npx skills add ...
npx skills add microsoft/playwright --skill playwright-trace
npx skills add microsoft/playwright --skill playwright-trace
Inspect Playwright trace files from the command line — list actions, view requests, console, errors, snapshots and screenshots.
Inspect .zip trace files produced by Playwright tests without opening a browser.
trace open <trace.zip> to extract the trace and see its metadata.trace actions to see all actions with their action IDs.trace action <action-id> to drill into a specific action — see parameters, logs, source location, and available snapshots.trace requests, trace console, or trace errors for cross-cutting views.trace snapshot <action-id> to get the DOM snapshot, or run a browser command against it.trace close to remove the extracted trace data when done.All commands after open operate on the currently opened trace — no need to pass the trace file again. Opening a new trace replaces the previous one.
The action command displays available snapshot phases (before, input, after) and the exact command to extract them.
The snapshot command loads the DOM snapshot for an action into a headless browser and runs a single browser command against it. Without a browser command, it returns the accessibility snapshot.
Only three browser commands are useful on a frozen snapshot: snapshot, eval, and screenshot.
# Show full details for one action: params, result, logs, source, snapshots
npx playwright trace action <action-id># All network requests: method, status, URL, duration, size
npx playwright trace requests
# Filter by URL pattern
npx playwright trace requests --grep "api"
# Filter by HTTP method
npx playwright trace requests --method POST
# Only failed requests (status >= 400)
npx playwright trace requests --failed# Show full details for one request: headers, body, security
npx playwright trace request <request-id># All console messages and stdout/stderr
npx playwright trace console
# Only errors
npx playwright trace console --errors-only
# Only browser console (no stdout/stderr)
npx playwright trace console --browser
# Only stdout/stderr (no browser console)
npx playwright trace console --stdio# All errors with stack traces and associated actions
npx playwright trace errors# Get the accessibility snapshot (default)
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id>
# Use a specific phase
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> --name before
# Run eval to query the DOM
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- eval "document.title"
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- eval "document.querySelector('#error').textContent"
# Eval on a specific element ref (from the snapshot)
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- eval "el => el.getAttribute('data-testid')" e5
# Take a screenshot of the snapshot
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- screenshot
# Redirect output to a file
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- eval "document.body.outerHTML" --filename=page.html
npx playwright trace snapshot <action-id> -- screenshot --filename=screenshot.png# List all trace attachments
npx playwright trace attachments
# Extract an attachment by its number
npx playwright trace attachment 1
npx playwright trace attachment 1 -o out.png# 1. Open the trace and see what's inside
npx playwright trace open test-results/my-test/trace.zip
# 2. What actions ran?
npx playwright trace actions
# 3. Which action failed?
npx playwright trace actions --errors-only
# 4. What went wrong?
npx playwright trace action 12
# 5. What did the page look like at that moment?
npx playwright trace snapshot 12
# 6. Query the DOM for more detail
npx playwright trace snapshot 12 -- eval "document.querySelector('.error-message').textContent"
# 7. Any relevant network failures?
npx playwright trace requests --failed
# 8. Any console errors?
npx playwright trace console --errors-only