n8n/packages/testing/playwright

Playwright E2E Test Guide

Development setup

pnpm install-browsers:local # in playwright directory
pnpm build:docker # from root first to test against local changes

Quick Start

pnpm test:all                 									# Run all tests (fresh containers, pnpm build:docker from root first to ensure local containers)
pnpm test:local           											# Starts a local server and runs the UI tests
N8N_BASE_URL=localhost:5068 pnpm test:local			# Runs the UI tests against the instance running

Test Commands

# By Mode
pnpm test:container:standard    # Sqlite
pnpm test:container:postgres    # PostgreSQL
pnpm test:container:queue       # Queue mode
pnpm test:container:multi-main  # HA setup

pnpm test:performance						# Runs the performance tests against Sqlite container
pnpm test:chaos									# Runs the chaos tests


# Development
pnpm test:all --grep "workflow"           # Pattern match, can run across all test types UI/cli-workflow/performance
pnpm test:local --ui            # To enable UI debugging and test running mode

Test Tags

test('basic test', ...)                              // All modes, fully parallel
test('postgres only @mode:postgres', ...)            // Mode-specific
test('needs clean db @db:reset', ...)                // Sequential per worker
test('chaos test @mode:multi-main @chaostest', ...) // Isolated per worker

Tips

• test:* commands use fresh containers (for testing)
• VS Code: Set N8N_BASE_URL in Playwright settings to run tests directly from VS Code
• Pass custom env vars via N8N_TEST_ENV='{"KEY":"value"}'

Project Layout

• composables: Multi-page interactions (e.g., WorkflowComposer.executeWorkflowAndWaitForNotification())
• config: Test setup and configuration (constants, test users, etc.)
• fixtures: Custom test fixtures extending Playwright's base test
• pages: Page Object Models for UI interactions
• services: API helpers for E2E controller, REST calls, etc.
• utils: Utility functions (string manipulation, helpers, etc.)
• workflows: Test workflow JSON files for import/reuse

Writing Tests

For guidelines on writing new tests, see CONTRIBUTING.md.