Browse the web using playwright-cli connected to your running Edge browser via the MCP Bridge extension. Use when the user asks to "open a webpage", "browse to", "take a screenshot", "read this page", "navigate to", "check this site", or needs to interact with web pages for research and exploration.
open command MUST include --extension --browser=msedge.~/.copilot/skills/.env before the first playwright-cli command..gitignore for .playwright-cli/. If missing, append it and inform the user. The CLI writes snapshot files to this folder in the current working directory.Before running any playwright-cli command, load the extension token:
# Load token from .env
$envFile = Join-Path $HOME ".copilot" "skills" ".env"
if (Test-Path $envFile) {
Get-Content $envFile | ForEach-Object {
if ($_ -match '^\s*([^#][^=]+)=(.*)$') {
[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($Matches[1].Trim(), $Matches[2].Trim(), 'Process')
}
}
} else {
Write-Error "Missing ~/.copilot/skills/.env with PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION_TOKEN"
}
Verify the token is set:
if (-not $env:PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION_TOKEN) {
Write-Error "PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION_TOKEN not set. Check ~/.copilot/skills/.env"
}
Load playwright-cli/config.json (gitignored) which maps internal site URLs to keywords. When the user's request matches keywords for a site, navigate there automatically.
$configFile = Join-Path $HOME ".copilot" "skills" "playwright-cli" "config.json"
if (Test-Path $configFile) {
$sites = (Get-Content $configFile -Raw | ConvertFrom-Json).sites
}
playwright-cli open --extension --browser=msedge
If playwright-cli is not found:
npx @playwright/cli@latest open --extension --browser=msedge
This connects to your running Edge browser via the MCP Bridge extension. It does NOT launch a new browser.
playwright-cli goto <url>
playwright-cli go-back
playwright-cli go-forward
playwright-cli reload
playwright-cli snapshot # accessibility tree with element refs
playwright-cli snapshot --filename=page.yml # save to specific file
playwright-cli screenshot # capture visible page
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=f.png # save with specific name
playwright-cli screenshot <ref> # screenshot a specific element
playwright-cli click <ref> # click an element by ref
playwright-cli type <text> # type text into focused element
playwright-cli fill <ref> <text> # fill a specific input
playwright-cli hover <ref> # hover over element
playwright-cli select <ref> <val> # select dropdown option
playwright-cli check <ref> # check a checkbox
playwright-cli uncheck <ref> # uncheck a checkbox
playwright-cli press <key> # press a key (Enter, ArrowDown, etc.)
playwright-cli tab-list # list all tabs
playwright-cli tab-new [url] # open a new tab
playwright-cli tab-select <index> # switch to tab by index
playwright-cli tab-close [index] # close a tab
playwright-cli eval "document.title"
playwright-cli eval "el => el.textContent" <ref>
playwright-cli list # list active sessions
playwright-cli close # close the connection
playwright-cli close-all # close all sessions
After each command, playwright-cli returns a snapshot of the page state. Snapshots contain element refs (e.g., e1, e5, e12) that you use with click, fill, hover, etc.
> 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)
Use playwright-cli snapshot to take one on demand.
playwright-cli open --extension --browser=msedge
playwright-cli goto https://example.com/article
playwright-cli snapshot
# Read the snapshot to understand page structure
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=article.png
playwright-cli close
playwright-cli open --extension --browser=msedge
playwright-cli goto https://example.com/form
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli fill e1 "[email protected]"
playwright-cli fill e2 "some text"
playwright-cli click e3
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close