GPU_GUARD_MONOREPO/packages/backend/skills/patchwright-cli/SKILL.md

name	description	allowed-tools
patchwright-cli	Anti-detection browser automation via Patchright. Use instead of playwright-cli when the target site has bot detection (Cloudflare, DataDome, etc.).	Bash(patchwright-cli:*) Bash(npx:*) Bash(npm:*)

Browser Automation with patchwright-cli

When to use patchwright-cli vs playwright-cli

Both tools share the same CLI interface and commands. The difference is the underlying browser engine:

• playwright-cli uses stock Playwright/Chromium — suitable for most automation and testing tasks.
• patchwright-cli uses Patchright, a patched version of Playwright that bypasses common bot detection systems (Cloudflare Turnstile, DataDome, PerimeterX, etc.).

Use patchwright-cli when:

• The target site blocks automated browsers or shows CAPTCHAs
• You encounter "Access Denied", "Please verify you are human", or similar bot-detection pages
• You need to interact with sites protected by WAF/anti-bot services

Use playwright-cli when:

• The target site has no bot detection
• You are running Playwright tests or test generation
• You want the standard, unpatched browser behavior

If both skills are installed, prefer playwright-cli by default and switch to patchwright-cli only when bot detection is encountered.

Anti-detection best practices

When targeting sites with bot detection, always use --headed mode (and optionally --browser=chrome). The default headless mode exposes HeadlessChrome in the User-Agent and lacks real screen/window metrics, which most anti-bot systems trivially detect.

# Recommended for bot-protected sites
patchwright-cli open --headed https://protected-site.com

# Best stealth: headed + system Chrome (real UA, real screen metrics)
patchwright-cli open --headed --browser=chrome https://protected-site.com

Headless mode is fine for sites without bot detection or for quick scripting tasks.

Quick start

# open new browser (use --headed for bot-protected sites)
patchwright-cli open --headed
# navigate to a page
patchwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
# interact with the page using refs from the snapshot
patchwright-cli click e15
patchwright-cli type "page.click"
patchwright-cli press Enter
# take a screenshot (rarely used, as snapshot is more common)
patchwright-cli screenshot
# close the browser
patchwright-cli close

Commands

Core

patchwright-cli open
# open and navigate right away
patchwright-cli open https://example.com/
patchwright-cli goto https://playwright.dev
patchwright-cli type "search query"
patchwright-cli click e3
patchwright-cli dblclick e7
# --submit presses Enter after filling the element
patchwright-cli fill e5 "user@example.com"  --submit
patchwright-cli drag e2 e8
patchwright-cli hover e4
patchwright-cli select e9 "option-value"
patchwright-cli upload ./document.pdf
patchwright-cli check e12
patchwright-cli uncheck e12
patchwright-cli snapshot
patchwright-cli eval "document.title"
patchwright-cli eval "el => el.textContent" e5
# get element id, class, or any attribute not visible in the snapshot
patchwright-cli eval "el => el.id" e5
patchwright-cli eval "el => el.getAttribute('data-testid')" e5
patchwright-cli dialog-accept
patchwright-cli dialog-accept "confirmation text"
patchwright-cli dialog-dismiss
patchwright-cli resize 1920 1080
patchwright-cli close

Navigation

patchwright-cli go-back
patchwright-cli go-forward
patchwright-cli reload

Keyboard

patchwright-cli press Enter
patchwright-cli press ArrowDown
patchwright-cli keydown Shift
patchwright-cli keyup Shift

Mouse

patchwright-cli mousemove 150 300
patchwright-cli mousedown
patchwright-cli mousedown right
patchwright-cli mouseup
patchwright-cli mouseup right
patchwright-cli mousewheel 0 100

Save as

patchwright-cli screenshot
patchwright-cli screenshot e5
patchwright-cli screenshot --filename=page.png
patchwright-cli pdf --filename=page.pdf

Tabs

patchwright-cli tab-list
patchwright-cli tab-new
patchwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/page
patchwright-cli tab-close
patchwright-cli tab-close 2
patchwright-cli tab-select 0

Storage

patchwright-cli state-save
patchwright-cli state-save auth.json
patchwright-cli state-load auth.json

# Cookies
patchwright-cli cookie-list
patchwright-cli cookie-list --domain=example.com
patchwright-cli cookie-get session_id
patchwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123
patchwright-cli cookie-set session_id abc123 --domain=example.com --httpOnly --secure
patchwright-cli cookie-delete session_id
patchwright-cli cookie-clear

# LocalStorage
patchwright-cli localstorage-list
patchwright-cli localstorage-get theme
patchwright-cli localstorage-set theme dark
patchwright-cli localstorage-delete theme
patchwright-cli localstorage-clear

# SessionStorage
patchwright-cli sessionstorage-list
patchwright-cli sessionstorage-get step
patchwright-cli sessionstorage-set step 3
patchwright-cli sessionstorage-delete step
patchwright-cli sessionstorage-clear

Network

patchwright-cli route "**/*.jpg" --status=404
patchwright-cli route "https://api.example.com/**" --body='{"mock": true}'
patchwright-cli route-list
patchwright-cli unroute "**/*.jpg"
patchwright-cli unroute

DevTools

patchwright-cli console
patchwright-cli console warning
patchwright-cli network
patchwright-cli run-code "async page => await page.context().grantPermissions(['geolocation'])"
patchwright-cli run-code --filename=script.js
patchwright-cli tracing-start
patchwright-cli tracing-stop
patchwright-cli video-start video.webm
patchwright-cli video-chapter "Chapter Title" --description="Details" --duration=2000
patchwright-cli video-stop

Open parameters

# Use headed mode (recommended for bot-protected sites)
patchwright-cli open --headed
patchwright-cli open --headed --browser=chrome

# Use specific browser when creating session
patchwright-cli open --browser=chrome
patchwright-cli open --browser=firefox
patchwright-cli open --browser=webkit
patchwright-cli open --browser=msedge
# Connect to browser via extension
patchwright-cli open --extension

# Use persistent profile (by default profile is in-memory)
patchwright-cli open --persistent
# Use persistent profile with custom directory
patchwright-cli open --profile=/path/to/profile

# Start with config file
patchwright-cli open --config=my-config.json

# Close the browser
patchwright-cli close
# Delete user data for the default session
patchwright-cli delete-data

Snapshots

After each command, patchwright-cli provides a snapshot of the current browser state.

> patchwright-cli goto https://example.com
### Page
- Page URL: https://example.com/
- Page Title: Example Domain
### Snapshot
[Snapshot](.patchwright-cli/page-2026-02-14T19-22-42-679Z.yml)

You can also take a snapshot on demand using patchwright-cli snapshot command. All the options below can be combined as needed.

# default - save to a file with timestamp-based name
patchwright-cli snapshot

# save to file, use when snapshot is a part of the workflow result
patchwright-cli snapshot --filename=after-click.yaml

# snapshot an element instead of the whole page
patchwright-cli snapshot "#main"

# limit snapshot depth for efficiency, take a partial snapshot afterwards
patchwright-cli snapshot --depth=4
patchwright-cli snapshot e34

Targeting elements

By default, use refs from the snapshot to interact with page elements.

# get snapshot with refs
patchwright-cli snapshot

# interact using a ref
patchwright-cli click e15

You can also use css selectors or Playwright locators.

# css selector
patchwright-cli click "#main > button.submit"

# role locator
patchwright-cli click "getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' })"

# test id
patchwright-cli click "getByTestId('submit-button')"

Browser Sessions

# create new browser session named "mysession" with persistent profile
patchwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --persistent
# same with manually specified profile directory (use when requested explicitly)
patchwright-cli -s=mysession open example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
patchwright-cli -s=mysession click e6
patchwright-cli -s=mysession close  # stop a named browser
patchwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data  # delete user data for persistent session

patchwright-cli list
# Close all browsers
patchwright-cli close-all
# Forcefully kill all browser processes
patchwright-cli kill-all

Installation

If global patchwright-cli command is not available, try a local version via npx patchwright-cli:

npx --no-install patchwright-cli --version

When local version is available, use npx patchwright-cli in all commands. Otherwise, install patchwright-cli as a global command:

npm install -g patchwright-cli@latest

Example: Form submission

patchwright-cli open https://example.com/form
patchwright-cli snapshot

patchwright-cli fill e1 "user@example.com"
patchwright-cli fill e2 "password123"
patchwright-cli click e3
patchwright-cli snapshot
patchwright-cli close

Example: Multi-tab workflow

patchwright-cli open https://example.com
patchwright-cli tab-new https://example.com/other
patchwright-cli tab-list
patchwright-cli tab-select 0
patchwright-cli snapshot
patchwright-cli close

Example: Debugging with DevTools

patchwright-cli open https://example.com
patchwright-cli click e4
patchwright-cli fill e7 "test"
patchwright-cli console
patchwright-cli network
patchwright-cli close

patchwright-cli open https://example.com
patchwright-cli tracing-start
patchwright-cli click e4
patchwright-cli fill e7 "test"
patchwright-cli tracing-stop
patchwright-cli close

Specific tasks

• Running and Debugging Playwright tests references/playwright-tests.md
• Request mocking references/request-mocking.md
• Running Playwright code references/running-code.md
• Browser session management references/session-management.md
• Storage state (cookies, localStorage) references/storage-state.md
• Test generation references/test-generation.md
• Tracing references/tracing.md
• Video recording references/video-recording.md
• Inspecting element attributes references/element-attributes.md