What is the difference between the experimental and production versions of Playwright?

Answer

The experimental version of Playwright is a separate branch where new features are tested before they're merged into the production version. It's a playground for developers to try out and provide feedback on upcoming features.

When new changes are introduced in the experimental version, they undergo rigorous testing and evaluation. This process involves running tests against various browser versions, such as Chromium, Mozilla Firefox, and WebKit, to verify that the changes work as expected across different environments.

Once the changes have been thoroughly tested in the experimental branch and deemed stable, they are then merged into the production version of Playwright. This ensures that only reliable and well-tested features make their way into the official release.

The experimental version may contain some of the latest changes from the production version, but it may also include additional features or improvements that have not yet been released in a stable form. Therefore, using the experimental version can provide early access to new functionality but may also come with potential risks or limitations compared to using the stable production release.

In summary, while there is some overlap between the experimental and production versions of Playwright in terms of shared changes, it cannot be assumed that all latest changes from production are immediately available in an experimental build. The purpose of having an experimental branch is to allow for thorough testing and validation before incorporating new features into a stable release.