# playwright-skill

Guides an agent through Playwright test design, from locator choices to debugging and CI setup. Useful for E2E, API, and component checks.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 4679
- Author: zebbern
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/HEAD/skills/playwright/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-24
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/zebbern-playwright-skill

## What it does

This skill provides Playwright guidance for TypeScript and JavaScript projects. Its guides cover selectors, assertions, fixtures, page objects, authentication, network mocks, visual checks, and accessibility. API and component testing are included too.

Other sections address flaky-test debugging, CI/CD configuration, and moves from Cypress or Selenium. Framework recipes cover React, Next.js, Vue, and Angular. One recommendation is to prefer `getByRole()` and avoid `page.waitForTimeout()`. That changes how tests wait for the interface, so projects built around timed pauses will need a different synchronization pattern.

## Requirements
- Works with: Playwright, GitLab, Azure

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill playwright -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/playwright/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/playwright/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill playwright -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/playwright/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill playwright -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/playwright/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide playwright
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/playwright/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill playwright -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide --path skills/playwright
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/playwright/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill playwright -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/HEAD/skills/playwright/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- choose locators for UI tests
- structure suites with fixtures and page objects
- test application APIs and components
- debug flaky Playwright tests
- move tests from Cypress or Selenium

## Example prompts
- Review these Playwright tests and suggest resilient locators instead of CSS selectors.
- Find why this Playwright test is flaky and replace `page.waitForTimeout()` with a suitable wait.
- Show me how to structure API tests with Playwright in this project.

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

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BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE df93d622de33b573
```text
---
name: playwright-skill
description: Battle-tested Playwright patterns for E2E, API, component, visual, accessibility, and security testing. Covers locators, fixtures, POM, network mocking, auth flows, debugging, CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab, CircleCI, Azure, Jenkins), framework recipes (React, Next.js, Vue, Angular), and migration guides from Cypress/Selenium. TypeScript and JavaScript.
---

# 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

1. **`getByRole()` over CSS/XPath** — resilient to markup changes, mirrors how users see the page
2. **Never `page.waitForTimeout()`** — use `expect(locator).toBeVisible()` or `page.waitForURL()`
3. **Web-first assertions** — `expect(locator)` auto-retries; `expect(await locator.textContent())` does not
4. **Isolate every test** — no shared state, no execution-order dependencies
5. **`baseURL` in config** — zero hardcoded URLs in tests
6. **Retries: `2` in CI, `0` locally** — surface flakiness where it matters
7. **Traces: `'on-first-retry'`** — rich debugging artifacts without CI slowdown
8. **Fixtures over globals** — share state via `test.extend()`, not module-level variables
9. **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](core/locators.md)                             | [locator-strategy.md](core/locator-strategy.md)                    |
| Assertions & waiting       | [assertions-and-waiting.md](core/assertions-and-waiting.md) |                                                                    |
| Organizing test suites     | [test-organization.md](core/test-organization.md)           | [test-architecture.md](core/test-architecture.md)                  |
| Playwright config          | [configuration.md](core/configuration.md)                   |                                                                    |
| Page objects               | [page-object-model.md](pom/page-object-model.md)            | [pom-vs-fixtures-vs-helpers.md](pom/pom-vs-fixtures-vs-helpers.md) |
| Fixtures & hooks           | [fixtures-and-hooks.md](core/fixtures-and-hooks.md)         |                                                                    |
```
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