Rust language bindings for Microsoft Playwright — the industry standard for cross-browser end-to-end testing.
Status: Pre-1.0, API stabilizing. See coverage trajectory for the path to v1.0.
Read our WHY.md to understand the vision, timing, and philosophy behind this project.
TL;DR: Rust is emerging as a serious web development language, with frameworks like Axum and Actix gaining traction. AI coding assistants are making Rust accessible to more developers. Test-Driven Development is experiencing a renaissance as the optimal way to work with AI agents. These trends are converging now, and they need production-quality E2E testing. playwright-rust fills that gap by bringing Playwright's industry-leading browser automation to the Rust ecosystem.
See Development Roadmap for plans and status of the development approach for playwright-rust.
Goal: Build this library to a production-quality state for broad adoption as @playwright/rust or playwright-rs. Provide official-quality Rust bindings for Microsoft Playwright, following the same architecture as playwright-python, playwright-java, and playwright-dotnet.
The API matches Playwright's cross-language conventions — if you know playwright-python, you know playwright-rust:
| Python | Rust |
|---|---|
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
with sync_playwright() as p:
browser = p.chromium.launch()
page = browser.new_page()
page.goto("https://example.com")
# Locator with auto-waiting
heading = page.locator("h1")
assert heading.text_content() == "Example Domain"
# Response body access
resp = page.goto("https://api.example.com/data")
data = resp.json()
browser.close() |
use playwright_rs::Playwright;
let pw = Playwright::launch().await?;
let browser = pw.chromium().launch().await?;
let page = browser.new_page().await?;
page.goto("https://example.com", None).await?;
// Locator with auto-waiting
let heading = page.locator("h1").await;
assert_eq!(heading.text_content().await?, Some("Example Domain".into()));
// Response body access
let resp = page.goto("https://api.example.com/data", None).await?.unwrap();
let data: serde_json::Value = resp.json().await?;
browser.close().await?; |
Each pre-v1.0 release targets 100% coverage of specific API classes:
| Class | Methods | Current (v0.9) | v0.10.0 | v0.11.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Locator | 55 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Response | 18 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Request | 19 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Page | 67 | ~81% | ~90% | 100% |
| BrowserContext | 32 | ~66% | 100% | 100% |
| Frame | 29 | ~38% | 100% | 100% |
| FrameLocator | 10 | 0% | 100% | 100% |
Bold = release where the class reaches 100%. See the full gap analysis for details.
playwright-rust follows Microsoft's proven architecture for language bindings:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ playwright-rs (Rust API) │
│ - High-level, idiomatic Rust API │
│ - Async/await with tokio │
│ - Type-safe bindings │
└─────────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
│ JSON-RPC over stdio
┌─────────────────────▼────────────────────────┐
│ Playwright Server (Node.js/TypeScript) │
│ - Browser automation logic │
│ - Cross-browser protocol abstraction │
│ - Maintained by Microsoft Playwright team │
└─────────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
│ Native protocols
┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
Chromium Firefox WebKit
This means:
- ✅ Full feature parity with Playwright (JS/Python/Java/.NET)
- ✅ Cross-browser support (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit)
- ✅ Automatic updates when Playwright server updates
- ✅ Minimal maintenance - protocols handled by Microsoft's server
- ✅ Production-tested architecture used by millions
Following Playwright's cross-language consistency:
- Match Playwright API exactly - Same method names, same semantics
- Idiomatic Rust - Use Result, async/await, builder patterns where appropriate
- Type safety - Leverage Rust's type system for compile-time safety
- Auto-waiting - Built-in smart waits like other Playwright implementations
- Testing-first - Designed for reliable end-to-end testing
Add to your Cargo.toml:
[dependencies]
playwright-rs = "0.9" # Auto-updates to latest 0.9.x
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }See the CHANGELOG for version history and features.
Important: Browsers must be installed separately using the Playwright CLI.
The library bundles Playwright driver version 1.58.2. You must install matching browser versions:
# Install all browsers (recommended)
npx playwright@1.58.2 install
# Or install specific browsers
npx playwright@1.58.2 install chromium firefox webkitWhy version matters: Each Playwright release expects specific browser builds. Using playwright@1.58.2 ensures you get compatible browsers (chromium-1208, firefox-1471, webkit-2248).
In CI/CD: Add this to your GitHub Actions workflow:
- name: Install Playwright Browsers
run: npx playwright@1.58.2 install chromium firefox webkit --with-depsThe version constant is also available in code:
use playwright_rs::PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION;
println!("Install with: npx playwright@{} install", PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION);What happens if I don't install browsers? You'll get a helpful error message with the correct install command when trying to launch a browser.
- Rust 1.85+
- Node.js 18+ (for Playwright server and browser installation)
- tokio async runtime
# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/playwright-rust.git
cd playwright-rust
# Install pre-commit hooks
pip install pre-commit
pre-commit install
# Build
cargo buildAfter building, install browsers as described in Browser Installation above:
cargo build
npx playwright@1.58.2 install chromium firefox webkitThe build script automatically downloads the Playwright driver to drivers/ (gitignored). CI handles browser installation automatically - see .github/workflows/test.yml.
Platform Support: ✅ Windows, macOS, Linux
This project uses cargo-nextest. Install once: cargo install cargo-nextest
cargo nextest run # All tests
cargo nextest run -p playwright-rs --lib # Unit tests only (~2s, no browsers)
cargo nextest run -p playwright-rs -E 'test(locator)' # Pattern match
cargo test --doc --workspace -- --ignored # Doc-tests (requires browsers)See examples/ for usage examples.
cargo run --package playwright-rs --example basicThis project aims for production-quality Rust bindings matching Playwright's standards. Contributions should:
- Follow Playwright API conventions
- Include comprehensive tests
- Maintain type safety
- Document public APIs with examples
- Pass CI checks (fmt, clippy, tests)
Apache-2.0 (same as Microsoft Playwright)
- Microsoft Playwright Team - For the amazing browser automation framework
- playwright-python - API design reference
- Folio Project - Initial driver for development needs