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6/20/2026
The Playwright Playbook — Part 6: Debugging Like a Pro — Trace Viewer, Inspector & VS Code

The Playwright Playbook — Part 6: Debugging Like a Pro — Trace Viewer, Inspector & VS Code

Short summary

Playwright includes five debugging tools that capture test execution in full detail: Trace Viewer records every action, network call, and DOM state for post-mortem analysis of CI failures; Playwright Inspector lets you step through tests interactively; and VS Code integration brings debugging to your IDE. This guide covers configuration, trace timeline interpretation, and real-world debugging workflows—replacing console.log hacks and timeout guessing with proper test observability.

  • •Trace Viewer captures complete test execution timeline for CI failure analysis without guessing
  • •Five debugging tools for different scenarios: Trace Viewer, Inspector, page.pause(), VS Code, Console
  • •on-first-retry trace mode balances CI overhead with debugging visibility for production environments

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