Storage & Authentication

Manage cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage, and save/restore full browser state for authentication persistence.

Storage state (cookies + localStorage)

Save and restore the full browser state (cookies + localStorage) in a single file. This is the primary way to persist authentication across sessions.

playwright-cli state-save               # save to storage-state-{timestamp}.json
playwright-cli state-save auth.json     # save to a named file
playwright-cli state-load auth.json     # restore from file

The file holds the cookies plus the localStorage of every origin the browser visited. Never commit these files — they carry live authentication tokens.

Workflow: save login, skip it next time

# Login once
playwright-cli open https://app.example.com/login
playwright-cli fill e3 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli fill e5 "password123"
playwright-cli click e7

# Save authenticated state
playwright-cli state-save auth.json

# Later, skip login entirely
playwright-cli state-load auth.json
playwright-cli goto https://app.example.com/dashboard
# Already logged in!

Cookies

Command	Description
cookie-list [--domain] [--path]	List cookies (optionally filtered by domain or path)
cookie-get <name>	Get a specific cookie
cookie-set <name> <value> [options]	Set a cookie
cookie-delete <name>	Delete a cookie
cookie-clear	Clear all cookies

cookie-set options

Option	Description
--domain=<domain>	Cookie domain
--path=<path>	Cookie path (default: /)
--expires=<timestamp>	Expiration as Unix timestamp
--httpOnly	HTTP-only flag
--secure	Secure flag
--sameSite=<value>	Strict, Lax, or None

$ playwright-cli cookie-list
# Name          Value       Domain            HttpOnly  Secure  Expires
# session_id    abc123      .example.com      true      true    2024-12-31
# theme         dark        .example.com      false     false   Session

$ playwright-cli cookie-list --domain=.github.com
$ playwright-cli cookie-get session_id
$ playwright-cli cookie-set theme light
$ playwright-cli cookie-set session abc123 --domain=.example.com --secure --httpOnly
$ playwright-cli cookie-set remember_me token123 --expires=1893456000 --sameSite=Lax
$ playwright-cli cookie-delete session_id
$ playwright-cli cookie-clear

Workflow: test logout by clearing cookies

playwright-cli cookie-clear
playwright-cli reload
playwright-cli snapshot
# - heading "Sign in" [level=1]
# - textbox "Email" [ref=e3]

localStorage

Command	Description
localstorage-list	List all key-value pairs
localstorage-get <key>	Get a value by key
localstorage-set <key> <value>	Set a value
localstorage-delete <key>	Delete a key
localstorage-clear	Clear all

$ playwright-cli localstorage-list
# Key                Value
# user_preferences   {"theme":"dark","lang":"en"}
# onboarding_done    true

$ playwright-cli localstorage-get user_preferences
# {"theme":"dark","lang":"en"}

$ playwright-cli localstorage-set onboarding_done "false"
$ playwright-cli reload
# Onboarding wizard appears

sessionStorage

Same commands with sessionstorage- prefix. Data is cleared when the tab closes.

playwright-cli sessionstorage-list
playwright-cli sessionstorage-get <key>
playwright-cli sessionstorage-set <key> <value>
playwright-cli sessionstorage-delete <key>
playwright-cli sessionstorage-clear

Bulk operations

The single-key commands cover the common cases. For anything bulkier — adding several cookies at once, or writing a batch of localStorage keys — use run-code:

playwright-cli run-code "async page => {
  await page.context().addCookies([
    { name: 'session_id', value: 'sess_abc123', domain: 'example.com', path: '/', httpOnly: true },
    { name: 'preferences', value: JSON.stringify({ theme: 'dark' }), domain: 'example.com', path: '/' }
  ]);
}"

IndexedDB has no dedicated commands; reach for run-code there too:

playwright-cli run-code "async page => page.evaluate(() => indexedDB.databases())"