Deterministic Page Capture: Disables animations, fixes time/random, blocks external resources
Multiple Comparison Methods: Pixel, SSIM comparison
Structure Snapshots: Captures DOM structure and computed styles
CLI Tool: Easy-to-use command-line interface
Docker Support: Reproducible environment for consistent results
CI/CD Integration: Designed for automated testing workflows

Installation

npm install
npm run build
npm link

Or install Playwright browsers:

npx playwright install chromium

Usage

Capture Command

Capture a screenshot of a web page with deterministic behaviors:

page-regression-tester capture <url> [options]

Basic Example

# Simple screenshot
page-regression-tester capture https://example.com --output ./tmp/baseline.png

# With structure snapshot
page-regression-tester capture https://example.com \
  --output ./tmp/baseline.png \
  --save-snapshot

# Advanced options
page-regression-tester capture https://example.com \
  --output ./tmp/homepage.png \
  --viewport 1920x1080 \
  --dpr 2 \
  --wait-selector '[data-testid="hero"]' \
  --mask '[data-testid="carousel"]' \
  --mock-time "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z" \
  --block-urls "**/analytics/**,**/ads/**" \
  --save-snapshot

Capture Options

Option	Description	Default
`-o, --output <path>`	Output file path	`./tmp/capture.png`
`--viewport <size>`	Viewport size (WIDTHxHEIGHT)	`1440x900`
`--dpr <number>`	Device pixel ratio	`2`
`--wait-until <state>`	Wait until state (load/domcontentloaded/networkidle)	`networkidle`
`--wait-selector <selectors>`	Wait for selectors (comma-separated)	-
`--wait-timeout <ms>`	Wait timeout in milliseconds	`30000`
`--mask <selectors>`	Mask selectors (comma-separated)	-
`--disable-animations`	Disable animations and transitions	`true`
`--mock-time <time>`	Fix time to ISO 8601 timestamp	-
`--mock-seed <number>`	Random seed for Math.random()	`42`
`--block-urls <patterns>`	Block URL patterns (comma-separated)	-
`--inject-css <path>`	Inject custom CSS file	-
`--inject-js <path>`	Inject custom JavaScript file	-
`--browser <type>`	Browser type (chromium/firefox/webkit)	`chromium`
`--no-headless`	Run browser in headful mode	-
`--save-snapshot`	Save structure snapshot JSON	`false`
`--snapshot-selectors <selectors>`	Structure snapshot selectors (comma-separated)	`header,nav,[data-testid]`

Compare Command

Compare two screenshots and generate diff images:

page-regression-tester compare <baseline> <current> [options]

Basic Example

# Simple comparison (pixel-based)
page-regression-tester compare tmp/baseline.png tmp/current.png

# With SSIM comparison
page-regression-tester compare tmp/baseline.png tmp/current.png \
  --method pixel,ssim \
  --output ./tmp/diff/

# SSIM-only comparison (structural similarity)
page-regression-tester compare tmp/baseline.png tmp/current.png \
  --method ssim \
  --output ./tmp/diff/

# Multiple diff styles
page-regression-tester compare tmp/baseline.png tmp/current.png \
  --diff-style sidebyside \
  --output ./tmp/diff/

Compare Options

Option	Description	Default
`-o, --output <dir>`	Output directory for diff images	`./tmp/diff/`
`--method <methods>`	Comparison methods (comma-separated: pixel,ssim)	`pixel`
`--threshold <number>`	Diff threshold (0.0-1.0, minimum 0.15 for tolerance)	`0.002`
`--diff-style <style>`	Diff image style (heatmap/sidebyside/overlay/blend)	`heatmap`
`--ignore-regions <regions>`	Ignore regions (X,Y,W,H separated by semicolon)	-
`--ignore-antialiasing`	Ignore antialiasing differences	`true`
`--color-threshold <number>`	Color diff threshold (0-255)	`10`
`--json`	Output JSON result	`true`

Comparison Methods

pixel - Pixel-by-pixel comparison using pixelmatch algorithm

Detects exact pixel differences
Best for detecting visual regressions
Generates heatmap diff images
Configurable color threshold and antialiasing detection

ssim - Structural Similarity Index (SSIM)

Perceptual similarity metric based on luminance, contrast, and structure
More aligned with human visual perception than pixel comparison
Returns score from 0.0 (completely different) to 1.0 (identical)
Less sensitive to minor rendering differences
No diff image generation (numerical score only)

Threshold Behavior

All comparison methods (pixel, SSIM) apply a 15% tolerance by default:

Specified threshold < 15%: The tool uses 15% as the minimum tolerance
Specified threshold ≥ 15%: The tool uses your specified threshold
Overall score: If similarity ≥ 85% (diff ≤ 15%), the comparison passes

This design accommodates unavoidable minor differences in deterministic captures (e.g., dynamic content, browser rendering variations) while still allowing stricter thresholds when needed.

Examples:

# Uses 15% tolerance (since 0.002 < 0.15)
page-regression-tester compare baseline.png current.png --threshold 0.002

# Uses 20% tolerance (since 0.20 > 0.15)
page-regression-tester compare baseline.png current.png --threshold 0.20

Output Files

diff-heatmap.png - Heatmap showing differences
diff-sidebyside.png - Side-by-side comparison (if requested)
diff-overlay.png - Overlay comparison (if requested)
diff-blend.png - Blended comparison (if requested)
result.json - Detailed comparison results

Workflow Command

Coming soon...

Run complete regression test workflows:

page-regression-tester workflow --config ./config.yaml

Deterministic Features

This tool implements various techniques to make web pages deterministic (reproducible):

1. Animations & Transitions

Disables all CSS animations and transitions
Stops requestAnimationFrame loops
Disables Web Animations API
Sets prefers-reduced-motion

2. Time & Randomness

Fixes Date.now() to a specific timestamp
Seeds Math.random() with a fixed value
Freezes Performance.now()

3. External Resources

Blocks analytics, ads, and tracking scripts
Mocks API responses
Disables autoplay for videos/audio
Blocks or mocks dynamic content

4. Fonts

Waits for all fonts to load
Uses consistent font rendering

5. Lazy Loading

Stubs IntersectionObserver to trigger immediately
Loads all images before capturing

6. Scroll & Focus

Disables smooth scrolling
Prevents auto-scroll behaviors
Hides text cursors

See SPEC.md for detailed specification and CONCEPT.md for design philosophy.

Project Structure

page-regression-tester/
├── src/
│   ├── cli/                    # CLI commands
│   │   ├── index.ts            # Main CLI entry point
│   │   └── capture.ts          # Capture command
│   ├── capture/                # Capture module
│   │   ├── index.ts            # Capture execution
│   │   ├── deterministic.ts   # Deterministic scripts
│   │   └── snapshot.ts         # Structure snapshot
│   ├── compare/                # Compare module (coming soon)
│   ├── report/                 # Report generation (coming soon)
│   ├── config/                 # Configuration loader (coming soon)
│   ├── utils/                  # Utilities
│   │   ├── logger.ts           # Logging
│   │   ├── file.ts             # File operations
│   │   └── validator.ts        # Input validation
│   └── types.ts                # TypeScript type definitions
├── bin/
│   └── cli.js                  # CLI executable
├── dist/                       # Compiled JavaScript
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── SPEC.md                     # Full specification
├── CONCEPT.md                  # Design concepts
└── README.md                   # This file

Development

Setup

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Install Playwright browsers
npx playwright install chromium

# Build
npm run build

# Link for local development
npm link

Development Commands

# Watch mode
npm run dev

# Lint
npm run lint

# Format
npm run format

# Test
npm test

Roadmap

Phase 1: Capture ✅ Complete

Project setup
Basic types and utilities
Capture command with deterministic behaviors
Structure snapshot with 64x64 filter
XPath-based element identification

Phase 2: Compare ✅ Complete

Pixel comparison (pixelmatch)
Layout comparison (XPath-based)
Diff image generation (heatmap/sidebyside/overlay/blend)
JSON report generation
Compare command CLI

Phase 3: Advanced Features 🚧 In Progress

Phase 4: Production Ready

Docker support
Test coverage (97%+ coverage with 83 unit tests)
CI/CD examples
Documentation improvements

Development

Running Tests

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Run integration tests
npm run test:integration

Test Coverage

The project has comprehensive test coverage:

Overall Coverage: 97%+ (statements, branches, functions, lines)
Unit Tests: 83 tests covering:
- Utility modules (file, validator, logger, presets)
- Comparison modules (pixel, SSIM, layout, diff-image)
- Helper modules (image generation)

Test Files:

__tests__/utils/ - Utility function tests
__tests__/compare/ - Comparison algorithm tests
__tests__/helpers/ - Test helper utilities

Note: Capture modules and CLI commands require integration tests with Playwright and are excluded from unit test coverage metrics.

License

MIT

References

SPEC.md - Detailed specification
CONCEPT.md - Design philosophy and concepts
Playwright Documentation

Keywords

FAQs

What is page-regression-tester?

Is page-regression-tester well maintained?

Package last updated on 03 Dec 2025

Did you know?

Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.

Install

page-regression-tester