Playwright is an open-source, modern end-to-end testing framework developed by Microsoft. It enables fast, reliable, and cross-browser automation for web applications using real browsers โ ideal for UI testing, functional testing, and integration testing.
Playwright is a browser automation tool for end-to-end UI testing, but it also includes built-in API testing support (especially in JS/Python, and partially in Java).ย
It enables UI testing, API testing, and component testing, all with a single toolset.
โ Cross-browser support (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) โ with no setup
โ Headless & headed mode
โ Auto-waiting for elements (no more sleep() or manual waits)
โ Powerful selectors (text=, nth=, has= etc.)
โ
Built-in support for:
Screenshots, videos, trace recording
Network interception and mocking
Parallel test execution
Emulating devices, geolocation, and permissions
โ
Supports Multiple Languages:
JavaScript / TypeScript โ (native)
Python โ
Java โ
.NET โ
โ Web UI (forms, buttons, navigation)
โ Login and authentication flows
โ File uploads/downloads
โ Mobile viewport emulation
โ API calls (GET, POST, auth)
โ Visual validation (screenshots, trace viewer)
๐๏ธ https://playwright.dev
Best source for up-to-date examples
Covers browser automation, API testing, tracing, selectors, test runners, etc.
๐ Playwright Java Getting Started (Official)
Covers setup, launching browsers, selectors, assertions
๐ GitHub: Playwright Java Examples (official repo)
Starter code, test runners, API usage
Great reference if you're working with TestNG/JUnit
๐ Playwright Test Framework (official)
Built-in test runner (parallel, retries, fixtures, etc.)
Includes examples for headless mode, parallelism, and API testing
UI smoke/regression tests
Login, navigation, and form validation
Headless test automation in CI/CD
API + UI integration (token injection, mocks)
Visual testing (with screenshot diffing)
Playwright is faster, with better waits and modern APIs
No driver setup โ uses bundled browsers
Supports multi-browser + device emulation natively
Easier to write stable tests with smart selectors
Node.js (native):
npm install -D @playwright/test
npx playwright install
Java: ย
Add to pom.xml:
<dependency>
ย ย <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
ย ย <artifactId>playwright</artifactId>
ย ย <version>1.44.0</version>
</dependency>
Python:
pip install playwright
playwright install
Unified UI + API + component testing
Built-in tooling: tracing, visual reports, CLI runner
Scalable: works in local dev, Docker, and CI pipelines
Active community + maintained by Microsoft