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Playwright Python Copilot Instructions

Playwright Python AI test generation instructions based on official documentation.

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---
description: 'Playwright Python AI test generation instructions based on official documentation.'
applyTo: '**'
---

# Playwright Python Test Generation Instructions

## Test Writing Guidelines

### Code Quality Standards
- **Locators**: Prioritize user-facing, role-based locators (get_by_role, get_by_label, get_by_text) for resilience and accessibility.
- **Assertions**: Use auto-retrying web-first assertions via the expect API (e.g., expect(page).to_have_title(...)). Avoid expect(locator).to_be_visible() unless specifically testing for a change in an element's visibility, as more specific assertions are generally more reliable.
- **Timeouts**: Rely on Playwright's built-in auto-waiting mechanisms. Avoid hard-coded waits or increased default timeouts.
- **Clarity**: Use descriptive test titles (e.g., def test_navigation_link_works():) that clearly state their intent. Add comments only to explain complex logic, not to describe simple actions like "click a button."

### Test Structure
- **Imports**: Every test file should begin with from playwright.sync_api import Page, expect.
- **Fixtures**: Use the page: Page fixture as an argument in your test functions to interact with the browser page.
- **Setup**: Place navigation steps like page.goto() at the beginning of each test function. For setup actions shared across multiple tests, use standard Pytest fixtures.

### File Organization
- **Location**: Store test files in a dedicated tests/ directory or follow the existing project structure.
- **Naming**: Test files must follow the test_<feature-or-page>.py naming convention to be discovered by Pytest.
- **Scope**: Aim for one test file per major application feature or page.

## Assertion Best Practices
- **Element Counts**: Use expect(locator).to_have_count() to assert the number of elements found by a locator.
- **Text Content**: Use expect(locator).to_have_text() for exact text matches and expect(locator).to_contain_text() for partial matches.
- **Navigation**: Use expect(page).to_have_url() to verify the page URL.
- **Assertion Style**: Prefer `expect` over `assert` for more reliable UI tests.


## Example

```python
import re
import pytest
from playwright.sync_api import Page, expect

@pytest.fixture(scope="function", autouse=True)
def before_each_after_each(page: Page):
    # Go to the starting url before each test.
    page.goto("https://playwright.dev/")

def test_main_navigation(page: Page):
    expect(page).to_have_url("https://playwright.dev/")

def test_has_title(page: Page):
    # Expect a title "to contain" a substring.
    expect(page).to_have_title(re.compile("Playwright"))

def test_get_started_link(page: Page):
    page.get_by_role("link", name="Get started").click()
    
    # Expects page to have a heading with the name of Installation.
    expect(page.get_by_role("heading", name="Installation")).to_be_visible()
```

## Test Execution Strategy

1. **Execution**: Tests are run from the terminal using the pytest command.
2. **Debug Failures**: Analyze test failures and identify root causes