mk:playwright-cli

Browser Automation with playwright-cli

Use playwright-cli when: DOM interaction, navigation, data extraction, or generating reusable .spec.ts E2E test code. Use mk:agent-browser instead when: session persistence (auth flows, MFA, cookie import) is required.

Quick Start

playwright-cli open https://playwright.dev
playwright-cli snapshot                  # Get element refs (e1, e2, ...)
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli type "page.click"
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli screenshot
playwright-cli close

Core Workflow

1. open <url> — navigate to page
2. snapshot — get accessibility tree with element refs (e1, e2, ...)
3. Interact using refs: click, fill, type, select, check
4. Re-snapshot after navigation or DOM changes
5. close when done

playwright-cli open https://example.com/form
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli fill e1 "[email protected]"
playwright-cli fill e2 "password123"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close

Most-Used Commands

# Navigation
playwright-cli goto <url>
playwright-cli go-back / go-forward / reload

# Interaction
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli fill e5 "text"         # Clear and type
playwright-cli type "text"            # Type at current focus
playwright-cli press Enter
playwright-cli select e9 "option-value"
playwright-cli check e12 / uncheck e12

# Snapshot & capture
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=after-click.yaml
playwright-cli screenshot
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=page.png
playwright-cli pdf --filename=page.pdf

# Auth state
playwright-cli state-save auth.json
playwright-cli state-load auth.json

Full command listing: references/command-reference.md

Snapshots

After each command, playwright-cli writes a snapshot YAML of the current browser state. Use --filename= when the artifact is a workflow result; omit for auto-timestamped files.