pw – Coding skill for AI agents

Playwright Pro

Production-grade Playwright testing toolkit for AI coding agents.

Available Commands

When installed as a Claude Code plugin, these are available as /pw: commands:

| Command | What it does |

|---|---|

| /pw:pw-init | Set up Playwright — detects framework, generates config, CI, first test |

| /pw:generate <spec> | Generate tests from user story, URL, or component |

| /pw:pw-review | Review tests for anti-patterns and coverage gaps |

| /pw:fix <test> | Diagnose and fix failing or flaky tests |

| /pw:migrate | Migrate from Cypress or Selenium to Playwright |

| /pw:coverage | Analyze what's tested vs. what's missing |

| /pw:testrail | Sync with TestRail — read cases, push results |

| /pw:browserstack | Run on BrowserStack, pull cross-browser reports |

| /pw:report | Generate test report in your preferred format |

Quick Start Workflow

The recommended sequence for most projects:

1. /pw:pw-init          → scaffolds config, CI pipeline, and a first smoke test
2. /pw:generate      → generates tests from your spec or URL
3. /pw:pw-review        → validates quality and flags anti-patterns      ← always run after generate
4. /pw:fix <test>    → diagnoses and repairs any failing/flaky tests  ← run when CI turns red

Validation checkpoints:

• After /pw:generate — always run /pw:pw-review before committing; it catches locator anti-patterns and missing assertions automatically.
• After /pw:fix — re-run the full suite locally (npx playwright test) to confirm the fix doesn't introduce regressions.
• After /pw:migrate — run /pw:coverage to confirm parity with the old suite before decommissioning Cypress/Selenium tests.

Example: Generate → Review → Fix

# 1. Generate tests from a user story
/pw:generate "As a user I can log in with email and password"

# Generated: tests/auth/login.spec.ts
# → Playwright Pro creates the file using the auth template.

# 2. Review the generated tests
/pw:pw-review tests/auth/login.spec.ts

# → Flags: one test used page.locator('input[type=password]') — suggests getByLabel('Password')
# → Fix applied automatically.

# 3. Run locally to confirm
npx playwright test tests/auth/login.spec.ts --headed

# 4. If a test is flaky in CI, diagnose it
/pw:fix tests/auth/login.spec.ts
# → Identifies missing web-first assertion; replaces waitForTimeout(2000) with expect(locator).toBeVisible()

Golden Rules

1. getByRole() over CSS/XPath — resilient to markup changes

2. Never page.waitForTimeout() — use web-first assertions

3. expect(locator) auto-retries; expect(await locator.textContent()) does not

4. Isolate every test — no shared state between tests

5. baseURL in config — zero hardcoded URLs

6. Retries: 2 in CI, 0 locally

7. Traces: 'on-first-retry' — rich debugging without slowdown

8. Fixtures over globals — test.extend() for shared state

9. One behavior per test — multiple related assertions are fine

10. Mock external services only — never mock your own app

Locator Priority

1. getByRole()        — buttons, links, headings, form elements
2. getByLabel()       — form fields with labels
3. getByText()        — non-interactive text
4. getByPlaceholder() — inputs with placeholder
5. getByTestId()      — when no semantic option exists
6. page.locator()     — CSS/XPath as last resort

What's Included

• 9 skills with detailed step-by-step instructions
• 3 specialized agents: test-architect, test-debugger, migration-planner
• 55 test templates: auth, CRUD, checkout, search, forms, dashboard, settings, onboarding, notifications, API, accessibility
• 2 MCP servers (TypeScript): TestRail and BrowserStack integrations *(optional — not auto-registered; see Integration Setup)*
• Smart hooks: auto-validate test quality, auto-detect Playwright projects
• 6 reference docs: golden rules, locators, assertions, fixtures, pitfalls, flaky tests
• Migration guides: Cypress and Selenium mapping tables

Integration Setup

> Not auto-registered (issue #978). The TestRail and BrowserStack MCP servers

> are no longer declared in the plugin's .mcp.json (they failed to connect for

> every user — no bundled node_modules). Exporting the env vars below is not

> enough: /pw:testrail / /pw:browserstack fail with "tool not found" until you

> enable the server manually (cd integrations/<name>-mcp && npm install, then

> register it in your own user/project MCP config). See CLAUDE.md → Integrations.

TestRail (Optional)

export TESTRAIL_URL="https://your-instance.testrail.io"
export TESTRAIL_USER="[email protected]"
export TESTRAIL_API_KEY="your-api-key"

BrowserStack (Optional)

export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME="your-username"
export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY="your-access-key"

Quick Reference

See reference/ directory for:

• golden-rules.md — The 10 non-negotiable rules
• locators.md — Complete locator priority with cheat sheet
• assertions.md — Web-first assertions reference
• fixtures.md — Custom fixtures and storageState patterns
• common-pitfalls.md — Top 10 mistakes and fixes
• flaky-tests.md — Diagnosis commands and quick fixes

See templates/README.md for the full template index.