Playwriter vs Playwright CLI

The Playwright CLI (npx playwright) launches a new browser for testing and automation. It's great for CI/CD pipelines and test suites, but for agent-driven browser control it has the same fresh-browser limitations as Playwright MCP.

Playwriter gives you the full Playwright API but runs it against your existing Chrome.

Comparison

	Playwright CLI	Playwriter
Browser	Spawns new browser	Uses your Chrome
Login state	Fresh (logged out)	Already logged in
Extensions	None	Your existing ones
Captchas	Always blocked	Bypass (disconnect extension)
Collaboration	Separate window	Same browser as user
Capabilities	Limited command set	Anything Playwright can do
Raw CDP access	No	Yes
Video recording	File-based tracing	Native tab capture (30-60fps)

Same API, different browser

Playwriter uses the same Playwright API you already know. The difference is where it runs. Instead of spawning a new browser, your code controls the browser you're already using.

12345# Playwright CLI: fresh browser, no state
npx playwright screenshot https://example.com shot.png

# Playwriter: your browser, your cookies, your extensions
playwriter -s 1 -e "page.screenshot({ path: './shot.png', scale: 'css' })"

Raw CDP access

Playwriter exposes the full Chrome DevTools Protocol through getCDPSession. This lets agents set breakpoints, profile performance, intercept network requests, and live-edit page scripts. The Playwright CLI doesn't expose CDP at all.

12playwriter -s 1 -e "state.cdp = getCDPSession({ page })"
playwriter -s 1 -e "state.cdp.send('Performance.getMetrics').then(console.log)"

Video recording

Playwright CLI records via tracing (file-based, low FPS). Playwriter uses chrome.tabCapture for native 30-60fps recording that survives page navigation.

123playwriter -s 1 -e "recording.start({ page, outputPath: './demo.mp4' })"
playwriter -s 1 -e "page.click('a'); page.waitForLoadState('domcontentloaded')"
playwriter -s 1 -e "recording.stop({ page })"