md
Running Playwright code references/running-code.md
Session management references/session-management.md
Storage state (cookies, localStorage) references/storage-state.md
Test generation references/test-generation.md
Tracing references/tracing.md
Video recording references/video-recording.md