Browser Session Management

Run multiple isolated browser sessions concurrently with state persistence.

Named Browser Sessions

Use -s flag to isolate browser contexts:

# Browser 1: Authentication flow
patchwright-cli -s=auth open https://app.example.com/login

# Browser 2: Public browsing (separate cookies, storage)
patchwright-cli -s=public open https://example.com

# Commands are isolated by browser session
patchwright-cli -s=auth fill e1 "user@example.com"
patchwright-cli -s=public snapshot

Browser Session Isolation Properties

Each browser session has independent:

Cookies
LocalStorage / SessionStorage
IndexedDB
Cache
Browsing history
Open tabs

Browser Session Commands

# List all browser sessions
patchwright-cli list

# Stop a browser session (close the browser)
patchwright-cli close                # stop the default browser
patchwright-cli -s=mysession close   # stop a named browser

# Stop all browser sessions
patchwright-cli close-all

# Forcefully kill all daemon processes (for stale/zombie processes)
patchwright-cli kill-all

# Delete browser session user data (profile directory)
patchwright-cli delete-data                # delete default browser data
patchwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data   # delete named browser data

Environment Variable

Set a default browser session name via environment variable:

export PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION="mysession"
patchwright-cli open example.com  # Uses "mysession" automatically

Common Patterns

Concurrent Scraping

#!/bin/bash
# Scrape multiple sites concurrently

# Start all browsers
patchwright-cli -s=site1 open https://site1.com &
patchwright-cli -s=site2 open https://site2.com &
patchwright-cli -s=site3 open https://site3.com &
wait

# Take snapshots from each
patchwright-cli -s=site1 snapshot
patchwright-cli -s=site2 snapshot
patchwright-cli -s=site3 snapshot

# Cleanup
patchwright-cli close-all

A/B Testing Sessions

# Test different user experiences
patchwright-cli -s=variant-a open "https://app.com?variant=a"
patchwright-cli -s=variant-b open "https://app.com?variant=b"

# Compare
patchwright-cli -s=variant-a screenshot
patchwright-cli -s=variant-b screenshot

Persistent Profile

By default, browser profile is kept in memory only. Use --persistent flag on open to persist the browser profile to disk:

# Use persistent profile (auto-generated location)
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent

# Use persistent profile with custom directory
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --profile=/path/to/profile

Default Browser Session

When -s is omitted, commands use the default browser session:

# These use the same default browser session
patchwright-cli open https://example.com
patchwright-cli snapshot
patchwright-cli close  # Stops default browser

Browser Session Configuration

Configure a browser session with specific settings when opening:

# Open with config file
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --config=.playwright/my-cli.json

# Open with specific browser
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --browser=firefox

# Open in headed mode
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --headed

# Open with persistent profile
patchwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent

Best Practices

1. Name Browser Sessions Semantically

# GOOD: Clear purpose
patchwright-cli -s=github-auth open https://github.com
patchwright-cli -s=docs-scrape open https://docs.example.com

# AVOID: Generic names
patchwright-cli -s=s1 open https://github.com

2. Always Clean Up

# Stop browsers when done
patchwright-cli -s=auth close
patchwright-cli -s=scrape close

# Or stop all at once
patchwright-cli close-all

# If browsers become unresponsive or zombie processes remain
patchwright-cli kill-all

3. Delete Stale Browser Data

# Remove old browser data to free disk space
patchwright-cli -s=oldsession delete-data

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