Top 30 Playwright Interview Questions & Answers
1. Q: What is Playwright?
A: Playwright is an open-source test automation library by Microsoft for end-to-end testing of web
apps using Node.js, supporting multiple browsers.
2. Q: Which browsers does Playwright support?
A: Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit (Safari engine).
3. Q: What languages can you use with Playwright?
A: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, and C#.
4. Q: How is Playwright different from Selenium?
A: Playwright supports modern web app features out-of-the-box like auto-waiting, multiple browser
contexts, and better handling of single-page apps.
5. Q: What is auto-waiting in Playwright?
A: Playwright automatically waits for elements to be ready before performing actions.
6. Q: How do you launch a browser in Playwright?
A: `const browser = await playwright.chromium.launch();`
7. Q: How do you create a new browser context?
A: `const context = await browser.newContext();`
8. Q: What is a browser context?
A: A context is like a new browser profile. It allows multiple sessions in one browser instance.
9. Q: How do you interact with a dropdown in Playwright?
A: Use `page.selectOption(selector, value)` to choose an option.
10. Q: How to take a screenshot in Playwright?
A: Use `page.screenshot({ path: 'screenshot.png' })`.
11. Q: What is `page.waitForSelector`?
A: It waits for an element matching the selector to appear in the DOM.
12. Q: How to perform assertions in Playwright?
A: Use Playwright Test or expect library: `expect(element).toHaveText('text')`.
13. Q: What is the role of fixtures in Playwright Test?
A: Fixtures help set up and tear down test environments, like browser or context.
14. Q: What is headless mode?
A: Running browser tests without a GUI. It's faster and common in CI pipelines.
15. Q: How do you handle file uploads in Playwright?
A: Use `setInputFiles()` with the file path.
16. Q: How can you record tests in Playwright?
A: Use `npx playwright codegen <URL>` to generate test scripts by recording actions.
17. Q: How do you run tests in parallel?
A: Playwright Test runs tests in parallel by default at the file level.
18. Q: How do you handle alerts/popups?
A: Use `page.on('dialog', async dialog => { await dialog.accept(); })`.
19. Q: Can Playwright test mobile views?
A: Yes, using `viewport` and `userAgent` settings in context for mobile emulation.
20. Q: How to debug Playwright tests?
A: Use `DEBUG=pw:api` or `--debug` flag in CLI; `headless: false` for visual debugging.
21. Q: What is Playwright Test Runner?
A: It's a built-in test runner with features like parallelism, retries, reporters, and fixtures.
22. Q: How do you mock API responses?
A: Use `page.route()` to intercept and modify network requests.
23. Q: What is `tracing` in Playwright?
A: Tracing helps analyze test execution with detailed traces: `context.tracing.start()` and
`context.tracing.stop()`.
24. Q: How to run tests in different browsers?
A: Use `--project=chromium/firefox/webkit` in Playwright config.
25. Q: What is the purpose of Playwright config file?
A: Central place to define test settings like baseURL, retries, timeouts, projects.
26. Q: How to handle flaky tests?
A: Use `retries` in config, better selectors, and proper wait mechanisms.
27. Q: How do you test authentication flows?
A: Use storage state or context login to persist sessions across tests.
28. Q: What is the difference between `locator` and `page.$`?
A: `locator` is recommended and resilient to changes; `$` fetches once and can become stale.
29. Q: How do you test if a button is disabled?
A: `expect(button).toBeDisabled()` or check attribute manually.
30. Q: How do you assert an element is visible?
A: Use `expect(locator).toBeVisible()`.
