Playwright v1.61.0, released on 2026-06-15, brings significant updates for test automation engineers. This minor release from Microsoft focuses on enhancing authentication testing, web storage management, and test runner capabilities. For a deeper dive into Playwright’s fundamentals, refer to our Playwright tutorial for web testing.

Key Changes

For full details, consult the Playwright v1.61.0 Release Notes.

WebAuthn Passkeys A major addition is the Credentials virtual authenticator, accessible via browserContext.credentials. This API allows tests to register and manage passkeys, enabling navigator.credentials.create() and navigator.credentials.get() ceremonies directly within the page. This eliminates the need for real hardware keys, simplifying complex authentication flows across all browsers.

const context = await browser.newContext();

// Seed a passkey your backend provisioned for a test user.
await context.credentials.create('example.com', {
  id: credentialId,
  userHandle,
  privateKey,
  publicKey,
});
await context.credentials.install();

const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
// The page's navigator.credentials.get() is answered with the seeded passkey.

You can also register a passkey once and reuse it across tests using credentials.get().

Web Storage API The new WebStorage API, available through page.localStorage and page.sessionStorage, provides direct methods to read and write a page’s local and session storage for the current origin. This streamlines test setup and assertions that depend on stored data.

await page.localStorage.setItem('token', 'abc');
const token = await page.localStorage.getItem('token');
const items = await page.sessionStorage.items();

New APIs & Test Runner Enhancements

  • Network: apiResponse.securityDetails() and apiResponse.serverAddr() now mirror browser-side response details.
  • Browser & Screencast: artifactsDir in browserType.connectOverCDP() controls artifact storage. screencast.showActions() gains a cursor option, and screencast.start()’s onFrame callback now includes a timestamp.
  • Test Runner: The testOptions.video option now supports advanced modes like 'on-all-retries' and 'retain-on-first-failure', similar to trace options. expect.soft.poll(...) is now supported. New fullConfig.argv and fullConfig.failOnFlakyTests provide more context for reporters. testInfo.errors better handles AggregateError details. A -G shorthand for --grep-invert is added.

Other Improvements Playwright now supports Ubuntu 26.04. HAR and trace recordings now include WebSocket requests, improving debugging capabilities.

Impact for QA Teams

These updates significantly enhance testing capabilities, particularly for modern web applications. The WebAuthn passkey support simplifies testing complex authentication flows, reducing reliance on manual steps or external hardware. Direct Web Storage manipulation streamlines test data setup and validation, while expanded video options offer more control over debugging artifacts. For a deeper comparison with other tools, consider our articles on Playwright vs Cypress or Playwright vs Selenium.

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