Bowser

Always use a named session. Derive a short, descriptive kebab-case name from the user's prompt. This gives each task a persistent browser profile (cookies, localStorage, history) that accumulates across calls.

# Derive session name from prompt context:
# "test the checkout flow on mystore.com" → -s=mystore-checkout
# "scrape pricing from competitor.com"    → -s=competitor-pricing
# "UI test the login page"               → -s=login-ui-test

playwright-cli -s=mystore-checkout open https://mystore.com --persistent
playwright-cli -s=mystore-checkout snapshot
playwright-cli -s=mystore-checkout click e12

Managing sessions:

playwright-cli list                                     # list all sessions
playwright-cli close-all                                # close all sessions
playwright-cli -s=<name> close                          # close specific session
playwright-cli -s=<name> delete-data                    # wipe session profile

Quick Reference

Core:       open [url], goto <url>, click <ref>, fill <ref> <text>, type <text>, snapshot, screenshot [ref], close
Navigate:   go-back, go-forward, reload
Keyboard:   press <key>, keydown <key>, keyup <key>
Mouse:      mousemove <x> <y>, mousedown, mouseup, mousewheel <dx> <dy>
Tabs:       tab-list, tab-new [url], tab-close [index], tab-select <index>
Save:       screenshot [ref], pdf, screenshot --filename=f
Storage:    state-save, state-load, cookie-*, localstorage-*, sessionstorage-*
Network:    route <pattern>, route-list, unroute, network
DevTools:   console, run-code <code>, tracing-start/stop, video-start/stop
Sessions:   -s=<name> <cmd>, list, close-all, kill-all
Config:     open --headed, open --browser=chrome, resize <w> <h>

Workflow

1. Derive a session name from the user's prompt and open with --persistent to preserve cookies/state. Always set the viewport via env var at launch:

PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_VIEWPORT_SIZE=1440x900 playwright-cli -s=<session-name> open <url> --persistent
# or headed:
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_VIEWPORT_SIZE=1440x900 playwright-cli -s=<session-name> open <url> --persistent --headed
# or with vision (screenshots returned as image responses in context):
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_VIEWPORT_SIZE=1440x900 PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CAPS=vision playwright-cli -s=<session-name> open <url> --persistent

2. Get element references via snapshot:

playwright-cli -s=<session-name> snapshot

3. Interact using refs from snapshot:

playwright-cli -s=<session-name> click <ref>
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> fill <ref> "text"
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> type "text"
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> press Enter

4. Scroll the page using mousewheel (NOT run-code):

playwright-cli -s=<session-name> mousewheel 0 500      # scroll down 500px
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> mousewheel 0 -500     # scroll up 500px
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> mousewheel 0 2000     # scroll down a full page

5. Capture results:

playwright-cli -s=<session-name> screenshot
playwright-cli -s=<session-name> screenshot --filename=output.png

6. Always close the session when done. This is not optional — close the named session after finishing your task:

playwright-cli -s=<session-name> close

Gotchas

• Always include -s=<session-name> on every command. Omitting it creates an unnamed session that can't be reused or cleaned up.
• Scrolling: use mousewheel, not run-code. The run-code command runs in a Node.js context where window and document are not defined. It also rejects trailing semicolons. Use mousewheel 0 <pixels> instead — it's simpler and reliable.
• Prefer snapshots over screenshots for page content. Snapshot YAML files contain the full accessibility tree with all text and are far more token-efficient. Read screenshots when you need to assess visual layout, styling, or images that aren't captured in the accessibility tree.
• Reuse a single session per task. Don't open a new session for each page section. Navigate within the same session using click, goto, or mousewheel. Only use separate sessions for truly independent parallel tasks.
• Snapshot before interacting. Always take a fresh snapshot to get current element refs. Refs change after navigation or DOM updates.

Configuration

If a playwright-cli.json exists in the working directory, use it automatically. If the user provides a path to a config file, use --config path/to/config.json. Otherwise, skip configuration — the env var and CLI defaults are sufficient.

{
  "browser": {
    "browserName": "chromium",
    "launchOptions": { "headless": true },
    "contextOptions": { "viewport": { "width": 1440, "height": 900 } }
  },
  "outputDir": "./screenshots"
}

Full Help

Run playwright-cli --help or playwright-cli --help <command> for detailed command usage.

See docs/playwright-cli.md for full documentation.

If playwright-cli Is Not Installed

Read install.md in this skill directory for installation instructions.