Playwright Testing Interview Questions for Architects & Directors (₹40–50 LPA)

Assertions like expect(locator).toBeVisible() that retry until they pass or time out, unlike one-off checks.

Before acting, Playwright waits for the element to be attached, visible, stable, enabled and able to receive events — so manual waits are rarely needed.

In a fixture or beforeEach, call the API (request.post) to create the user or order, use it in the UI test, then delete it in teardown. It is faster and more reliable than creating data through the UI.

all waits for every promise and rejects on the first failure; allSettled waits for all and reports each outcome; race settles with the first one to finish.

Workflow: checkout → setup-node → npm ci → npx playwright install --with-deps → npx playwright test → upload playwright-report as an artifact.

An open-source end-to-end testing framework from Microsoft that automates Chromium, Firefox and WebKit through one API, in multiple languages.

Scripts that run once before or after the whole run, for seeding data, starting services or creating authentication state.

Use the request fixture: const res = await request.get('/api/users'); expect(res.ok()).toBeTruthy(); const body = await res.json();

Read the next page link or IDs from earlier responses, loop until done and assert counts and uniqueness; pass IDs between calls in the same test.

The action runs without waiting, so the next step may run first — causing flaky failures or 'Target closed' errors. The @typescript-eslint/no-floating-promises rule catches it.

A type alias describes a shape or union of values; an enum creates a named set of constants that exists at runtime.

Auto-waiting, a built-in test runner, Chromium/Firefox/WebKit with one API, network interception, the trace viewer and parallel runs out of the box — usually faster and less flaky.

click simulates a real user click with actionability checks; dispatchEvent fires a DOM event directly without those checks.

Files run in parallel by default; set workers in the config and use test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' }) for tests inside a file.

Log in with request.post, call request.storageState(), and create a browser context using that state.

var is function-scoped and hoisted. let and const are block-scoped; const can't be reassigned (though an object it points to can change). Prefer const, then let.

A browser is the engine instance; a context is an isolated session (cookies, storage); a page is a tab inside a context.

Add retries with backoff for the API step, set a suitable timeout, and use mocks for non-critical dependencies.

The object behind the request fixture that holds base URL, headers and cookies, and can share cookies with a browser context.

page.screenshot() for captures and config options use: { screenshot: 'only-on-failure', video: 'retain-on-failure' } for automatic evidence.

Click to open the control, then use getByRole('option') or a text locator for the target item, instead of relying on fragile index-based selectors.

Set retries in the config or CLI and failed tests re-run in a fresh context, with trace recorded on first retry to diagnose flakiness.

obj?.a?.b safely reads nested properties and returns undefined instead of throwing if something in the chain is missing.

Functions that take other functions as arguments or return them, such as map, filter and reduce, or a helper that wraps retry logic around a test step.

Placeholders for types that make reusable code type-safe, for example a helper function returning the same type of item that it receives.

Capture the download event, save it with download.saveAs, then read the file in Node and assert on name, size or content.

Use the official Playwright image which contains browsers and dependencies, mount the project and run npx playwright test for consistent CI environments.

test.step groups actions into named steps in reports; annotations such as test.skip, test.fixme and test.slow communicate intent and adjust behaviour.

const [newPage] = await Promise.all([ context.waitForEvent('page'), page.getByText('Open').click(), ]); await newPage.waitForLoadState();

Strings in backticks that allow embedded expressions like `Hello ${name}` and multi-line text, useful for building dynamic locators and URLs.

npm is the Node package manager. package.json lists the project's dependencies and scripts, such as the command that runs the tests.

Run npm init playwright@latest, which sets up config, example tests and browsers; execute with npx playwright test.

setInputFiles on the input for uploads; for downloads wait on page.waitForEvent('download') and save or inspect the file.

Use --debug or the Inspector, page.pause(), UI mode, the trace viewer and headed runs with slowMo.

npx playwright test tests/login.spec.ts, add -g "test title" to match a name, or use test.only while debugging.

A short function syntax that does not have its own this and arguments, taking them from the surrounding scope.

Send invalid payloads or missing auth and assert 400, 401 or 404 codes and the error message bodies.

Create a class that takes a page, defines locators as properties and exposes action methods; instantiate it in a fixture for clean tests.

Define an interface for the payload, cast or validate the parsed JSON to it (for example with zod), and use that type in assertions to catch shape changes.

Destructuring pulls values from arrays or objects into variables; spread expands an array or object into another, useful for copying and merging config.

Use a library such as zod or ajv to define the expected schema and parse the response to fail on missing or wrongly typed fields.

Integrate axe-core through @axe-core/playwright, run an analysis on the page and assert that there are no violations.

API testing checks services directly and is fast and stable; UI testing checks the full user experience in the browser and is slower.

Cover happy path, validation errors, auth and permissions, boundary values, idempotency, schema, performance and data cleanup.

Record timestamps around the request or use response timing, then assert the duration is under an agreed threshold.

await request.post('/api/users', { data: { name: 'Asha' } }) automatically sets JSON headers and serialises the payload.

Define projects for chromium, firefox and webkit in playwright.config.ts, set workers, then run: npx playwright test

test('login', async ({ page }) => { await page.goto('/login'); await page.getByLabel('Email').fill('a@b.com'); await page.getByLabel('Password').fill('secret'); await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Login' }).click(); await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Dashboard' })).toBeVisible(); });

Reusable setup/teardown units injected into tests (page, context, request). You can extend test with custom fixtures such as loggedInPage.

Tag tests (in the title or with { tag: '@smoke' }) and run: npx playwright test --grep @smoke (use --grep-invert to exclude).

await page.route('**/api/users', route => route.fulfill({ status: 200, json: [{ id: 1, name: 'Test' }] }) );

Fetch tokens in a fixture with expiry tracking and refresh it when it is about to expire, keeping tests unaware of the details.

Use request.post with multipart: { file: { name, mimeType, buffer } } and assert the response and stored file details.

page.route('**/api/items', route => route.fulfill({ json: [...] })) intercepts and replies with test data; route.abort() simulates failures.

Synchronous code runs line by line and blocks; asynchronous code starts a task and continues, handling the result later with promises or await.

await expect(page).toHaveScreenshot('home.png') compares against a baseline image; tune maxDiffPixels and mask dynamic areas like dates.

const [download] = await Promise.all([ page.waitForEvent('download'), page.getByText('Export').click(), ]); await download.saveAs('reports/file.csv');

undefined means a variable has not been assigned; null is an intentional empty value.

Wait for the popup event with const [popup] = await Promise.all([page.waitForEvent('popup'), page.click('a')]), then interact with popup.

Use environment variables or .env files, a baseURL in config, API calls for setup and cleanup, and unique data per run.

Use page.waitForResponse(res => res.url().includes('/api/orders') && res.ok()) together with the action that triggers it.

TypeScript + POM + custom fixtures, environment configs, API helpers for test data, tags like @smoke, sharding across CI machines, retries with traces, HTML/Allure reports, lint and review rules.

Use page.frameLocator('#frame').getByRole(...) so actions work inside the iframe with auto-waiting.

Log in once in global setup, save storageState to a JSON file and set use.storageState in the config so every test starts logged in.

POST the query and variables as JSON to the single endpoint and assert both data and errors fields in the response.

Syntax over Promises: an async function returns a Promise and await pauses until it resolves. Every Playwright action returns a Promise, so you await each step.

Separate tests, page objects, fixtures, utilities, test data and config; use tags, projects, shared auth setup, linting, code review and a CI pipeline with sharding and reports.

Assert the status with expect(res.status()).toBe(200), parse res.json() and check fields, using schema validation for the structure.

A Locator is lazy, re-resolved on every action and auto-waits (recommended). An ElementHandle points to one DOM node and can go stale.

Turn on trace: 'on-first-retry', open the trace viewer, check network and timing, replace hard waits with web-first assertions, isolate test data and check for sharding conflicts.

List, dot, line, HTML, JSON and JUnit reporters, plus integrations such as Allure, configurable per environment.

npx playwright codegen records user actions and generates test code with suggested locators, handy for starting tests.

Fixtures set up and tear down test dependencies. Extend with test.extend({ loggedInPage: async ({ page }, use) => { ...; await use(page); } }).

Set extraHTTPHeaders in the config or pass headers per request, for example Authorization: Bearer token fetched in a setup step.

JavaScript runs one call stack and uses queues for async work; the event loop pushes callbacks from the microtask (promises) and task queues when the stack is empty.

Use expect(page).toHaveScreenshot() to compare with stored baselines, with thresholds and masks for dynamic regions.