playwright-webextext

This extension library enables loading firefox add-ons and chromium extensions from the local filesystem for playwright.

Install

Install by your package manager

$ npm install --save playwright-webextext   # npm
$ yarn add playwright-webextext             # yarn
$ pnpm add playwright-webextext             # pnpm

API

withExtension()

The method provides a custom browser that loads temporary extensions from the local filesystem.

Usage

import { firefox, chromium } from "playwright";
import { withExtension } from "playwright-webextext";

const launchFirefox = async () => {
  const browserTypeWithExtension = withExtension(
    firefox,  // base browser type
    "path/to/your/extensions",  // local directory containing manifest.json
  );
  // launch a browser
  const browser = await browserTypeWithExtension.launch();

  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto("https://example.com/");
};

const launchChromium = async () => {
  const browserTypeWithExtension = withExtension(
    chromium,  // base browser type
    "path/to/your/extensions",
  );

  // chromium extensions works only in headed browsers with persistent contexts
  const browser = await browserTypeWithExtension.launchPersistentContext("", {
    headless: false,
  });

  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto("https://example.com/");
};

launchFirefox();
launchChromium();

createFixture()

The method provides custom fixtures that enable browsers to load add-ons and extensions.

Usage

import { createFixture } from "playwright-webextext";

const { test, expect } = createFixture("path/to/your/extensions");

test("should launch browser with extensions", async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://example.com/");

  // ...
});

Manifest v3 support

The playwright-webextext does not fully support manifest v3 on Firefox. Firefox asks users to allow loading content scripts since Manifest v3.

Basically, the user should allow the permission on the about:addon page manually. The playwright-webextext overrides the permission of the add-on to allow loading content scripts before launching the browser.

This override works when the add-on has the browser_specific_settings.gecko.id property in the manifest.json:

{
  "browser_specific_settings": {
    "gecko": {
      "id": "[email protected]"
    }
  }
}

and it's necessary to launch with persistent context, using launchPersistentContext().

How does it work

Chromium

The playwright introduces a way to install chrome extensions in the document. Chromium supports installing extensions via command-line options. The playwright-webextext launches a chromium browser with command-line options with extension paths. See the following document for more details:

• Chrome Extensions | Playwright

Note that using chrome extensions has two limitations: 1) the browser should run on headed mode, and 2) you should launch the browser with a persistent context (launchPersistentContext()).

Firefox

Firefox provides a remote debugging server to control the browser via a remote debugging protocol. This protocol also enables installing a temporary add-on. The playwright-webextext installs add-ons by this protocol.

LICENSE

MIT