PlaywrightPHP

Glossary

Terms used across the Playwright PHP API, the guides, and the docs. Vocabulary that belongs to the JavaScript test runner rather than to this library is deliberately absent.

Action
A user interaction such as a click, fill, or key press simulated by Playwright.
Action Timeout
Time limit for a single action like a click, fill, or navigation.
Actionability Checks
The state checks an action requires before it fires. The exact checks depend on the action; for example, a click checks more conditions than a focus action.
API Response
The status, headers, URL, and body returned by an APIRequestContext call, with helpers for text and JSON data.
APIRequestContext
An HTTP client associated with a browser context. It can create test data, verify endpoints, and share cookies with browser pages without loading another page.
Assertion
A verification step that checks the expected state of an element, page, or response.
Auto-Waiting
Playwright's synchronization mechanism for retrying supported assertions and waiting for the conditions required by an action.
Browser
A running browser process (Chromium, Firefox, or WebKit) that can hold several isolated contexts, launched with Playwright::chromium(), Playwright::firefox(), or Playwright::webkit().
Browser Channel
A named Chromium distribution, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge stable or beta, selected when the Chromium browser type launches.
Browser Installation Target
A browser name passed to playwright-install, such as chromium, webkit, or chrome-beta, that controls which browser binary is installed.
Browser Type
The specific engine (Chromium, Firefox, or WebKit) used by Playwright.
BrowserContext
An isolated browser session equivalent to an incognito profile, with its own cookies, localStorage, and other state; each test typically gets its own for isolation.
Console Output
Text logs or errors emitted by the page console during execution.
CSS Selectors
Standard CSS selectors augmented by Playwright with custom pseudo-classes (:visible, :has-text(), :has()) and automatic open shadow DOM piercing.
Device Descriptors
Predefined device configurations (iPhone, iPad, and others) bundling viewport, user agent, and capabilities.
Device Emulation
Browser-context configuration for viewport, user agent, touch, geolocation, locale, timezone, and related environment options. It does not reproduce real hardware.
DOM Snapshot
A serialized representation of the page structure at a given moment.
Download
A file the browser saves during a test, exposed through the Download object and handled without native download dialogs.
Driver
The Node.js Playwright process that carries out the actual browser automation commands.
Element Handle
A reference to a specific DOM element in the browser.
Environment Variables
System-level values that modify Playwright behavior without code changes (for example PWDEBUG, PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH).
Frame
A frame within a page, either the main document frame or a child iframe, each with its own JavaScript execution context.
Frame Locators
Locators for content inside an iframe, for example page.frameLocator('iframe').getByRole('button').
GitHub Action
An automated workflow used to run Playwright PHP in CI.
Headed Mode
Running the browser with a visible window, useful for debugging and development.
Headless Mode
Running the browser without a visible window, the default for CI.
Locator
The core of Playwright's auto-waiting and retryability, a lazy re-evaluated handle to element(s) on a page that is chainable with filter(), first(), and nth() and subject to strict mode.
Log
Captured console, network, or assertion output used for debugging.
Matcher
A rule that compares actual and expected values in an assertion.
Mock
A simulated object or request that replaces a real external dependency.
nth() Method
Selecting a specific element by index from multiple matches, for example locator.nth(0).
Output Directory
The path where Playwright PHP stores artifacts such as screenshots or traces.
Page
A single tab in a browser context, providing methods to navigate and interact with that page's content.
Page Object
A design pattern that abstracts UI elements into reusable PHP classes.
Performance Metrics
Quantitative measures such as LCP, TTFB, or CLS collected during a test.
Persistent Context
A browser context that keeps data between runs using a user data directory.
PHP Client
The main library that exposes Playwright's API in PHP.
Playwright Inspector
A GUI debugging tool opened through BrowserBuilder::withInspector() or Page::pause().
Request
A network request made by the page, exposing URL, method, headers, and post data.
Response
An HTTP response received by the page, exposing status, headers, and body.
Response Body
The content returned by a browser network request or response.
Retries
Re-execution of a failed test by CI or a PHPUnit extension. Playwright PHP does not provide test-level retries.
Route
An object for handling network requests intercepted with page.route() or context.route(), enabling their continuation, modification, or mocking.
Screenshot
An image capture of the whole page, a viewport region, or a single element, with options like fullPage and clip.
Selector Engine
The system Playwright uses to interpret locators and selectors.
Session
A runtime instance of a browser or context.
SlowMo
A setting that delays each action to make execution easier to follow while debugging.
Storage State
Serialized cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage saved and reloaded to reuse authentication across tests.
Strict Mode
The requirement that a locator resolve to exactly one element for single-target actions.
Symfony Bundle
The Playwright PHP integration package for Symfony applications.
Test Isolation
The practice of giving each test a fresh browser context so cookies and storage do not leak between tests. The test suite owns that lifecycle.
Test Runner
The tool that executes tests and reports results. Playwright PHP normally runs under PHPUnit and does not ship the Playwright JavaScript test runner.
Test Timeout
The maximum time a single test may run before being terminated.
Timeout
The maximum allowed duration for an action or assertion before failure.
Trace
A recorded log of browser actions and DOM snapshots for debugging.
Trace Viewer
A GUI for exploring recorded traces with DOM snapshots, network activity, and an action timeline, viewable locally or at trace.playwright.dev.
Tracing
The system that records a run (DOM snapshots, network, console, actions) into a trace file for later inspection.
Transport
The low-level communication layer between PHP and Node.
Upload
Simulating a file upload by setting files on a file input with setInputFiles().
User Agent
The browser identification string sent with requests, configurable for emulation.
Video Recording
A browser-context artifact written to a configured directory. The test runner or CI workflow decides which recordings to retain after the result is known.
Viewport
The visible page area dimensions, set via config or page.setViewportSize().
Web-First Assertions
Auto-retrying assertions for dynamic content that wait until a condition is met or times out, for example expect(locator).toBeVisible().
WebKit / Chromium / Firefox
The three browser engines Playwright automates.
Workers (Web Workers)
Web Workers spawned by a page for background JavaScript, observable through page.workers().
XPath Selectors
Standard XPath expressions for locating elements; XPath does not pierce shadow DOM.