Browser testing

Use Playwriter for agent-driven browser work. Prefer an isolated headless session so automation does not touch a developer's personal Chrome profiles, tabs, cookies, or logins. Use the Playwriter Chrome extension (real browser) only when the developer explicitly authorizes actual-browser access for that task. Load the Playwriter skill (playwriter skill once per session) before the first command.

PLAYWRITER_AUTO_ENABLE defaults on (leave unset). With multiple Chrome profiles, pick a key from playwriter browser list when using the extension path.

Disposable sessions#

# Headless (default for automation)
SID=$(playwriter session new --browser headless 2>&1 | sed -n 's/^Session \([0-9][0-9]*\) created.*/\1/p')
URL="$(doppler run --project os --config dev -- pnpm --silent auth:mint --browser-url)"
 
playwriter -s "$SID" --timeout 60000 -e "
state.page = context.pages().find((p) => p.url() === 'about:blank') ?? (await context.newPage());
await state.page.goto('$URL', { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded' });
console.log(await snapshot({ page: state.page }));
"

Use a new session id per agent/task so concurrent work does not share Playwright sandbox state. Prefer snapshot() over screenshots for reading the UI. Follow observe → act → observe after navigations and clicks.

Reusable test logins#

For ordinary OS identities, prefer a minted browser sign-in URL opened in a headless Playwriter session (or an authorized real-Chrome session). Persist cookies in that session's browser context for the duration of the smoke; do not import the developer's Default / Profile N Chrome profile.

When a third-party login needs human interaction, have the human complete it in a controlled Chrome tab with the Playwriter extension enabled, then point the agent at that tab only with explicit current-task permission.

Keep CLI and skill current#

npm i -g playwriter@latest
npx skills add remorses/playwriter --skill playwriter -g -y --copy
playwriter skill   # once per session — read in full

Personal installs of the skill live under ~/.agents/skills/playwriter. Do not vendor third-party browser CLI skill packs into this monorepo.

Actual Chrome is exceptional#

Attaching to a developer's real Chrome requires an explicit request for that specific task. Permission to run headless automation is not permission to use the real browser. Do not install or enable an auto-connect MCP server that makes attachment the default.