go-playwright

Playwright Go Automation Expert Overview This skill provides a comprehensive framework for writing high-performance, production-grade browser automation scripts using github.com/playwright-community/playwright-go . It enforces architectural best practices (contexts over instances), robust error handling, structured logging (Zap), and advanced human-emulation techniques to bypass anti-bot systems. When to Use This Skill Use when the user asks to "scrape," "automate," or "test" a website using Go. Use when the target site has complex dynamic content (SPA, React, Vue) requiring a real browser. Use when the user mentions "stealth," "avoiding detection," "cloudflare," or "human-like" behavior. Use when debugging existing Playwright scripts. Safety & Risk Risk Level: 🔵 Safe Sandboxed Execution: Browser contexts are isolated; they do not persist data to the host machine unless explicitly saved. Resource Management: Designed to close browsers and contexts via defer to prevent memory leaks. No External State-Change: Default behavior is read-only (scraping/testing) unless the script is explicitly designed to submit forms or modify data. Limitations Environment Dependencies: Requires Playwright drivers and browsers to be installed ( go run github.com/playwright-community/playwright-go/cmd/playwright@latest install --with-deps ). Resource Intensity: Launching full browser instances (even headless) consumes significant RAM/CPU. Use single-browser/multi-context architecture. Bot Detection: While this skill includes stealth techniques, extremely strict anti-bot systems (e.g., rigorous Cloudflare settings) may still detect automation. CAPTCHAs: Does not include built-in CAPTCHA solving capabilities. Strategic Implementation Guidelines 1. Architecture: Contexts vs. Browsers CRITICAL: Never launch a new Browser instance for every task. Pattern: Launch the Browser once (singleton). Create a new BrowserContext for each distinct session or task. Why: Contexts are lightweight and created in milliseconds. Browsers take seconds to launch. Isolation: Contexts provide complete isolation (cookies, cache, storage) without the overhead of a new process. 2. Logging & Observability Library: Use go.uber.org/zap exclusively. Rule: Do not use fmt.Println . Modes: Dev: zap.NewDevelopment() (Console friendly) Prod: zap.NewProduction() (JSON structured) Traceability: Log every navigation, click, and input with context fields (e.g., logger.Info("clicking button", zap.String("selector", sel)) ). 3. Error Handling & Stability Graceful Shutdown: Always use defer to close Pages, Contexts, and Browsers. Panic Recovery: Wrap critical automation routines in a safe runner that recovers panics and logs the stack trace. Timeouts: Never rely on default timeouts. Set explicit timeouts (e.g., playwright.PageClickOptions{Timeout: playwright.Float(5000)} ). 4. Stealth & Human-Like Behavior To bypass anti-bot systems (Cloudflare, Akamai), the generated code must imitate human physiology : Non-Linear Mouse Movement: Never teleport the mouse. Implement a helper that moves the mouse along a Bezier curve with random jitter. Input Latency: never use Fill() . Use Type() with random delays between keystrokes (50ms–200ms). Viewport Randomization: Randomize the viewport size slightly (e.g., 1920x1080 ± 15px) to avoid fingerprinting. Behavioral Noise: Randomly scroll, focus/unfocus the window, or hover over irrelevant elements ("idling") during long waits. User-Agent: Rotate User-Agents for every new Context. 5. Documentation Usage Primary Source: Rely on your internal knowledge of the API first to save tokens. Fallback: Refer to the official docs playwright-go documentation ONLY if: You encounter an unknown error. You need to implement complex network interception or authentication flows. The API has changed significantly. Resources resources/implementation-playbook.md for detailed code examples and implementation patterns. Summary Checklist for Agent Is Debug Mode on? -> Headless=false , SlowMo=100+ . Is it a new user identity? -> NewContext , apply new Proxy, rotate User-Agent . Is the action critical? -> Wrap in SafeAction with Zap logging. Is the target guarded (Cloudflare/Akamai)? -> Enable HumanType , BezierMouse , and Stealth Scripts.