The terminal, demystified

Typing commands instead of clicking — less scary than it looks.

Lesson 0.5of 24

Step 1

The idea

Most of the time you talk to your computer by clicking — icons, menus, buttons. That's the graphical interface, designed so you don't need to know how the computer works underneath.

The terminal is a different way to talk to your computer — by typing commands in plain text. It's more direct, more powerful, and the way every developer and tester works.

Think of it like this: clicking through a restaurant menu takes time. Knowing the chef personally and saying "the usual" gets you there faster. The terminal is "the usual."

It looks scary. It isn't. You only need about 6 commands to get through this entire course.

Step 2

See it run

Here are the 6 commands you'll actually use. That's the whole list.

node hello.jsRun a JavaScript file

npm installDownload the packages a project needs

npm init playwright@latestSet up Playwright in your project

npx playwright testRun your Playwright tests

cd playwright-courseMove into a folder (change directory)

ls or dirList files in the current folder (ls on Mac, dir on Windows)

Every command in this course is one of these six. Bookmark this page.

Step 3

Now you try

Open your terminal right now and try these three commands one at a time. Watch what happens.

🪟 Windows — open the terminal inside VS Code:

Open VS Code with your playwright-course folder
Press Ctrl + ` (backtick — bottom-left of keyboard)
A terminal panel opens at the bottom

🍎 macOS/Linux — open the terminal inside VS Code:

Same: open VS Code, press Ctrl + `

Now type these three commands (press Enter after each):

Terminal

$ node --version

Output

v22.x.x

Terminal

$ npm --version

Output

10.x.x

Terminal

$ ls

Output

(empty — your project folder has nothing in it yet, which is correct)

🎉Win!

If you saw version numbers, your setup is perfect. You're now talking directly to your computer like a developer does.

💡Tip

If a command isn't found — close VS Code completely and reopen it. Node.js sometimes needs a restart to be recognised.

Step 4

Why a tester cares

Every Playwright command you'll ever run starts in the terminal. Here's what the end of this course looks like:

Terminal

$ npx playwright test

Output

Running 5 tests using 3 workers

  ✓  tests/google-search.spec.ts:4:3 › Google search works (2.1s)
  ✓  tests/login.spec.ts:4:3 › User can log in (1.8s)
  ✓  tests/checkout.spec.ts:4:3 › Checkout completes (3.2s)

  3 passed (7.1s)

That green output means your tests passed. The terminal is where you'll see it. Getting comfortable here now means that moment feels earned, not intimidating.

Recap

3 key points

1The terminal lets you talk to your computer by typing — faster and more powerful than clicking.
2You only need 6 commands for this entire course: node, npm, npx, cd, ls/dir, and npm init.
3Open the terminal in VS Code with Ctrl + ` (backtick).

Up next

Lesson 0.6 — Your roadmap

Install everything

Your roadmap