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Installation

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 20 or newer
  • A coding agent: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar

Global installation​

npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
playwright-cli --help

Using the version in your project​

If Playwright is already a dependency of the project, the CLI is available through it — no global install needed:

npx --no-install playwright --version   # check that a local Playwright exists
npx playwright cli --help

Everywhere these docs write playwright-cli <command>, npx playwright cli <command> works the same way.

Initializing a workspace​

playwright-cli install

This creates a .playwright directory in the current working directory, adds it to .gitignore, and downloads the configured browser if it is missing.

Installing skills​

Coding agents like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot use locally installed skills for richer context about available commands and workflows:

playwright-cli install --skills            # same as --skills=claude
playwright-cli install --skills=claude     # .claude/skills/playwright-cli
playwright-cli install --skills=agents     # .agents/skills/playwright-cli
playwright-cli install --skills -g         # install into the home directory

--global (alias -g) installs the skill into ~/.claude/skills or ~/.agents/skills so it is available in every project. It requires --skills and skips the workspace initialization.

See Skills for what the skill contains.

Installing browsers​

The CLI downloads a browser automatically on first use. To install explicitly:

playwright-cli install-browser               # install the browsers this version needs
playwright-cli install-browser firefox       # install one specific browser
playwright-cli install-browser --with-deps   # install with system dependencies

Install options​

FlagDescription
--with-depsInstall system dependencies (Linux)
--dry-runPreview what would be installed
--listList available browsers from all installations
--forceForce reinstall even if already present
--only-shellOnly install Chromium headless shell
--no-shellSkip Chromium headless shell

Skills-less operation​

You can also point your agent at the CLI directly and let it discover commands on its own:

Test the "add todo" flow on https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc using playwright-cli.
Check playwright-cli --help for available commands.

Environment setup​

Configure your coding agent to use a specific session:

PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION=todo-app claude .

Next steps​