Key points
Playwright is an open-source tool from Microsoft for automated testing of web applications. You write a test, and the tool drives a real browser: it clicks, types and checks what is shown.
- One tool, three browser engines: Chromium (Chrome and Edge), Firefox and WebKit (Safari), with the same code.
- It waits for elements by itself (auto-wait), so tests are less flaky.
- It ships with built-in tools: Codegen, the HTML report, Trace Viewer and UI Mode. These are the tools this course teaches.
Why it matters for a tester
Manual testing repeats with every release. An automated test runs with one command, every time the code changes, and leaves a record of what happened.