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Download Playwright driver

playwright-ruby-client doesn't include Playwright driver nor its downloader. We have to install Playwright in advance, and set the proper CLI path like Playwright.create(playwright_cli_executable_path: /path/to/playwright)

Choose any of the three ways as you prefer to download the driver:

  • npx: suitable for playground use, and not suitable for continuous usage.
  • npm install: the best choice for most use cases, with existing Node.js environment.
  • Direct download: maybe a good choice for Docker 🐳 integration.
note

Also the article Playwright on Alpine Linux would be helpful if you plan to

  • Build a browser server/container like Selenium Grid
  • Run automation scripts on Alpine Linux

Using npx​

$ npx playwright install

and then set playwright_cli_executable_path: "npx playwright" at Playwright.create.

Using npm install​

Actually npx playwright is a bit slow. We can also use npm install to setup.

Instead of npx playwright install:

$ export PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION=$(bundle exec ruby -e 'puts Playwright::COMPATIBLE_PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION.strip')
$ npm install playwright@$PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION || npm install playwright@next
$ ./node_modules/.bin/playwright install

and then set playwright_cli_executable_path: './node_modules/.bin/playwright'

Directly download driver without Node.js installation.​

Instead of npm, you can also directly download playwright driver from playwright.azureedge.net. (The URL can be easily detected from here)

$ export PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION=$(bundle exec ruby -e 'puts Playwright::COMPATIBLE_PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION.strip')
$ wget https://playwright.azureedge.net/builds/driver/playwright-$PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION-linux.zip

and then extract it, and set playwright_cli_executable_path: '/path/to/playwright-$PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION-linux/node /path/to/playwright-$PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_VERSION-linux/package/cli.js'