Getting Started with Playwriter
Control your browser via Playwright API. Uses extension + CLI. No context bloat.
Installation
Click the puzzle icon in Chrome's toolbar, then pin Playwriter so it's always visible.
Click the extension icon on a tab. It turns green when connected.
# install the CLI globally
npm i -g playwriter
# navigate to a URL in the active tab
playwriter -s 1 -e "await page.goto('https://example.com')"Install the Playwriter skill so your agent can call the CLI:
# add playwriter skill to your coding agent
npx -y skills add remorses/playwriterCLI Examples
# create a stateful sandbox, outputs session id (e.g. 1)
playwriter session new
# navigate to a URL
playwriter -s 1 -e "await page.goto('https://example.com')"
# get the accessibility tree of the page
playwriter -s 1 -e "console.log(await snapshot({ page }))"
# click an element by its accessibility reference
playwriter -s 1 -e "await page.locator('aria-ref=e5').click()"How It Works
- No new Chrome instances: Works with your current browser session
- No CDP mode required: No need to restart Chrome with special flags
- Full CDP access: Complete Chrome DevTools Protocol capabilities
- Visual feedback: Extension icon changes color to indicate connection status
Icon States
- Gray: Not connected to any tab
- Green: Successfully connected and ready
- Orange badge (...): Connecting to relay server
- Red badge (!): Error occurred
Privacy & Security
Playwriter MCP runs locally in your browser and does not send any data to external servers. All browser control happens through the standard Chrome DevTools Protocol on your machine.
MCP Setup (Optional)
The CLI is the recommended way to use Playwriter. If you need MCP server setup, auto-configure it with:
# auto-configure MCP server for your editor
npx -y @playwriter/install-mcp playwriter@latestFor full MCP instructions, see MCP.md.
Need Help?
For issues, feature requests, or contributions, visit the GitHub repository .