What are the best practices for resolving Azure DevOps sharding issues and getting Playwright to work in the pipeline?

Answer

Update Playwright Dependency

Keep your Playwright dependency up to date by installing the latest version:

npm install -D @playwright/test@latest

Set up CI/CD

Run your tests frequently, ideally on each commit and pull request. Use Linux when running tests on CI, as it's cheaper.

Use Parallelism and Sharding

Configure tests for parallel execution:

test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' })

Shard your test suite by passing the --shard=x/y command line option.

Limit Failures and Fail Fast

Set the maxFailures config option or pass the --max-failures command line flag. Playwright Test will stop after reaching the specified number of failed tests.

Choose Appropriate Browser Profiles

Use the npx playwright test command line option or the VS Code test runner's dropdown menu to select profiles or modify default profile settings based on your testing needs.

For more tips on writing efficient Playwright test scripts, check out this blog post.