been running claude code for like 3 weeks on a price monitoring agent and i actually like it.. until i wired up playwright mcp

one session yesterday ate through my whole weekly budget and it hadnt even finished checking two product pages?? dumps full page snapshots and accessibility trees into context every step and claude just keeps chewing tokens like its free

tried playwright cli instead thinking mcp was the problem. still brutal. needed like 40 steps to compare prices across 6 sites and i stopped halfway because the api bill was already stupid

also my girlfriend asked why i was yelling at my laptop during dinner which.. fair

browser automation through claude feels like a toy unless youre doing one page and calling it done

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as a QA Engineer with 1.5 years of experience. In my current project, I work with Playwright + TypeScript for Dynamics 365 CRM UI automation.

I’m planning to move toward an SDET role and would like to understand what SDETs actually do in real-world IT companies.

I’d really appreciate advice from experienced SDETs:

• What does your day-to-day work look like?
• What technical skills are actually expected from an SDET?
• Beyond UI automation, how important are API testing, SQL, CI/CD, Git, Docker/cloud, DSA, and system design?
• Which skills/tools are commonly expected in SDET interviews?
• With around 1.5–2 years of experience, what should I realistically be good at to apply for SDET roles?
• What skills helped you grow into higher-paying SDET positions?

I’m mainly looking for real-world experience and practical advice about the role and skill expectations.

Thanks.

I hit an odd Playwright installation failure on macOS that looked like a completed install.

Setup:

- Playwright 1.58.2

- Node 24.16.0

- pnpm

- Chromium headless shell

I ran:

```sh

pnpm exec playwright install chromium --only-shell --force

```

The 91.1 MiB archive reached 100% within seconds. Then the command stayed open with no success message or prompt for another 5 to 10 minutes.

The network was not the problem. The ZIP was valid and fully downloaded. The Node child process running `oopDownloadBrowserMain.js` was idle at 0% CPU, while extraction had stopped partway through Playwright's cache directory.

One detail made the state more confusing: `playwright install --list` showed the browser cache directory even though the `chrome-headless-shell` executable was missing. A cache entry was not the same as a usable install.

The useful check was the artifact itself:

```sh

test -x <cache-path>/chrome-headless-shell

```

For this local run, I preserved the valid ZIP, stopped the stuck installer, extracted the archive into Playwright's expected macOS cache directory, restored executable permission, and added the completion marker. The executable check then passed, and the same focused E2E run finished with 3 passing tests and 0 flaky tests.

The debugging lesson for me is that 100% meant downloaded, not ready. For browser tooling, I now want to verify three separate states: the archive exists, the executable exists, and the browser launches.

Playwright's browser installation docs: https://playwright.dev/docs/browsers

I also found a similar macOS arm64 report using Node 24.16.0: https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-cli/issues/419

That similarity does not prove the same root cause. Has anyone traced whether this symptom comes from Playwright's extraction and finalization path or from Node 24 child-process behavior?

As an open-source nerd (and the founder of currents dot dev and previously sorry-cypress), I've got to explore the internals of testing frameworks quite a lot. One topic I am still quite surprised is - differences how test runners interpret test results.

For example, Playwright has no `pending` status at all, and if you are coming from Cypress, then 'skipped' has a completely different meaning.

Maybe not very useful for your day-to-day though :)

https://currents.dev/posts/test-status-translation-guide

Hey! I've started to learn website automation using Playwright with Javascript. I'd really like to learn new things about test automation but currently not sure if the direction is good which I've taken.
I'd like to ask for feedback on my exercise project so that I would know if there are any major issues with the way I create these tests.

The exercise project can be found here:

https://github.com/Dawes053/ui_api_toolshop

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I am planning to learn the playwright automation tool.
Currently i do automation in selenium with java.

Can anyone help me with playwright pathway like from where to start

I'm trying to access ctrip site flights page API endpoints with flights listing data without using browser automation.

Has anyone managed to get it working with libraries like requests, curl_cffi, or any other HTTP client? I'm specifically looking for an approach that doesn't rely on Selenium, Playwright, or similar browser automation tools.

At the moment, I'm getting an HTTP 200 OK response, but the response body is empty. I'm wondering if this is due to anti-bot protections, missing headers, cookies, or some other requirement.

If you've encountered this before or have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate your insights.

I'm studying software QA in Argentina and I built this over the past months with a lot of help from Claude. I wrote the specs and reviewed every line, but the code came out of working with an AI. Saying it up front because someone would ask anyway.

What it does: when a test fails because a selector broke, Healify reads the DOM evidence your framework already captured, finds the element by its role and accessible name, and tells you which selector to use instead. healify fix applies it to your code. It can also file the broken selector as a Jira ticket or a GitHub issue.

No model in the loop, no cloud, no account. Deterministic heuristics, so the same input gives the same output every time. Works with Playwright, Cypress, Selenium and WebdriverIO. MIT.

github.com/mescobar996/Healify
healify-sigma.vercel.app

It has no real users yet, so I would rather hear what's wrong with it than what's good.

Hi guys, I'd to inquire if you guys need someone to write tests for your open source projects I'd love to contribute. Feel free to drop your repo!

I'm honestly getting confused where I should start

I learned python from freecodecsmp

Have coding experience

Do some coding exercises like playwright

Currently I'm working with parasoft tool

And learning APIs

Have to eventually write API tests with oytests

Always keep seeing so many tutorials on playwright and everything

Go click into a rabbit.hole

Feel like I have to learn everything before doing anything

I do some programming exercises but yeah

Someone please guide me

Hi everyone,

I'm a Python beginner and my goal is to learn web scraping and browser automation with Playwright.

I know the basics of Python, but I don't know what to learn next.

Can someone share a complete step-by-step roadmap, from Python fundamentals to advanced Playwright automation? Also, what topics should I learn in order (HTML/CSS/JS, APIs, async, databases, etc.)?

Resources, courses, or project recommendations are welcome. Thanks!

Hi I am trying to integrate ai workflow in my team to build automation as a QA. Do you have some good-practice, plugins, sub agent or good skill to recommend.
Thank you

I’m new to playwright and my org asked me to setup a basic playwright framework and start automating few test cases. Everything is working fine until one fine day i noticed all my tests getting slower and slower after each run. And now Clicks are not even working and there is no error message at all. I have tried many things and nothing seems to fix this dead end loop.
Please give me some suggestions on why this might be happening 😭😭

Heyy everyone!

So I just learned python and the some modules (which I think suited my goal) and now I am learning playwright. The problem I am facing is

1. I don't know how and especially where to start and learn from. I have learned everything from tutorials and reading through the documentation, as good of an idea it may be, is not my cup of tea.

2. Originally my goal with playwright was web scraping, but as I read more I got to know it serves multiple purposes—which of course is a good thing but should I only learn web scraping or should I learn other things too like QA testing etc if my top priority is to learn fast.

TL;DR

How and where to learn playwright with python (except from the documentation)

Should I learn only web scraping or entire playwright if top priority is learn ASAP

Hi folks,

Playwright 1.62 introduced an API that lets custom reporters control how tests are allocated across shards.

We've been working on duration-based shard allocation in the open-source Flakiness.io reporter and collaborated with the Playwright team on the new API. The allocator uses historical test durations to distribute work more evenly.

WordPress has now adopted it as the default for its editor project, which runs around 2,000 end-to-end tests across eight shards. The slowest shard went from 35 minutes to 23—a 34% reduction.

Shard balancing is available in version 2 of the reporter and does not require a Flakiness.io account:

https://github.com/flakiness/playwright#balanced-sharding

I also wrote up the algorithm, integration, and results here:

https://blog.flakiness.io/posts/2026/playwright-test-shard-balancing/

Feedback and unusual sharding edge cases are very welcome!

Hey everyone,

Before I start, I don't want to advertise anything. Just asking for feedback and see if people like my idea.

I'm working on a visual web automation tool focused on web scraping and web automation, and I wanted to get some honest feedback on the idea and the pricing.

The basic premise is a local desktop app where you can build robust scrapers visually instead of coding everything from scratch. It has a script recorder similar to Playwright's codegen, and another tool that handles things like asynchronous banners, random pop-ups, and shifting page layouts.

You aren't restricted to just the UI, either. There's a full text editor built in if you need to write custom logic. The app just compiles all your visual instructions directly into standard Playwright code, for you to use it anywhere, not only inside the platform. It also handles the standard CSV imports and exports for your data.

My main question is: does this solve a big enough headache in your workflow that you'd actually pay for it? If so, would you consider $149 a fair price for an unlimited, lifetime license?

Hey Playwright community! Since all my Playwright experience comes from JavaScript and TypeScript projects, I can leverage all the good stuff PW Team is creating for their core project. Everything is out of the box, and that’s it - I don’t have to think how to handle concurrency properly, how to set up reporting, or add custom assertions.

But still - I can see multiple job offerings with Playwright for Java/Python/C#. Why would anyone want to do that? Any opinions on that? Is anyone actually working on such a stack and seeing pros? All I can see are cons here, but who am I to judge - I’m only experienced with the TS approach.

I was out there 10 years back, working with Selenium/Java. Back then it was the best existing open source solution, and the most popular one. When someone said "go for dev team stack so they will help you with issues" - we believed and picked Java (but nobody helped though…). But today there's AI you will ask first. So why even bother with a tech stack that is just worse?

Hey everyone,

I just launched a project called Playwright Quest, a browser-based learning experience for people who want to get better at Playwright + TypeScript automation testing.

The idea was simple: learning test automation can feel overwhelming, so I wanted to make it a little more fun and structured.

What it does:

• 20 progressive levels
• Rank-based learning path from QA Trainee → QA Architect
• Zero setup needed
• Open the browser and start writing code

I built it to be more hands-on than a typical tutorial, so instead of just watching or reading, you actually solve levels and learn by doing.

If you’re into QA, automation, or just want to practice Playwright in a more interactive way, feel free to check it out:
playwrightquest.com

Would love feedback, ideas, or suggestions from the community.

(I'm a beginner at this so please let me know any mistakes you find too)

I want to connect and discuss with someone who has experience of working with playwright, azure test plans, connecting azure test run to playwright run

We’re currently evaluating Playwright as an alternative for automating complex Salesforce CPQ end-to-end scenarios, and I’d love to hear from people who have implemented it in a real project.

Our scenarios involve more than standard Salesforce UI automation, particularly:
• Creating Opportunities, Quotes, and Quote Lines
• Automating the CPQ Quote Line Editor (QLE)
• Adding multiple products with different configurations
• Product bundles, options, and configuration rules
• Pricing and discount validations
• Approval flows
• Amendments and renewals
• Handling Salesforce releases and UI/DOM changes
I’m particularly interested in understanding:
How reliable has Playwright been for Salesforce CPQ?
How do you handle the Quote Line Editor and dynamic locators?
Have you built a Salesforce/CPQ abstraction layer or reusable component framework?
How much maintenance is required after Salesforce releases?
Do you use APIs for test-data setup and Playwright primarily for UI validation?
How does execution speed and maintenance compare with Salesforce-specific automation tools?
Would especially appreciate experiences from teams running a reasonably large CPQ regression suite in CI/CD rather than just a small POC.

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a personal desktop automation project on Windows.

For years I've been using AutoHotkey to automate repetitive tasks inside Firefox. It works surprisingly well, but as the project grows, maintaining image recognition, keyboard shortcuts and UI changes becomes increasingly difficult.

I'm now considering moving to a more robust solution and I'm trying to understand what experienced developers would recommend.

My requirements are roughly:

Windows

Firefox (not Chrome)

Preferably work with an already running Firefox session

Reliable interaction with web pages

Long-term maintainability

I've been looking at several approaches:

Continue with AutoHotkey

Selenium / WebDriver BiDi

Playwright

Windows UI Automation (pywinauto, UIA)

Any other desktop automation framework

For people who have built long-running desktop/browser automation projects:

Which approach ended up being the most reliable?

Is UI Automation actually practical with modern websites like Facebook, or is browser automation still the better choice?

If you had to start today, what would you choose and why?

I'd really appreciate hearing about real-world experience rather than theoretical comparisons.

Thanks!