Drive a local web app

Use the bundled Playwright driver instead of writing a one-off browser script. It keeps one page alive while reading commands from standard input and reports each command as OK or FAIL.

One-time setup

Resolve this installed skill's directory, then run:

cd <drive-local-webapp-skill-directory>
npm ci
npx playwright install chromium

Node.js 20 or newer is recommended. Browser binaries are cached by Playwright. Verify the installation reproducibly:

npm run self-check

Workflow

1. Start the target application's normal development or demo server. Use throwaway fixtures, never production or personal data. Check that the chosen port is free before binding it.

2. Run node scripts/driver.mjs from this skill directory and pipe one command per line:

   DRIVER_SCREENSHOT_DIR=/tmp/webapp-shots node scripts/driver.mjs <<'EOF'
   nav http://127.0.0.1:8766/
   wait-for text=Dashboard
   click button:text-is("Settings")
   fill input[placeholder="API token"] :: demo-token
   click button:text-is("Save")
   screenshot
   console --errors
   EOF
   

3. Treat any FAIL line or non-zero exit as a failed check. Treat a non-empty CONSOLE_ERRORS array as a failed check unless the error is explicitly expected.

4. Inspect the screenshot itself. File existence does not prove the intended UI rendered.

If the host sandbox blocks Chromium process creation, rerun the same driver command with the client's narrowly scoped approval mechanism. Do not reinstall Chromium or alter the application to work around a host permission error.

Only navigate to a local page you trust or a URL the user explicitly placed in scope. Headless Chromium is not a security boundary: page JavaScript can make network requests and exercise the permissions available to the browser process. Do not use this driver as a general-purpose browser for untrusted sites.

Commands

nav <url>
wait-for <selector>
click <selector>
mouse-click <x>,<y>
fill <selector> :: <value>
set <selector> :: <value>
press <key>
wait <milliseconds>
eval <javascript-expression>
screenshot [absolute-path]
console --errors

Use :text-is("Label") for exact text. Playwright's :has-text() is case-insensitive substring matching and can silently click the wrong control.

Use mouse-click for a target with no addressable element, such as a canvas, an embedded map, or a region inside a chart. Prefer a selector wherever one exists; coordinates go stale as soon as the layout moves.

Keep screenshots outside the target repository. The driver defaults to the system temporary directory, or use DRIVER_SCREENSHOT_DIR. It refuses to overwrite an existing screenshot path.

Common failures

• Selectors containing spaces require the literal :: separator for fill and set.
• Hidden tab content may exist in the DOM; click the actual tab before waiting on its contents.
• Charts initialized inside display:none containers may have zero width. Activate the tab, wait, and verify the app resizes or lazily initializes the chart.
• A client-side token gate may leave the screen loading without a console error. Inspect the application's setup UI and use a demo token.
• screenshot captures the full page, but mouse-click addresses the visible viewport. On a page taller than the viewport, a point measured off a screenshot is not the point that gets clicked, and a point past the viewport still reports OK while hitting nothing. Scroll the target into view first, and assert on the effect rather than on the OK line.