Browsing with playwright
Skill Eng-Muhammad-Affan/digital-fte/.qwen/skills/browsing-with-playwright
Personal AI agent that handles social media as well as any social media
npx -y skills add Eng-Muhammad-Affan/digital-fte --skill browsing-with-playwrightAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
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What its author says it does
Copied from the file, not written here
Browser automation using Playwright MCP. Navigate websites, fill forms, click elements, take screenshots, and extract data. Use when tasks require web browsing, form submission, web scraping, UI testing, or any browser interaction. NOT when only fetching static content (use curl/wget instead).
SKILL.md
4.7 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it
Browser Automation
Automate browser interactions via Playwright MCP server.
Server Lifecycle
Start Server
# Using helper script (recommended)
bash scripts/start-server.sh
# Or manually
pnpm dlx @playwright/mcp@latest --port 8808 --shared-browser-context &
Stop Server
# Using helper script (closes browser first)
bash scripts/stop-server.sh
# Or manually
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_close -p '{}'
pkill -f "@playwright/mcp"
When to Stop
- End of task: Stop when browser work is complete
- Long sessions: Keep running if doing multiple browser tasks
- Errors: Stop and restart if browser becomes unresponsive
Important: The --shared-browser-context flag is required to maintain browser state across multiple mcp-client.py calls. Without it, each call gets a fresh browser context.
Quick Reference
Navigation
# Go to URL
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_navigate \
-p '{"url": "https://example.com"}'
# Go back
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_navigate_back -p '{}'
Get Page State
# Accessibility snapshot (returns element refs for clicking/typing)
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_snapshot -p '{}'
# Screenshot
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_take_screenshot \
-p '{"type": "png", "fullPage": true}'
Interact with Elements
Use ref from snapshot output to target elements:
# Click element
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_click \
-p '{"element": "Submit button", "ref": "e42"}'
# Type text
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_type \
-p '{"element": "Search input", "ref": "e15", "text": "hello world", "submit": true}'
# Fill form (multiple fields)
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_fill_form \
-p '{"fields": [{"ref": "e10", "value": "[email protected]"}, {"ref": "e12", "value": "password123"}]}'
# Select dropdown
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_select_option \
-p '{"element": "Country dropdown", "ref": "e20", "values": ["US"]}'
Wait for Conditions
# Wait for text to appear
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_wait_for \
-p '{"text": "Success"}'
# Wait for time (ms)
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_wait_for \
-p '{"time": 2000}'
Execute JavaScript
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_evaluate \
-p '{"function": "return document.title"}'
Multi-Step Playwright Code
For complex workflows, use browser_run_code to run multiple actions in one call:
python3 scripts/mcp-client.py call -u http://localhost:8808 -t browser_run_code \
-p '{"code": "async (page) => { await page.goto(\"https://example.com\"); await page.click(\"text=Learn more\"); return await page.title(); }"}'
Tip: Use browser_run_code for complex multi-step operations that should be atomic (all-or-nothing).
Workflow: Form Submission
- Navigate to page
- Get snapshot to find element refs
- Fill form fields using refs
- Click submit
- Wait for confirmation
- Screenshot result
Workflow: Data Extraction
- Navigate to page
- Get snapshot (contains text content)
- Use browser_evaluate for complex extraction
- Process results
Verification
Run: python3 scripts/verify.py
Expected: ✓ Playwright MCP server running
If Verification Fails
- Run diagnostic:
pgrep -f "@playwright/mcp" - Check: Server process running on port 8808
- Try:
bash scripts/start-server.sh - Stop and report if still failing - do not proceed with downstream steps
Tool Reference
See references/playwright-tools.md for complete tool documentation.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Element not found | Run browser_snapshot first to get current refs |
| Click fails | Try browser_hover first, then click |
| Form not submitting | Use "submit": true with browser_type |
| Page not loading | Increase wait time or use browser_wait_for |
| Server not responding | Stop and restart: bash scripts/stop-server.sh && bash scripts/start-server.sh |
Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most e2e browser skills give
Counted across 407 of the 410 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-06
- use page object model patternin 35 of 407, across 25 files
- Snapshot to get element refsin 24 of 407, across 14 files
- keep tests independentin 23 of 407, across 18 files
- Interact using refs from the latest snapshotin 23 of 407, across 11 files
- clean up test data after each testin 21 of 407, across 15 files
- test user behavior not implementationin 20 of 407, across 14 files
- quarantine flaky tests explicitlyin 19 of 407, across 10 files
- wait for specific network conditionsin 18 of 407, across 8 files
- re-snapshot after navigation or dom changesin 17 of 407, across 10 files
- Detect running dev servers before writing test codein 17 of 407, across 7 files
- use web-first assertionsin 17 of 407, across 14 files
- capture screenshots or videos on test failurein 17 of 407, across 14 files
Said here and by no other author read
- get element references via accessibility snapshot
Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once.