--- id: cli title: "Command Line Interface" --- Playwright comes with the command line tools that run via `npx` or as a part of the `npm` scripts. ## Usage ```sh js $ npx playwright --help ``` ```sh python $ playwright ``` ```json js # Running from `package.json` script { "scripts": { "help": "playwright --help" } } ``` ## Generate code ```sh js $ npx playwright codegen wikipedia.org ``` ```sh python $ playwright codegen wikipedia.org ``` Run `codegen` and perform actions in the browser. Playwright CLI will generate JavaScript code for the user interactions. `codegen` will attempt to generate resilient text-based selectors. ### Preserve authenticated state Run `codegen` with `--save-storage` to save [cookies](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Cookies) and [localStorage](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage) at the end. This is useful to separately record authentication step and reuse it later. ```sh js $ npx playwright --save-storage=auth.json codegen # Perform authentication and exit. # auth.json will contain the storage state. ``` ```sh python $ playwright --save-storage=auth.json codegen # Perform authentication and exit. # auth.json will contain the storage state. ``` Run with `--load-storage` to consume previously loaded storage. This way, all [cookies](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Cookies) and [localStorage](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage) will be restored, bringing most web apps to the authenticated state. ```sh js $ npx playwright --load-storage=auth.json open my.web.app $ npx playwright --load-storage=auth.json codegen my.web.app # Perform actions in authenticated state. ``` ```sh python $ playwright --load-storage=auth.json open my.web.app $ playwright --load-storage=auth.json codegen my.web.app # Perform actions in authenticated state. ``` ### Codegen with custom setup If you would like to use codegen in some non-standard setup (for example, use [`method: BrowserContext.route`]), it is possible to call [`method: Page.pause`] that will open a separate window with codegen controls. ```js const { chromium } = require('playwright'); (async () => { // Make sure to run headed. const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: false }); // Setup context however you like. const context = await browser.newContext({ /* pass any options */ }); await context.route('**/*', route => route.continue()); // Pause the page, and start recording manually. const page = await context.newPage(); await page.pause(); })(); ``` ```python async import asyncio from playwright.async_api import async_playwright async def main(): async with async_playwright() as p: # Make sure to run headed. browser = await p.chromium.launch(headless=False) # Setup context however you like. context = await browser.new_context() # Pass any options await context.route('**/*', lambda route: route.continue_()) # Pause the page, and start recording manually. page = await context.new_page() await page.pause() asyncio.run(main()) ``` ```python sync from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright with sync_playwright() as p: # Make sure to run headed. browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False) # Setup context however you like. context = browser.new_context() # Pass any options context.route('**/*', lambda route: route.continue_()) # Pause the page, and start recording manually. page = context.new_page() page.pause() ``` ## Open pages With `open`, you can use Playwright bundled browsers to browse web pages. Playwright provides cross-platform WebKit builds that can be used to reproduce Safari rendering across Windows, Linux and macOS. ```sh js # Open page in Chromium $ npx playwright open example.com ``` ```sh python # Open page in Chromium $ playwright open example.com ``` ```sh js # Open page in WebKit $ npx playwright wk example.com ``` ```sh python # Open page in WebKit $ playwright wk example.com ``` ### Emulate devices `open` can emulate mobile and tablet devices from the [`playwright.devices`](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-playwright#playwrightdevices) list. ```sh js # Emulate iPhone 11. $ npx playwright --device="iPhone 11" open wikipedia.org ``` ```sh python # Emulate iPhone 11. $ playwright --device="iPhone 11" open wikipedia.org ``` ### Emulate color scheme and viewport size ```sh js # Emulate screen size and color scheme. $ npx playwright --viewport-size=800,600 --color-scheme=dark open twitter.com ``` ```sh python # Emulate screen size and color scheme. $ playwright --viewport-size=800,600 --color-scheme=dark open twitter.com ``` ### Emulate geolocation, language and timezone ```sh js # Emulate timezone, language & location # Once page opens, click the "my location" button to see geolocation in action $ npx playwright --timezone="Europe/Rome" --geolocation="41.890221,12.492348" --lang="it-IT" open maps.google.com ``` ```sh python # Emulate timezone, language & location # Once page opens, click the "my location" button to see geolocation in action $ playwright --timezone="Europe/Rome" --geolocation="41.890221,12.492348" --lang="it-IT" open maps.google.com ``` ## Inspect selectors During `open` or `codegen`, you can use following API inside the developer tools console of any browser. #### playwright.$(selector) Query Playwright selector, using the actual Playwright query engine, for example: ```js > playwright.$('.auth-form >> text=Log in'); ``` #### playwright.$$(selector) Same as `playwright.$`, but returns all matching elements. ```js > playwright.$$('li >> text=John') > [
  • ,
  • ,
  • ,
  • ] ``` #### playwright.inspect(selector) Reveal element in the Elements panel (if DevTools of the respective browser supports it). ```js > playwright.inspect('text=Log in') ``` #### playwright.selector(element) Generates selector for the given element. ```js > playwright.selector($0) "div[id="glow-ingress-block"] >> text=/.*Hello.*/" ``` ## Take screenshot ```sh js # See command help $ npx playwright screenshot --help ``` ```sh python # See command help $ playwright screenshot --help ``` ```sh js # Wait 3 seconds before capturing a screenshot after page loads ('load' event fires) $ npx playwright \ --device="iPhone 11" \ --color-scheme=dark \ screenshot \ --wait-for-timeout=3000 \ twitter.com twitter-iphone.png ``` ```sh python # Wait 3 seconds before capturing a screenshot after page loads ('load' event fires) $ playwright \ --device="iPhone 11" \ --color-scheme=dark \ screenshot \ --wait-for-timeout=3000 \ twitter.com twitter-iphone.png ``` ```sh js # Capture a full page screenshot $ npx playwright screenshot --full-page en.wikipedia.org wiki-full.png ``` ```sh python # Capture a full page screenshot $ playwright screenshot --full-page en.wikipedia.org wiki-full.png ``` ## Generate PDF PDF generation only works in Headless Chromium. ```sh js # See command help $ npx playwright pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF wiki.pdf ``` ```sh python # See command help $ playwright pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF wiki.pdf ``` ## Known limitations Opening WebKit Web Inspector will disconnect Playwright from the browser. In such cases, code generation will stop.