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Automate browser interactions for web testing, form filling, screenshots, and data extraction using the playwright-cli tool.
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references/session-management.md
1# Browser Session Management2Run multiple isolated browser sessions concurrently with state persistence.4## Named Browser Sessions6Use `-s` flag to isolate browser contexts:8```bash10# Browser 1: Authentication flow11playwright-cli -s=auth open https://app.example.com/login12# Browser 2: Public browsing (separate cookies, storage)14playwright-cli -s=public open https://example.com15# Commands are isolated by browser session17playwright-cli -s=auth fill e1 "[email protected]"18playwright-cli -s=public snapshot19```20## Browser Session Isolation Properties22Each browser session has independent:24- Cookies25- LocalStorage / SessionStorage26- IndexedDB27- Cache28- Browsing history29- Open tabs30## Browser Session Commands32```bash34# List all browser sessions35playwright-cli list36# Stop a browser session (close the browser)38playwright-cli close # stop the default browser39playwright-cli -s=mysession close # stop a named browser40# Stop all browser sessions42playwright-cli close-all43# Forcefully kill all daemon processes (for stale/zombie processes)45playwright-cli kill-all46# Delete browser session user data (profile directory)48playwright-cli delete-data # delete default browser data49playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data # delete named browser data50```51## Environment Variable53Set a default browser session name via environment variable:55```bash57export PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION="mysession"58playwright-cli open example.com # Uses "mysession" automatically59```60## Common Patterns62### Concurrent Scraping64```bash66#!/bin/bash67# Scrape multiple sites concurrently68# Start all browsers70playwright-cli -s=site1 open https://site1.com &71playwright-cli -s=site2 open https://site2.com &72playwright-cli -s=site3 open https://site3.com &73wait74# Take snapshots from each76playwright-cli -s=site1 snapshot77playwright-cli -s=site2 snapshot78playwright-cli -s=site3 snapshot79# Cleanup81playwright-cli close-all82```83### A/B Testing Sessions85```bash87# Test different user experiences88playwright-cli -s=variant-a open "https://app.com?variant=a"89playwright-cli -s=variant-b open "https://app.com?variant=b"90# Compare92playwright-cli -s=variant-a screenshot93playwright-cli -s=variant-b screenshot94```95### Persistent Profile97By default, browser profile is kept in memory only. Use `--persistent` flag on `open` to persist the browser profile to disk:99```bash101# Use persistent profile (auto-generated location)102playwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent103# Use persistent profile with custom directory105playwright-cli open https://example.com --profile=/path/to/profile106```107## Attaching to a Running Browser109Use `attach` to connect to a browser that is already running, instead of launching a new one.111### Attach by channel name113Connect to a running Chrome or Edge instance by its channel name. The browser must have remote debugging enabled — navigate to `chrome://inspect/#remote-debugging` in the target browser and check "Allow remote debugging for this browser instance".115```bash117# Attach to Chrome118playwright-cli attach --cdp=chrome119# Attach to Chrome Canary121playwright-cli attach --cdp=chrome-canary122# Attach to Microsoft Edge124playwright-cli attach --cdp=msedge125# Attach to Edge Dev127playwright-cli attach --cdp=msedge-dev128```129Supported channels: `chrome`, `chrome-beta`, `chrome-dev`, `chrome-canary`, `msedge`, `msedge-beta`, `msedge-dev`, `msedge-canary`.131When `--session` is not provided, the session is named after the channel (e.g. `--cdp=msedge` creates a session called `msedge`), so parallel attaches to Chrome and Edge don't collide on `default`. Pass `--session=<name>` to override.133### Attach via CDP endpoint135Connect to a browser that exposes a Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint:137```bash139playwright-cli attach --cdp=http://localhost:9222140```141### Attach via browser extension143Connect to a browser with the Playwright extension installed:145```bash147playwright-cli attach --extension148```149### Detach151Tear down an attached session without affecting the external browser:153```bash155# Detach the default attached session156playwright-cli detach157# Detach a specific attached session159playwright-cli -s=msedge detach160```161`detach` only works on sessions created via `attach`. For sessions created via `open`, use `close`.163## Default Browser Session165When `-s` is omitted, commands use the default browser session:167```bash169# These use the same default browser session170playwright-cli open https://example.com171playwright-cli snapshot172playwright-cli close # Stops default browser173```174## Browser Session Configuration176Configure a browser session with specific settings when opening:178```bash180# Open with config file181playwright-cli open https://example.com --config=.playwright/my-cli.json182# Open with specific browser184playwright-cli open https://example.com --browser=firefox185# Open in headed mode187playwright-cli open https://example.com --headed188# Open with persistent profile190playwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent191```192## Best Practices194### 1. Name Browser Sessions Semantically196```bash198# GOOD: Clear purpose199playwright-cli -s=github-auth open https://github.com200playwright-cli -s=docs-scrape open https://docs.example.com201# AVOID: Generic names203playwright-cli -s=s1 open https://github.com204```205### 2. Always Clean Up207```bash209# Stop browsers when done210playwright-cli -s=auth close211playwright-cli -s=scrape close212# Or stop all at once214playwright-cli close-all215# If browsers become unresponsive or zombie processes remain217playwright-cli kill-all218```219### 3. Delete Stale Browser Data221```bash223# Remove old browser data to free disk space224playwright-cli -s=oldsession delete-data225```226