Playwright for Java Files

🌐 HAR recording on Tracing

tracing.startHar() (playwright.dev) / tracing.stopHar() (playwright.dev) expose HAR recording as a first-class tracing API, with the same content, mode and urlFilter options as recordHar:

:::java
context.tracing().startHar(Paths.get("trace.har"));
Page page = context.newPage();
page.navigate("https://playwright.dev");
context.tracing().stopHar();

🪝 Drop API

New locator.drop() (playwright.dev) simulates an external drag-and-drop of files or clipboard-like data onto an element. Playwright dispatches dragenter, dragover, and drop with a synthetic [DataTransfer] in the page context — works cross-browser and is great for testing upload zones:

:::java
page.locator("#dropzone").drop(new Locator.DropPayload()
    .setFiles(new FilePayload("note.txt", "text/plain", "hello".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))));

page.locator("#dropzone").drop(new Locator.DropPayload()
    .setData(Map.of(
        "text/plain", "hello world",
        "text/uri-list", "https://example.com")));

🎯 Aria snapshots

• assertThat(page).matchesAriaSnapshot() now works on a Page, in addition to a Locator — equivalent to asserting against page.locator("body").
• New boxes option on locator.ariaSnapshot() (playwright.dev) / page.ariaSnapshot() (playwright.dev) appends each element's bounding box as [box=x,y,width,height], useful for AI consumption.

New APIs

Browser, Context and Page

• Event browser.onContext() (playwright.dev) — fired when a new context is created on the browser.
• BrowserContext now mirrors lifecycle events from its pages: browserContext.onDownload() (playwright.dev), browserContext.onFrameAttached() (playwright.dev), browserContext.onFrameDetached() (playwright.dev), browserContext.onFrameNavigated() (playwright.dev), browserContext.onPageClose() (playwright.dev), browserContext.onPageLoad() (playwright.dev).

Locators and Assertions

• New option description in page.getByRole() (playwright.dev) / locator.getByRole() (playwright.dev) / frame.getByRole() (playwright.dev) / frameLocator.getByRole() (playwright.dev) for matching the accessible description.
• New option pseudo in assertThat(locator).hasCSS() reads computed styles from ::before or ::after.
• New option style in locator.highlight() (playwright.dev) applies extra inline CSS to the highlight overlay, plus new page.hideHighlight() (playwright.dev) to clear all highlights.

Network

• webSocketRoute.protocols() (playwright.dev) returns the WebSocket subprotocols requested by the page.
• New option noDefaults in browserType.connectOverCDP() (playwright.dev) disables Playwright's default overrides on the default context (download behavior, focus emulation, media emulation), so attaching to a user's daily-driver browser doesn't disturb its state.

Errors

• New webError.location() (playwright.dev) mirrors consoleMessage.location() (playwright.dev).

🛠️ Other improvements

• Trace Viewer adds a pretty-print toggle for JSON / form request and response bodies in the network details panel.

Breaking Changes ⚠️

• Removed long-deprecated handle option on BrowserContext.exposeBinding and Page.exposeBinding.

Browser Versions

• Chromium 148.0.7778.96
• Mozilla Firefox 150.0.2
• WebKit 26.4

This version was also tested against the following stable channels:

• Google Chrome 147
• Microsoft Edge 147