Integrating Playwright with CI/CD Tools - Github Actions

In this example we will explore how to use GitHub Action in playwright to automate the CI/CD pipeline. Playwright tests can be run on any CI provider. This guide covers one way of running tests on GitHub using GitHub actions. Playwright tests can be executed in CI environments. We have created sample configurations for common CI providers.

3 steps to get your tests running on CI:

1. Ensure CI agent can run browsers: Use our Docker image in Linux agents or install your dependencies using the CLI.

2. Install Playwright:

# Install NPM packages
npm ci

# Install Playwright browsers and dependencies
npx playwright install --with-deps

3. Run your tests:

npx playwright test

Workers

We recommend setting workers to "1" in CI environments to prioritize stability and reproducibility. Running tests sequentially ensures each test gets the full system resources, avoiding potential conflicts. However, if you have a powerful self-hosted CI system, you may enable parallel tests. For wider parallelization, consider sharding - distributing tests across multiple CI jobs.

playwright.config.ts

import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';

export default defineConfig({
  // Opt out of parallel tests on CI.
  workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
});

GitHub Actions

On push/pull_request

Tests will run on push or pull request on branches main/master. The workflow will install all dependencies, install Playwright and then run the tests. It will also create the HTML report.

.github/workflows/playwright.yml

name: Playwright Tests
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, master ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main, master ]
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 60
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: lts/*
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Install Playwright Browsers
      run: npx playwright install --with-deps
    - name: Run Playwright tests
      run: npx playwright test
    - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
      with:
        name: playwright-report
        path: playwright-report/
        retention-days: 30

Via Containers

GitHub Actions support running jobs in a container by using the jobs.<job_id>.container option. This is useful to not pollute the host environment with dependencies and to have a consistent environment for e.g. screenshots/visual regression testing across different operating systems.

.github/workflows/playwright.yml

name: Playwright Tests
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, master ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main, master ]
jobs:
  playwright:
    name: 'Playwright Tests'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.52.0-noble
      options: --user 1001
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Run your tests
        run: npx playwright test

This is all about GitHub actions in playwright to run playwright in CI/CD pipelines.