v1.64.0
microsoft/playwrightv1.64.0Oct 7, 2026by dgozman
Upgrading?
AI Summary
This release introduces WebMCP integration for testing tools, enhances video recording with custom frame rates and CSS styling, and improves the test runner with project defaults, test shuffling, and WebP screenshot support. It also adds new locator APIs and expands cookie management capabilities.
Key Highlights
- WebMCP Integration: New APIs and CLI commands to interact with tools registered via the WebMCP browser API.
- Enhanced Video Recording: Support for custom frame rates, CSS styling for action decorations, and VP9 encoding for smaller file sizes.
- Test Runner Improvements: New `testProject.default` option, `--shuffle` CLI flag for random test ordering, and WebP screenshot support.
- New Locator API: `locator.within()` allows combining locators based on hierarchy.
- Cookie Management: New `apiRequestContext` methods for managing cookies in request contexts.
Breaking Changes
- The `screen` property is now forwarded from device descriptors, affecting `window.screen` and media queries when using device presets.
- JSX compilation in test files now strictly follows `tsconfig.json` options instead of defaulting to automatic runtime.
- `--update-snapshots=missing` now passes tests that only create snapshots, and the default mode is renamed to `'default'`.
- Elements inside hidden iframes are now considered hidden by actions and visibility checks.
New Features
- WebMCP tools and CLI commands (`webmcp-list`, `webmcp-call`).
- Video recording options: `fps`, `show.actions.style` (CSS), and VP9 encoding.
- Test runner: `testProject.default` to skip projects, `--shuffle` CLI flag, `lock` option, and `toHaveScreenshot` `type` option.
- Locator API: `locator.within()` and `page.getByRef()`.
- Content APIs: `includeShadow` option for `page.content()` and `frame.content()`.
- Credentials API: `signCount` option for `credentials.create()` and `credentials.get()`.
- Configuration: `fullConfig.filteredProjects`.
- Request Context: `addCookies()`, `cookies()`, and `clearCookies()` methods.
Full Release Notes
## 🧰 WebMCP
New [page.webmcp](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-webmcp) and [frame.webmcp](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-frame#frame-webmcp) give access to the tools that a page registers through the experimental [WebMCP](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-webmcp) browser API, so you can test them like any other part of your app:
```js
const browser = await chromium.launch({ args: ['--enable-features=WebMCP'] });
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com');
for (const tool of await page.webmcp.tools())
console.log(tool.name, tool.description);
const result = await page.webmcp.callTool('add', { a: 2, b: 40 });
console.log(result.content[0].text); // "42"
```
[Playwright MCP](https://playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-mcp) also supports WebMCP by default, with page-defined tools offered to the agent as `webmcp_<tool>`. Pass `--no-webmcp` to opt out.
[`playwright-cli`](https://playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-cli) exposes them as well:
```bash
playwright-cli webmcp-list
playwright-cli webmcp-call search_catalog --params '{"query":"cats"}'
```
## 🎬 Better videos
Videos can now be recorded at a custom frame rate, and the decorations for actions are styled with plain CSS:
```js
// playwright.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';
export default defineConfig({
use: {
video: {
mode: 'on',
size: { width: 1920, height: 1080 },
fps: 60,
show: {
actions: {
style: {
point: 'width: 20px; height: 20px; border-radius: 50%; background: red',
highlight: 'outline: 2px solid #333; background: rgba(0, 128, 255, .15)',
title: 'font-size: 16px',
},
},
},
},
},
});
```
- New `fps` option in [testOptions.video](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testoptions#test-options-video), [`recordVideo`](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browser#browser-new-context-option-record-video) and
[screencast.start()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-screencast#screencast-start). Firefox and WebKit currently capture up to 25 frames per second.
- New [`style`](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-screencast#screencast-show-actions-option-style) option takes CSS declarations for the `point` marker, the target
`highlight` and the action `title`. It replaces the `fontSize` option, which is now deprecated.
- The cursor stays visible at the last action point, survives navigations and travels along a natural, eased path.
- Videos are encoded with VP9 instead of VP8, which takes less CPU and produces smaller files of the same or better
quality.
- All video options are also available in [Playwright MCP](https://playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-mcp) and [`playwright-cli`](https://playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-cli).
## 🎯 Test runner
- New [testProject.default](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testproject#test-project-default) option keeps a project in the config without running it by default. You can configure every browser you care about, and let a plain `npx playwright test` run just your favourite one:
```js
// playwright.config.ts
import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';
export default defineConfig({
projects: [
{ name: 'chromium', use: devices['Desktop Chrome'] },
{ name: 'firefox', use: devices['Desktop Firefox'], default: false },
{ name: 'webkit', use: devices['Desktop Safari'], default: false },
],
});
```
```bash
npx playwright test # runs chromium only
npx playwright test --project=firefox # runs firefox
npx playwright test --project="*" # runs all three, for example on CI
```
- New `--shuffle` command line option schedules tests in a random order, which helps to find tests that accidentally depend on each other.
```bash
npx playwright test --shuffle
# Running 42 tests using 4 workers, shuffle seed 271828182
# ...
# Pass the seed to reproduce the same order.
npx playwright test --shuffle 271828182
```
- New `lock` option in [test.describe.configure()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-test#test-describe-configure) adds [test locks](https://playwright.dev/docs/test-parallel#test-locks) to all tests in a file or a group:
```js
test.describe.configure({ lock: 'user-settings' });
```
- New `type` option of `toHaveScreenshot` in [testConfig.expect](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testconfig#test-config-expect) stores all unnamed screenshots as WebP:
```js
// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
expect: {
toHaveScreenshot: { type: 'webp' },
},
});
```
## 🪆 Locator.within()
New [locator.within()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locator#locator-within) combines two locators that you already have, reading in the natural order —
"this button, within that dialog":
```js
const saveButton = page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Save' });
const dialog = page.getByTestId('settings-dialog');
await saveButton.within(dialog).click();
```
Relative locators such as [locator.nth()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locator#locator-nth) or [locator.first()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locator#locator-first) are resolved inside each parent
separately, which makes column-like queries straightforward:
```js
// The third cell of every row, not the third cell in the table.
const thirdColumn = page.getByRole('cell').nth(2).within(page.getByRole('row'));
await expect(thirdColumn).toHaveText(['Apple', 'Banana', 'Cherry']);
```
## New APIs
- New [page.getByRef()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-get-by-ref) locates an element by its aria ref, such as `e2`, reported by [page.ariaSnapshot()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-aria-snapshot) in the `'ai'` mode.
- New option [`includeShadow`](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-content-option-include-shadow) in [page.content()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-page#page-content) and [frame.content()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-frame#frame-content) serializes open shadow roots as [declarative shadow DOM](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_components/Using_shadow_DOM#declaratively_with_html).
- New option [`signCount`](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-credentials#credentials-create-option-sign-count) sets the initial signature counter of a virtual credential. [credentials.create()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-credentials#credentials-create) and [credentials.get()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-credentials#credentials-get) return the current `signCount`, and it is saved and restored together with the credentials in the storage state.
- New [fullConfig.filteredProjects](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-fullconfig#full-config-filtered-projects) lists the projects that were selected to run after applying the `--project` filter. It is available in global setup and reporters.
- New [apiRequestContext.addCookies()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-apirequestcontext#api-request-context-add-cookies), [apiRequestContext.cookies()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-apirequestcontext#api-request-context-cookies) and [apiRequestContext.clearCookies()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-apirequestcontext#api-request-context-clear-cookies) manage cookies of a request context, mirroring the [BrowserContext](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsercontext) methods:
```js
await request.addCookies([{ name: 'session-id', value: '42', url: 'https://example.com' }]);
console.log(await request.cookies('https://example.com'));
await request.clearCookies({ name: 'session-id' });
```
## Breaking changes ⚠️
- `screen` property is now forwarded from the [device descriptors](https://playwright.dev/docs/emulation#devices). If you use `...devices['Desktop Chrome']` and alike, `window.screen` and media queries now see the emulated screen size. You can opt-out by explicitly setting `screen` to `undefined`:
```js
// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
use: {
...devices['Desktop Chrome'],
screen: undefined,
},
});
```
- JSX in your test files now follows your `tsconfig.json`. Playwright compiles JSX in test files according to the `jsx`, `jsxFactory`, `jsxFragmentFactory` and `jsxImportSource` [tsconfig options](https://playwright.dev/docs/test-typescript#tsconfig-jsx-options), and defaults to the automatic runtime from `react/jsx-runtime`.
- `--update-snapshots=missing` now passes the test run. Tests that only create missing snapshots now pass in the `'missing'` mode of [testConfig.updateSnapshots](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testconfig#test-config-update-snapshots), so that CI can generate new snapshots and verify the existing ones in a single run. The mode used when the option is not specified is now called `'default'` and behaves as before: missing snapshots are written and the test fails.
- Elements inside hidden iframes are considered hidden. Elements inside an iframe that is not visible, for example with `visibility: hidden`, are now considered hidden by actions, [locator.isVisible()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locator#locator-is-visible) and [expect(locator).toBeVisible()](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-locatorassertions#locator-assertions-to-be-visible).
## Browser Versions
- Chromium 156.0.8078.4
- Mozilla Firefox 157.0
- WebKit 27.2
This version was also tested against the following stable channels:
- Google Chrome 155
- Microsoft Edge 155
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