Playwright Debugging

Overview

Browser automation failures fall into predictable categories. This skill provides a systematic approach to diagnose and fix issues quickly.

When to Use

• Scripts that worked before now fail
• Intermittent test failures (flakiness)
• "Element not found" errors
• Timeout errors
• Unexpected behavior in automation
• Elements not interactable

When NOT to use:

• Writing new automation (use playwright-patterns skill)
• API or backend debugging

Quick Reference

Problem	First Action
Timeout on locator	Run with --ui mode, check element state with .count(), .isVisible()
Flaky test (passes sometimes)	Replace waitForTimeout() with condition-based waits
"Element not visible"	Check computed styles, wait for overlays to disappear
Works locally, fails CI	Use waitForLoadState('networkidle'), increase timeout
Element not clickable	Check if covered by overlay, wait for animations to complete
Stale element	Re-query after navigation instead of storing locator

Diagnostic Framework

1. Reproduce and Isolate

First step: Can you reproduce it?

// Run single test to isolate issue
npx playwright test path/to/test.spec.js

// Run with headed mode to observe
npx playwright test --headed

// Run with slow motion
npx playwright test --headed --slow-mo=1000

Questions to answer:

• Does it fail consistently or intermittently?
• Does it fail in all browsers or just one?
• Does it fail in headed and headless mode?
• Did something change recently (site update, code change)?

2. Add Visibility

Use UI Mode for interactive debugging:

# Best for local development - provides time-travel debugging
npx playwright test --ui

UI Mode gives you:

• Visual timeline of all actions
• Watch mode for re-running on file changes
• Network and console tabs
• Time-travel through test execution

Use Inspector to step through tests:

# Step through test execution with live browser
npx playwright test --debug

Inspector allows:

• Stepping through actions one at a time
• Picking locators directly from the browser
• Editing selectors live and seeing results
• Viewing actionability logs

Take screenshots at failure point:

// Before failing action
await page.screenshot({ path: 'before-action.png', fullPage: true });

// Try action
try {
  await page.click('.button');
} catch (error) {
  await page.screenshot({ path: 'after-error.png', fullPage: true });
  throw error;
}

Enable verbose logging:

# API-level debugging
DEBUG=pw:api npx playwright test

# Browser DevTools with playwright object
PWDEBUG=console npx playwright test

With PWDEBUG=console, you get DevTools access to:

// In browser console
playwright.$('.selector')      // Query with Playwright engine
playwright.$$('selector')      // Get all matches
playwright.inspect('selector') // Highlight in Elements panel
playwright.locator('selector') // Create locator

Use trace viewer:

// Record trace
await context.tracing.start({ screenshots: true, snapshots: true });
// ... your test code
await context.tracing.stop({ path: 'trace.zip' });

// View trace
npx playwright show-trace trace.zip

Organize traces with test steps:

// Group actions in trace viewer
await test.step('Login', async () => {
  await page.fill('input[name="username"]', 'user');
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
});

await test.step('Navigate to dashboard', async () => {
  await page.click('a[href="/dashboard"]');
});

Add descriptions to locators for clarity:

// Descriptions appear in trace viewer and reports
const submitButton = page.locator('#submit').describe('Submit button');
await submitButton.click();

VS Code debugging:

Install the Playwright VS Code extension for:

• Live debugging with breakpoints in VS Code
• Locator highlighting in browser while editing
• "Show Browser" option for real-time feedback
• Right-click "Debug Test" on any test

This integrates debugging directly into your editor workflow.

3. Inspect Element State

Check if element exists:

const element = page.locator('.button');

// Does it exist in DOM?
const count = await element.count();
console.log(`Found ${count} elements`);

// Is it visible?
const isVisible = await element.isVisible();
console.log(`Visible: ${isVisible}`);

// Is it enabled?
const isEnabled = await element.isEnabled();
console.log(`Enabled: ${isEnabled}`);

// Get all attributes
const attrs = await element.evaluate(el => ({
  classes: el.className,
  id: el.id,
  display: window.getComputedStyle(el).display,
  visibility: window.getComputedStyle(el).visibility,
  opacity: window.getComputedStyle(el).opacity
}));
console.log(attrs);

4. Verify Selector

Test selector in browser console:

// Use page.evaluate to test selector
const found = await page.evaluate(() => {
  const el = document.querySelector('.button');
  return el ? {
    text: el.textContent,
    visible: el.offsetParent !== null,
    enabled: !el.disabled
  } : null;
});
console.log('Selector test:', found);

Check for multiple matches:

// Are there multiple elements?
const all = await page.locator('.button').all();
console.log(`Found ${all.length} matching elements`);

// Get text of all matches
const texts = await page.locator('.button').allTextContents();
console.log('All matching texts:', texts);

Common Issues and Fixes

Issue: Element Not Found

Causes:

• Selector is wrong
• Element hasn't loaded yet
• Element is in iframe
• Element is dynamically created

Debug steps:

// 1. Check if selector exists at all
const exists = await page.locator('.button').count() > 0;
console.log('Element exists:', exists);

// 2. Wait for element explicitly (modern approach)
await page.locator('.button').waitFor({ timeout: 10000 });
// Or let auto-waiting handle it:
await page.locator('.button').click();

// 3. Check if in iframe
const frame = page.frameLocator('iframe');
await frame.locator('.button').click();

// 4. Dump all matching elements
const all = await page.evaluate(() => {
  return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('button')).map(el => ({
    text: el.textContent,
    classes: el.className,
    id: el.id
  }));
});
console.log('All buttons on page:', all);

Issue: Element Not Visible/Clickable

Causes:

• Element is hidden (CSS: display:none, visibility:hidden)
• Element is covered by another element
• Element is outside viewport
• Element hasn't finished animating

Debug steps:

// 1. Check computed styles
const styles = await page.locator('.button').evaluate(el => ({
  display: window.getComputedStyle(el).display,
  visibility: window.getComputedStyle(el).visibility,
  opacity: window.getComputedStyle(el).opacity,
  zIndex: window.getComputedStyle(el).zIndex
}));
console.log('Element styles:', styles);

// 2. Scroll into view
await page.locator('.button').scrollIntoViewIfNeeded();

// 3. Wait for element to be stable (not animating)
await expect(page.locator('.button')).toBeVisible();
await page.waitForTimeout(100); // Brief wait for animation

// 4. Force click if needed (last resort)
await page.locator('.button').click({ force: true });

Issue: Timing/Race Conditions

Causes:

• Network requests not complete
• JavaScript still executing
• Animations in progress
• Dynamic content loading

Debug steps:

// 1. Wait for network to be idle
await page.goto('https://example.com');
await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle');

// 2. Wait for specific network request
await page.waitForResponse(resp =>
  resp.url().includes('/api/data') && resp.status() === 200
);

// 3. Wait for JavaScript condition
await page.waitForFunction(() =>
  window.dataLoaded === true
);

// 4. Wait for element count to stabilize
await expect(page.locator('.item')).toHaveCount(10);

Issue: Stale Element Reference

Causes:

• Page refreshed or navigated
• Element was removed and re-added to DOM
• Dynamic content replaced element

Fix:

// DON'T store element handles across navigation
const button = page.locator('.button'); // BAD: might become stale
await page.goto('/other-page');
await button.click(); // ERROR: stale

// DO re-query after navigation
await page.goto('/other-page');
await page.locator('.button').click(); // GOOD: fresh query

Issue: Form Submission Not Working

Causes:

• JavaScript validation preventing submit
• Event listeners not attached yet
• Form action not set correctly

Debug steps:

// 1. Verify form state before submit
const formState = await page.evaluate(() => {
  const form = document.querySelector('form');
  return {
    action: form?.action,
    method: form?.method,
    valid: form?.checkValidity()
  };
});
console.log('Form state:', formState);

// 2. Trigger form events manually
await page.fill('input[name="email"]', 'test@example.com');
await page.dispatchEvent('input[name="email"]', 'blur');

// 3. Use form.submit() instead of clicking button
await page.evaluate(() => document.querySelector('form').submit());

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's Wrong	Right Approach
Adding waitForTimeout(5000)	Masks timing issues, makes tests slower, unreliable	Use condition-based waits: expect().toBeVisible()
Force-clicking without understanding why	Bypasses Playwright's actionability checks	Diagnose WHY element isn't clickable, fix root cause
Not using modern debugging tools	Slower diagnosis, guessing at issues	Start with --ui or --debug for visual debugging
Testing only in headed mode	Hides timing issues that appear in CI	Always test in headless mode too
Using brittle selectors	Breaks when HTML structure changes	Use role-based or data-testid selectors
Skipping trace viewer	Miss detailed timeline of what happened	Enable tracing for failing tests

Debugging Checklist

When automation fails, check in this order:

1. ☐ Can I reproduce the failure consistently?
2. ☐ Does it fail in headed mode with slow motion?
3. ☐ Have I taken screenshots before/after the failure?
4. ☐ Does the selector actually match an element?
5. ☐ Is the element visible and enabled?
6. ☐ Is the element in an iframe?
7. ☐ Have I waited for page load to complete?
8. ☐ Is there dynamic content that needs time to load?
9. ☐ Are there network requests still in flight?
10. ☐ Have I checked browser console for JavaScript errors?

Debugging Tools Reference

Tool	Command	Use When
UI Mode	--ui	Time-travel debugging with visual timeline (best for local dev)
Inspector	--debug	Step through test execution, pick locators live
Headed mode	--headed	Need to see browser
Slow motion	--slow-mo=1000	Actions too fast to observe
Debug mode	PWDEBUG=1	Open Inspector (older approach, prefer --debug)
Console debug	PWDEBUG=console	Access browser DevTools with playwright object
Trace viewer	show-trace trace.zip	Need full timeline analysis
Screenshot	page.screenshot()	Need visual evidence
Console logs	DEBUG=pw:api	Need API call details
Pause	await page.pause()	Need to inspect manually

Flakiness Patterns

Flaky: Works 80% of the time

Likely cause: Race condition

Fix:

// Replace arbitrary waits
await page.waitForTimeout(2000); // BAD

// With condition-based waits
await expect(page.locator('.result')).toBeVisible(); // GOOD

Flaky: Fails on CI but works locally

Likely cause: Timing differences

Fix:

// Increase default timeout for CI
test.setTimeout(60000);
page.setDefaultTimeout(30000);

// Wait for network idle
await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle');

Flaky: Fails with "element not clickable"

Likely cause: Overlapping elements or animations

Fix:

// Wait for element to be actionable
await expect(page.locator('.button')).toBeVisible();
await expect(page.locator('.button')).toBeEnabled();

// Or wait for overlay to disappear
await expect(page.locator('.loading-overlay')).not.toBeVisible();

Remember

Debugging priorities:

1. Reproduce the issue reliably
2. Add visibility (screenshots, logs, traces)
3. Verify element state and selector
4. Check timing and waits
5. Test in different modes (headed, browsers)

Auto-waiting advantages: Playwright automatically waits for elements to be:

• Attached to DOM
• Visible
• Enabled and stable
• Not covered by overlays

Most actions (click, fill, etc.) include auto-waiting. Explicit waits are only needed for complex conditions.

Most Playwright issues are timing-related. Replace arbitrary timeouts with condition-based waits. When in doubt, slow down and observe in headed mode with --ui or --debug.