ow-dev-playwright

Playwright MCP Verification

Tool Reference

Tool	Purpose
browser_navigate	Go to a URL
browser_snapshot	Get accessibility tree / DOM structure (primary inspection tool)
browser_screenshot	Save page screenshot as PNG
browser_click	Click element by text or selector
browser_type	Type text into an input field

Authentication

Browser profile is stored at /workspaces/.playwright-profile. The Playwright MCP server is started with --user-data-dir pointing to this directory.

• First use: user must manually log in to SharePoint in the Playwright browser. Session cookies persist in the profile.
• Subsequent uses: session is automatically reused. No login needed.
• Session expired: browser_snapshot will show an AAD login page instead of SharePoint content. Ask the user to log in manually, then retry.

SharePoint Page Loading

After browser_navigate, the page needs time to load SPFx bundles:

1. Call browser_snapshot() to check page state
2. Look for webpart container elements in the accessibility tree — not just the page shell
3. If snapshot shows "Loading..." or spinner elements, wait a few seconds and snapshot again
4. If snapshot shows "This site can't be reached" for localhost → rush start is not running

SPFx debug manifests are fetched from localhost. The debug query string redirects sp-loader to load bundles from the local dev server instead of CDN.

DOM Verification Pattern

1. browser_navigate(url=<fullTestUrl>) — navigate to SharePoint page with debug params
2. browser_snapshot() — get accessibility tree
3. Search the tree for target elements by role, name, or text content
4. Verify: element exists, has correct text, is visible, has expected attributes
5. browser_screenshot() — save visual evidence
6. Record DOM snippet + screenshot path in evaluation report

Gotchas

• AAD consent prompts: if browser_snapshot shows "Permissions requested", the agent cannot auto-approve. Ask user to approve manually.
• SPFx manifest 404: the debug query string URL must match the exact localhost port from rush start. Use ow-debuglink to get the correct URL — never hardcode ports.
• Multiple webparts on page: use browser_snapshot accessibility tree to identify the correct webpart by component name or aria-label.
• Slow initial load: first load after rush start may take 10-30 seconds while webpack compiles. Poll with browser_snapshot rather than using fixed waits.
• Cache invalidation: if the page shows stale content, send i to the rush tmux pane via ow-session-send(target="agentow:rush", text="i", pressEnter=false) to invalidate, then reload.