R&D Experiment: Can We Build Playwright-Style Agents for Selenium?

Note: This project selenium_mcp_server – supportwithagents branch is experimental and not fully tested yet. It is purely R&D – not a production-ready solution.

I also don’t work in a Selenium-based team. I built this out of curiosity to explore a question: Can Playwright’s Test Agent system be recreated for Selenium, with support for multiple languages and frameworks?

Why I Did This

When Microsoft released Playwright v1.56 with the Planner, Generator & Healer agents, I was impressed. Their agents don’t just read code – they explore a real browser, observe feedback, and make decisions.

Through this experiment, I now understand how Playwright Test Agents work in depth, including:

• How they use tools and browser feedback loops
• How test plans are generated using real observations
• Why AI + browser context creates smarter automation

The R&D Challenge

Could I recreate Playwright’s Test Agents using Selenium instead and make it work across multiple testing frameworks?

This is not:

• a team-driven project
• a mature Selenium toolkit
• a fully validated solution

This is:

• a proof-of-concept
• a learning experiment
• an exploration of AI + browser automation

What Was Built

Simple Workflow: “Test this website”

What You See vs What Happens Behind the Scenes

YOU TYPE: “Test this website “https://practiceautomatedtesting.com/"

Claude Code calls: planner_setup_page

### Page state
- Page URL: https://practiceautomatedtesting.com
- Page Title: Example Domain
- Page Snapshot:
```yaml
a "More information..." [ref=e1] [role=link]
 - button "Login" [ref=e2] [role=button]
 - input "Email" [ref=e3]
- input "Password" [ref=e4]
- button "Submit" [ref=e5] [role=button]

Claude Code analyzes what it sees and decides: “I see a login form. Let me click around to understand the site.”

Claude calls: click_element

Clicked: More information link

### Page state
- Page URL: https://practiceautomatedtesting.com/info
- Page Title: Information Page
- Page Snapshot:
```yaml
- a "Home" [ref=e1]
- a "Contact" [ref=e2]
- h1 "About Us" [ref=e3] [level=1]

After exploring, Claude thinks: “I found:

• Login form
• Information page
• Contact page
• Navigation links

Let me create test scenarios for these.”

Claude calls: planner_save_plan

Test plan created!

I've explored https://practiceautomatedtesting.com and c
created a comprehensive test plan covering:

1. Login functionality
   - Valid credentials
   - Invalid credentials
   - Empty fields

2. Navigation
   - Information page
   - Contact page
   - Back to home

3. Form validation
   - Email format
   - Password requirements

Test plan saved to:
test-plans/website-functionality.plan.md

Would you like me to generate executable tests from this?

Example – Generated Test Plan

# Scenario: Add Item to Cart
Steps:
1. Navigate to /shopping
2. Click "Add to Cart"
3. Verify cart shows "1"
4. Open cart
5. Check product & price

Example – Selenium PyTest Output

def test_add_single_item(driver):
    driver.get("https://practiceautomatedtesting.com/shopping")

    add_btn = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
        EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "[data-testid='add-cart-btn']"))
    )
    add_btn.click()

    cart_count = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
        EC.presence_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".cart-count"))
    )
    assert cart_count.text == "1"

What I Learned

Rebuilding this agents system taught me how Playwright agents work internally, especially:

• The tool feedback loop mechanism
• Structured prompts and task workflows
• Why real-time selector validation is critical
• How Markdown test plans are the perfect AI-friendly test layer

Important Disclaimer

This project is not fully tested yet. It may work well on some flows and fail on others – that’s expected in early R&D. Right now, it should be seen as:

• an experiment
• an idea worth exploring
• a way to understand Playwright Agents by rebuilding them

Final Takeaway

Even if it never becomes a production tool, this experiment succeeded.

It showed that:

• Agent-driven testing can work in Selenium
• Browser feedback loops are powerful
• Playwright’s architecture can be adapted
• Multisupported scripts in various languages like Python, javascript, Robot Framework, Typescript, as long as it is selenium
• The best way to understand something – is to try building it yourself

if you want to experiment please check out this branch selenium_mcp_server – supportwithagents branch

R&D isn’t about finished tools. It’s about discovering what’s possible.

Instruction installation for claude code can be found in the repo (vscode en cursor support will be there shortly)