Back to Interview Prep

</>

Technology

Playwright

Difficulty

Beginner

Experience

Fresher

Type

Technical

AutomateQA Team

QA Automation Engineers

June 19, 2026

Interview Question

How do you install Playwright?

Answer

Installing Playwright

Method 1: Interactive Setup (Recommended for new projects)

Bash

npm init playwright@latest

This command:

✓Asks which language (TypeScript or JavaScript)
✓Asks where to put tests (default: tests/)
✓Adds a GitHub Actions workflow (optional)
✓Installs @playwright/test package
✓Creates playwright.config.ts
✓Creates a sample test file
✓Downloads Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browser binaries

Method 2: Manual Install into Existing Project

Bash

# Install the package
npm install --save-dev @playwright/test

# Install browser binaries
npx playwright install

# Optional: install only specific browsers
npx playwright install chromium

Method 3: Install with Dependencies (for Linux CI)

Bash

npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

Installs the browser AND all OS-level dependencies (fonts, codecs) needed on Ubuntu/Debian.

What Gets Created

CODE

my-project/
├── tests/
│   └── example.spec.ts     # Sample test
├── playwright.config.ts     # Configuration file
├── package.json
└── node_modules/
    └── @playwright/test/

Verify Installation

Bash

npx playwright --version
# Shows: Version 1.x.x

npx playwright test
# Runs all tests in the tests/ folder

Running Your First Test

The generated sample test at tests/example.spec.ts:

TypeScript

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('has title', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://playwright.dev/');
  await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/Playwright/);
});

Bash

npx playwright test                  # Run all tests
npx playwright test --headed         # Run with browser visible
npx playwright show-report           # Open HTML report