browsing-with-playwright

panaversity's avatarfrom panaversity

Browser automation using Playwright MCP. Navigate websites, fill forms, click elements, take screenshots, and extract data. Use for web browsing, form submission, web scraping, or UI testing. NOT for static content (use curl/wget).

⭐15stars🔀9forks📁View on GitHub🕐Updated Jan 2, 2026
[Web Automation]

When & Why to Use This Skill

This Claude skill leverages Playwright MCP to provide robust browser automation capabilities, enabling AI agents to interact with the live web in real-time. It solves the limitation of accessing dynamic, JavaScript-heavy content by allowing the agent to navigate websites, click elements, fill forms, and capture screenshots, making it an essential tool for complex web-based tasks that go beyond simple data retrieval.

Use Cases

  • Automated UI Testing: Execute end-to-end testing workflows by simulating user interactions and capturing screenshots to verify interface integrity.
  • Dynamic Web Scraping: Extract structured data from modern web applications that require JavaScript execution or multi-step navigation.
  • Automated Form Submission: Streamline repetitive administrative tasks by automatically populating and submitting complex web forms and applications.
  • Visual Monitoring and Auditing: Periodically capture full-page screenshots of websites to monitor layout changes, advertisements, or compliance.
  • Interactive Web Research: Navigate through authenticated sessions or multi-page search results to gather and synthesize real-time information.
namebrowsing-with-playwright
descriptionBrowser automation using Playwright MCP. Navigate websites, fill forms, click elements, take screenshots, and extract data. Use for web browsing, form submission, web scraping, or UI testing. NOT for static content (use curl/wget).

Browser Automation

Automate browser interactions via Playwright MCP server.

Server Lifecycle

Start Server

# Using helper script (recommended)
bash scripts/start-server.sh

# Or manually
npx @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

# 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": "john@example.com"}, {"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

  1. Navigate to page
  2. Get snapshot to find element refs
  3. Fill form fields using refs
  4. Click submit
  5. Wait for confirmation
  6. Screenshot result

Workflow: Data Extraction

  1. Navigate to page
  2. Get snapshot (contains text content)
  3. Use browser_evaluate for complex extraction
  4. Process results

Verification

Run: python3 scripts/verify.py

Expected: ✓ Playwright MCP server running

If Verification Fails

  1. Run diagnostic: pgrep -f "@playwright/mcp"
  2. Check: Server process running on port 8808
  3. Try: bash scripts/start-server.sh
  4. 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