Playwright CLI Browser Automation
Browser automation using playwright-cli - a token-efficient CLI alternative to Playwright MCP.
Prerequisites
- Node.js >= 18
- Global install:
npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest - Browser:
playwright-cli install-browser
Quick Reference
Navigation
playwright-cli open https://example.com # Open URL (creates default session)
playwright-cli -s=mytest open https://example.com # Named session
playwright-cli goto https://example.com/page # Navigate within session
playwright-cli go-back # Browser back
playwright-cli go-forward # Browser forward
playwright-cli reload # Reload page
playwright-cli close # Close session
Page Inspection
playwright-cli snapshot # Accessibility snapshot (like browser_snapshot)
playwright-cli screenshot # Take PNG screenshot
playwright-cli screenshot --output ./out.png # Save to specific path
playwright-cli pdf --output ./page.pdf # Save page as PDF
Interaction
playwright-cli click "Button Text" # Click by text
playwright-cli click "#submit-btn" # Click by selector
playwright-cli fill "#email" "user@example.com" # Fill input field
playwright-cli type "Hello world" # Type text into focused element
playwright-cli select "#dropdown" "option1" # Select dropdown option
playwright-cli hover "#menu-item" # Hover over element
playwright-cli check "#checkbox" # Check a checkbox
playwright-cli uncheck "#checkbox" # Uncheck a checkbox
playwright-cli dblclick "#element" # Double-click
playwright-cli upload "#file-input" ./file.txt # Upload file
Keyboard & Mouse
playwright-cli press Enter # Press key
playwright-cli press Control+a # Key combination
playwright-cli keydown Shift # Hold key
playwright-cli keyup Shift # Release key
Tabs
playwright-cli tab-list # List open tabs
playwright-cli tab-new https://example.com # Open new tab
playwright-cli tab-select 1 # Switch to tab by index
playwright-cli tab-close # Close current tab
Session Management
playwright-cli -s=session1 open https://example.com # Create named session
playwright-cli -s=session1 snapshot # Use existing session
playwright-cli list # List active sessions
playwright-cli close-all # Close all sessions
PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION=session1 playwright-cli snapshot # Env var session
Video Recording
playwright-cli video-start # Start recording
playwright-cli video-stop # Stop recording (saves file)
Developer Tools
playwright-cli console # Get console messages
playwright-cli network # Get network requests
playwright-cli run-code "document.title" # Execute JavaScript in page
Tracing
playwright-cli tracing-start # Start trace capture
playwright-cli tracing-stop --output trace.zip # Stop and save trace
Network Mocking
playwright-cli route "**\/api\/*" --status 200 --body '{"ok":true}'
playwright-cli route-list # List active routes
playwright-cli unroute "**\/api\/*" # Remove route
Storage State
playwright-cli state-save --output state.json # Save cookies + storage
playwright-cli state-load --input state.json # Restore state
Window
playwright-cli resize 1920 1080 # Set viewport size
Dialog Handling
playwright-cli dialog-accept # Accept alert/confirm/prompt
playwright-cli dialog-dismiss # Dismiss dialog
Configuration
Optional playwright-cli.json in project root:
{
"browserName": "chromium",
"isolated": true,
"launchOptions": {
"headless": false
},
"contextOptions": {
"viewport": { "width": 1920, "height": 1080 }
},
"saveVideo": {
"width": 1920,
"height": 1080
},
"outputDir": "./outputs/e2e"
}
Headed Mode
playwright-cli --headed open https://example.com # Visible browser window
Key Differences from Playwright MCP
| Aspect | MCP | CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Token usage | Heavy (page snapshots + tool schemas) | Light (shell commands) |
| Integration | MCP config per AI tool | Single global npm install |
| State | MCP server process | Persistent named sessions |
| Video | Automatic via --save-video |
Explicit video-start/video-stop |
| Screenshots | browser_take_screenshot tool |
playwright-cli screenshot |
| Snapshots | browser_snapshot tool |
playwright-cli snapshot |