Playwright Ci Caching

If you're running Playwright tests in CI, you're probably wasting 1-2 minutes per build downloading 400MB of browser binaries. This skill shows you how to cache them properly in GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps, with the cache key tied to your Playwright version from Directory.Packages.props so it automatically invalidates when you upgrade. The included playwright.ps1 helper script is clever because it discovers the Playwright CLI location regardless of your project structure, saving you from hardcoding paths that break. Battle-tested in production at Petabridge. The setup is straightforward and the time savings add up fast across dozens of CI runs.

skills.sh installs: 455
GitHub stars: 1.3K
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills --skill playwright-ci-caching --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Caching Playwright Browsers in CI/CD

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Setting up CI/CD for a project with Playwright E2E tests
Build times are slow due to browser downloads (~400MB, 1-2 minutes)
You want automatic cache invalidation when Playwright version changes
Using GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps pipelines

The Problem

Playwright browsers (~400MB) must be downloaded on every CI run by default. This:

Adds 1-2 minutes to every build
Wastes bandwidth
Can fail on transient network issues
Slows down PR feedback loops

Core Pattern

Extract Playwright version from Directory.Packages.props (CPM) to use as cache key
Cache browser binaries using platform-appropriate paths
Conditional install - only download on cache miss
Automatic cache bust - key includes version, so package upgrades invalidate cache