Browser Automation with playwright-cli

How it works

Every command returns a snapshot — a structured view of the page with element refs (e1, e2, e3...). Use these refs to target elements in subsequent commands. Always take a snapshot before interacting with unfamiliar page state.

Session Isolation (REQUIRED)

Always use named sessions (-s=<name>) to prevent conflicts between parallel browser automation efforts. Never use the default unnamed session.

• For single-use sessions: playwright-cli -s=<task-name> open <url>
• For UAT sessions: playwright-cli -s=uat-<test-name> open <url>
• All subsequent commands must include the same -s=<name> flag
• Clean up when done: playwright-cli -s=<name> close

Quick start

# open new browser with named session (always use -s= for isolation)
playwright-cli -s=mytest open
# navigate to a page
playwright-cli -s=mytest goto https://playwright.dev
# take a snapshot to see element refs
playwright-cli -s=mytest snapshot
# interact with the page using refs from the snapshot
playwright-cli -s=mytest click e15
playwright-cli -s=mytest type "page.click"
playwright-cli -s=mytest press Enter
# take a screenshot (rarely used, as snapshot is more common)
playwright-cli -s=mytest screenshot
# close the browser
playwright-cli -s=mytest close

Commands

Core

playwright-cli open
# open and navigate right away
playwright-cli open https://example.com/
playwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
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 snapshot --filename=after-click.yaml
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
playwright-cli close

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 screenshot --filename=page.png
playwright-cli pdf --filename=page.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

Storage

playwright-cli state-save auth.json
playwright-cli state-load auth.json
playwright-cli cookie-list
playwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123 --domain=example.com --httpOnly --secure
playwright-cli localstorage-set theme dark

For full cookie, localStorage, sessionStorage, and IndexedDB operations, see references/storage-state.md.

Network

playwright-cli route "**/*.jpg" --status=404
playwright-cli route "https://api.example.com/**" --body='{"mock": true}'
playwright-cli route-list
playwright-cli unroute "**/*.jpg"
playwright-cli unroute

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

Open parameters

# Use specific browser when creating session
playwright-cli open --browser=chrome
playwright-cli open --browser=firefox
playwright-cli open --browser=webkit
playwright-cli open --browser=msedge
# Connect to an existing Chrome browser via extension (reuses logged-in sessions)
playwright-cli open --extension

# Use persistent profile (by default profile is in-memory)
playwright-cli open --persistent
# Use persistent profile with custom directory
playwright-cli open --profile=/path/to/profile

# Start with config file
playwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

# Close the browser
playwright-cli close
# Delete user data for the default session
playwright-cli delete-data

Snapshots

After each command, playwright-cli provides a snapshot of the current browser state.

> playwright-cli goto https://example.com
### Page
- Page URL: https://example.com/
- Page Title: Example Domain
### Snapshot
[Snapshot](.playwright-cli/page-2026-02-14T19-22-42-679Z.yml)

You can also take a snapshot on demand using playwright-cli snapshot command.

If --filename is not provided, a new snapshot file is created with a timestamp. Default to automatic file naming, use --filename= when artifact is a part of the workflow result.

Browser Sessions

# create new browser session named "mysession" with persistent profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --persistent
# same with manually specified profile directory (use when requested explicitly)
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession click e6
playwright-cli -s=mysession close  # stop a named browser
playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data  # delete user data for persistent session

playwright-cli list
# Close all browsers
playwright-cli close-all
# Forcefully kill all browser processes
playwright-cli kill-all

Parallel UAT with Subagents

Named sessions (-s=name) provide full process-level isolation, making them ideal for parallel UAT: each subagent gets its own browser with independent cookies, storage, and state.

Session naming: Always use -s=uat-{test-name} for UAT sessions:

# Team lead spawns 3 subagents, each with their own session
playwright-cli -s=uat-login open https://app.example.com/login
playwright-cli -s=uat-checkout open https://app.example.com/checkout
playwright-cli -s=uat-settings open https://app.example.com/settings

# After all subagents complete, team lead cleans up
playwright-cli close-all

WARNING: Do NOT use MCP Playwright tools (mcp__plugin_playwright_playwright__*) for parallel testing — all subagents share the same MCP server with a single browser context. Use playwright-cli with named sessions instead.

Resource limit: Max 3–5 parallel sessions. Monitor with playwright-cli list.

See references/parallel-uat.md for the full workflow including evidence collection, error recovery, and result aggregation.

Local installation

In some cases user might want to install playwright-cli locally. If running globally available playwright-cli binary fails, use npx playwright-cli to run the commands. For example:

npx playwright-cli open https://example.com
npx playwright-cli click e1

Example: Form submission

playwright-cli -s=form-test open https://example.com/form
playwright-cli -s=form-test snapshot

playwright-cli -s=form-test fill e1 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli -s=form-test fill e2 "password123"
playwright-cli -s=form-test click e3
playwright-cli -s=form-test snapshot
playwright-cli -s=form-test close

Example: Multi-tab workflow

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

Example: Debugging with DevTools

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

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

References

Read these when the specific capability is needed:

• Request mocking — Read when intercepting, blocking, or modifying network requests: references/request-mocking.md
• Running Playwright code — Read when CLI commands are insufficient and custom page code is needed (geolocation, permissions, iframes, downloads): references/running-code.md
• Browser session management — Read when running multiple concurrent browsers or managing persistent profiles: references/session-management.md
• Storage state — Read when managing cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, or saving/restoring auth state: references/storage-state.md
• Test generation — Read when building Playwright test files from interactive browser sessions: references/test-generation.md
• Tracing — Read when capturing detailed execution traces for debugging (DOM snapshots, network, console): references/tracing.md
• Video recording — Read when recording browser sessions as video for demos or documentation: references/video-recording.md
• Parallel UAT testing — Read when running multiple subagents for simultaneous user acceptance testing: references/parallel-uat.md

Troubleshooting

If playwright-cli is not found, fall back to npx playwright-cli. If the browser fails to open, try playwright-cli kill-all to clear stale processes, then retry.