TL;DR

Playwright now supports HAR (HTTP Archive) recording directly within tracing, and simplifies drag-and-drop testing with a new locator.drop() method.

New

• HAR Recording: Capture network traffic as HAR files using the tracing API.
• Drag and Drop: Simulate file uploads and data transfer with locator.drop() for more reliable testing of upload zones.
• Test Abort: Use test.abort() to immediately fail a test when unrecoverable errors are detected.

Fixes Worth Knowing

• toMatchAriaSnapshot() now works on the entire Page object, not just Locators.
• ariaSnapshot() can now include bounding boxes for each element, aiding in AI-driven testing.

Before You Upgrade

No specific upgrade steps are required.

TL;DR

Playwright now includes npm init playwright (command-line tool) to quickly scaffold new projects with pre-configured tests and workflows, and improved TypeScript support with respect to module resolution.

New

• npm init playwright: Creates new Playwright Test projects with configuration, examples, and a GitHub Action workflow.
• TypeScript improvements: Playwright Test now respects tsconfig.json’s baseUrl and paths for easier module aliasing, and supports ESM modules with the PW_EXPERIMENTAL_TS_ESM environment variable.

Fixes Worth Knowing

• Locators can now be filtered by text content for more precise targeting.
• New assertion toBeChecked for checking checkbox states.
• dragTo method added to locators for drag-and-drop actions.

Before You Upgrade

If using TypeScript with ESM modules, set the PW_EXPERIMENTAL_TS_ESM=1 environment variable and use the .js suffix when importing modules.

TL;DR

Playwright now consolidates browser installations to a single location, simplifying management and reducing disk space usage.

Breaking

• The page.waitFor method has been removed; use page.waitForSelector, page.waitForFunction, or page.waitForTimeout instead.
• The 'mutation' polling option for waitForSelector and similar methods is no longer supported.

New

• page.waitForTimeout method added for explicit pausing.

Fixes Worth Knowing

• Improved reliability of page.click with moving targets and cross-process navigation (handling target="_blank" links).
• Fixed issues with browser installations on Node 14 and Alpine Linux.
• Resolved problems with downloads in Chromium and WebKit, including blob downloads on macOS.
• Improved handling of visibility checks and text selectors.

Before You Upgrade

• If you are using page.waitFor, update your code to use the more specific page.waitForSelector, page.waitForFunction, or page.waitForTimeout methods.
• Be aware that browser installations will now occur in a single, shared location.