You know that feeling when you're just clicking the same buttons, filling out the same forms, over and over on a website? It's mind-numbing, isn't it? I've been there so many times, especially when I'm just trying to double-check if a tiny code change broke something important. My fingers literally ache just thinking about it.
Here's the Lowdown on My New Trick
So, I was fed up, right? My browser testing was taking ages, and I knew there had to be a smarter way. I'd heard whispers about AI automation, but honestly, it all sounded a bit like sci-fi. Then, I stumbled upon something on GitHub called playwright-skill. And get this – it uses Claude to actually write the automation code for you. My mind was blown. It means Claude isn't just chatting; it's getting in there, figuring out what needs doing, and then spitting out javascript to make it happen. For anyone doing repetitive web validation or testing, this is a game-changer. It's like having a super-fast, super-smart intern who never gets bored.
What Even Is This playwright-skill Thing?
I saw this thing pop up on GitHub a little while ago, and it really grabbed my attention. The playwright-skill project (that's what it's called on GitHub) is pretty new and has been making waves, and for good reason. It's all about letting Claude, the AI, control Playwright, which is this awesome tool for browser automation. Think of Playwright as a fancy remote control for your web browser. You can tell it to click buttons, type text, navigate pages – all sorts of stuff. What makes playwright-skill special is that Claude doesn't just follow instructions; it generates the javascript code itself based on a goal you give it.
It wasn't just me noticing this, either. I saw 'Claude Code on the Web' trending on HackerNews around the same time. It's clear that lots of people are getting excited about AI-driven development. Everyone's looking for ways to make computers do more of the fiddly bits, and playwright-skill felt like a really concrete step in that direction. This whole thing shows that tons of people are keen on AI helping with automation, and how these smart code agents can really lend a hand.
The Problem I Was Trying to Solve
My main headache was this internal web app we use. It's got a bunch of forms and workflows for submitting security reports, and honestly, it's a bit clunky. Every time we pushed a new feature or fixed a bug, I'd have to spend a good 45 seconds, sometimes even a minute, manually clicking through the whole report submission process. I'd navigate to the form, fill in like five fields, click 'submit', check the success message, then go to the dashboard to see if the report showed up correctly. And I'd have to do this for different user types, different scenarios – it was proper repetitive testing.
It wasn't just slow; it was boring, and I'd often miss little visual glitches because my eyes would glaze over. You know what I mean? That moment when you've done something so many times you stop really seeing it? This manual validation felt like a huge time sink. I kept thinking, there's got to be a better way to check this critical flow without me having to become a clicking robot.
My Journey with Claude and Playwright
Alright, so here's how I actually got this working. I cloned the `playwright-skill