playwright-core

What is playwright-core?

The playwright-core npm package is a library that provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API. It is designed for automating web browser interactions for the purposes of web scraping, automated testing, and web automation.

What are playwright-core's main functionalities?

Browser Automation

Automate browser actions such as opening pages, clicking on elements, and navigating websites.

const { chromium } = require('playwright-core');

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  // other actions...
  await browser.close();
})();

Web Scraping

Extract data from web pages by navigating to them and retrieving the content.

const { firefox } = require('playwright-core');

(async () => {
  const browser = await firefox.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  const data = await page.content();
  // process data...
  await browser.close();
})();

Automated Testing

Perform automated tests on web applications by simulating user interactions and verifying page content.

const { webkit } = require('playwright-core');

(async () => {
  const browser = await webkit.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto('https://example.com');
  const title = await page.title();
  console.assert(title === 'Expected Page Title');
  await browser.close();
})();

Other packages similar to playwright-core

puppeteer

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API over the Chrome DevTools Protocol. It is similar to playwright-core but was initially designed specifically for Chrome and later added support for Firefox. Puppeteer is developed by the Chrome DevTools team.

selenium-webdriver

Selenium WebDriver is one of the most well-known browser automation tools. It supports multiple browsers and is language-agnostic, making it a popular choice for end-to-end testing. Unlike playwright-core, Selenium requires separate drivers for each browser and might be slower in execution.

cypress

Cypress is a front-end testing tool built for the modern web. It is both a library for writing tests and a test runner that executes the tests. Cypress offers a unique interactive test runner that allows you to see commands as they execute while also viewing the application under test. It differs from playwright-core in that it is primarily focused on testing and offers a more integrated testing experience.

README

playwright-core

This package contains the no-browser flavor of Playwright.