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Direct CDP connection mode (
--direct) — connect to Chrome's built-in debugging WebSocket without needing the Playwriter extension. Works with any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Brave, Ghost Browser, Arc, Edge, etc.) that has debugging enabled viachrome://inspect/#remote-debuggingor--remote-debugging-port. Auto-discovers instances via DevToolsActivePort files and port scanning. For MCP, setPLAYWRITER_DIRECT=1env var.playwriter session new --direct playwriter browser list
In direct mode,
browser.contexts()gives access to pages across all open Chrome profiles. -
playwriter browser start(now deprecated) — launched a managed Chrome instance with the bundled Playwriter extension preloaded, useful for fresh VPS/AVPS setups. Now deprecated in favor ofsession new --direct. The command still works but is hidden from--help. -
Kitty Graphics Protocol support — when
AGENT_GRAPHICS=kittyis set, the CLI emits screenshots and resized images as Kitty Graphics Protocol escape sequences. Agents withkitty-graphics-agentautomatically extract images and pass them to the LLM as media parts.AGENT_GRAPHICS=kitty playwriter -s 1 -e "await screenshot({ page })" -
Screenshots and images now use PNG —
screenshotWithAccessibilityLabels()andresizeImageForAgent()now consistently output PNG instead of JPEG, fixingimage/pngvsimage/jpegmismatch errors in MCP clients. -
resizeImageForAgent— renamed fromresizeImage. Resized images are now automatically collected and included in responses. The old name still works as a backward-compatible alias. -
Chrome 136+ direct CDP discovery —
--directauto-discovery now detects Chrome instances where/json/versionreturns 404 (Chrome 136+ withchrome://inspectdebugging). Uses HTTP-only probing and never triggers Chrome's approval dialog. -
Show session cwd in
playwriter session list— session table now includes the working directory, making it easier to tell similar sessions apart. -
Fix session cwd leakage across relay restarts — relative
fspaths in the sandbox now resolve from the cwd captured bysession new. -
Contenteditable detection in snapshots — bare
contenteditableelements are now correctly detected as interactive textboxes in accessibility snapshots. -
PLAYWRITER_DIRECTonly accepts'1'— removed'auto'and'true'aliases. Explicitws://endpoints still work.