Reports, traces & videos
After a test run, Playwright writes an HTML report and a set of artifacts so you can see exactly what happened — even for tests that passed.
Opening the HTML report
pnpm run report
Or, equivalently:
pnpm exec playwright show-report
Either command opens the report in your default browser. If no server is already running it starts one automatically.
What the report shows
The HTML report lists every test that ran. For each test you can see:
- Pass / fail / skip status — at a glance.
- Step-by-step timeline — each action (click, fill, navigate) with its duration and the selector used.
- Error message and stack trace — for failed tests, shown inline.
- Attached artifacts — video, screenshots, and trace files are linked directly from the test result entry.
Where artifacts are stored
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
playwright-report/ | The HTML report and its supporting assets |
test-results/ | Raw artifact files (video, trace, screenshots) |
Both folders are created (or overwritten) at the end of each run. They are gitignored.
What gets captured
| Artifact | When captured |
|---|---|
| Video | Always — every test, pass or fail |
| Screenshots | On failure only |
| Trace | On failure only |
What is a trace?
A trace is a complete recording of a test run at the browser level. It captures:
- Every action that was taken (clicks, typing, navigation).
- DOM snapshots before and after each action so you can inspect what the page looked like at each step.
- Network requests and responses.
- Console log output.
Traces are much more detailed than a video. While the video shows what happened, the trace lets you step through each action interactively and inspect the exact DOM state at any point.
Opening a trace
- Open the HTML report (
pnpm run report). - Click the failed test to expand its result.
- Click the Trace link in the artifacts section.
The trace viewer opens in the browser. Use the timeline at the top to scrub through the test, and the panels below to inspect the DOM, network, and console at each step.
You can also open a trace file directly:
pnpm exec playwright show-trace test-results/<test-name>/trace.zip