Browser Automation with playwright-cli

Drive a real browser from the terminal using playwright-cli. Treat this skill as CLI-first automation. Do not pivot to @playwright/test unless the user explicitly asks for test files.

Quick start

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

If playwright-cli is not found globally, fall back to bunx playwright-cli:

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

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:

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

When to snapshot again

Snapshot again after:

• Navigation (goto, go-back, go-forward, reload)
• 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.

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

playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=after-login.yaml

Commands

Core

playwright-cli open
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 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
playwright-cli state-save auth.json
playwright-cli state-load auth.json

# Cookies
playwright-cli cookie-list
playwright-cli cookie-list --domain=example.com
playwright-cli cookie-get session_id
playwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123
playwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123 --domain=example.com --httpOnly --secure
playwright-cli cookie-delete session_id
playwright-cli cookie-clear

# LocalStorage
playwright-cli localstorage-list
playwright-cli localstorage-get theme
playwright-cli localstorage-set theme dark
playwright-cli localstorage-delete theme
playwright-cli localstorage-clear

# SessionStorage
playwright-cli sessionstorage-list
playwright-cli sessionstorage-get step
playwright-cli sessionstorage-set step 3
playwright-cli sessionstorage-delete step
playwright-cli sessionstorage-clear

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

# Browser selection
playwright-cli open --browser=chrome
playwright-cli open --browser=firefox
playwright-cli open --browser=webkit
playwright-cli open --browser=msedge
# Connect to browser via extension
playwright-cli open --extension

# Persistent profiles (default is in-memory)
playwright-cli open --persistent
playwright-cli open --profile=/path/to/profile

# Config file
playwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

# Delete user data for default session
playwright-cli delete-data

Browser sessions

# Named session with persistent profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --persistent
# Named session with custom profile directory
playwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
playwright-cli -s=mysession click e6
playwright-cli -s=mysession close
playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data

playwright-cli list
playwright-cli close-all
playwright-cli kill-all

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
playwright-cli close

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
playwright-cli close

Example: Debugging with DevTools

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

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.
• When you do not have a fresh snapshot, use placeholder refs like eX and say why; do not bypass refs with run-code.
• Use --headed when a visual check will help.
• Default to CLI commands and workflows, not Playwright test specs.

References

• Request mocking references/request-mocking.md
• Running Playwright code references/running-code.md
• Browser 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