microsoft/playwright-dotnet v1.59.0

v1.59.0

Repository: microsoft/playwright-dotnet

Tag: v1.59.0

Published: 2026-04-09T15:54:21Z

Prerelease: no

Release notes:

🎬 Screencast

New Page.Screencast API provides a unified interface for capturing page content with:

• Screencast recordings
• Action annotations
• Visual overlays
• Real-time frame capture
• Agentic video receipts

Screencast recording — record video with precise start/stop control, as an alternative to the `recordVideoDir` option:

await page.Screencast.StartAsync(new() { Path = "video.webm" });
// ... perform actions ...
await page.Screencast.StopAsync();

Action annotations — enable built-in visual annotations that highlight interacted elements and display action titles during recording:

await page.Screencast.ShowActionsAsync(new() { Position = "top-right" });

ShowActionsAsync accepts Position ("top-left", "top", "top-right", "bottom-left", "bottom", "bottom-right"), Duration (ms per annotation), and FontSize (px). Returns a disposable to stop showing actions.

Visual overlays — add chapter titles and custom HTML overlays on top of the page for richer narration:

await page.Screencast.ShowChapterAsync("Adding TODOs", new() {
Description = "Type and press enter for each TODO",
Duration = 1000,
});

await page.Screencast.ShowOverlayAsync("Recording
");

Real-time frame capture — stream JPEG-encoded frames for custom processing like thumbnails, live previews, AI vision, and more:

await page.Screencast.StartAsync(new() {
OnFrame = frame => SendToVisionModel(frame.Data),
});

Agentic video receipts — coding agents can produce video evidence of their work. After completing a task, an agent can record a walkthrough video with rich annotations for human review:

await page.Screencast.StartAsync(new() { Path = "receipt.webm" });
await page.Screencast.ShowActionsAsync(new() { Position = "top-right" });

await page.Screencast.ShowChapterAsync("Verifying checkout flow", new() {
Description = "Added coupon code support per ticket #1234",
});

// Agent performs the verification steps...
await page.Locator("#coupon").FillAsync("SAVE20");
await page.Locator("#apply-coupon").ClickAsync();
await Expect(page.Locator(".discount")).ToContainTextAsync("20%");

await page.Screencast.ShowChapterAsync("Done", new() {
Description = "Coupon applied, discount reflected in total",
});

await page.Screencast.StopAsync();

The resulting video serves as a receipt: chapter titles provide context, action annotations highlight each interaction, and the visual walkthrough is faster to review than text logs.

🔍 Snapshots and Locators

• Method Page.AriaSnapshotAsync() to capture the aria snapshot of the page — equivalent to Page.Locator("body").AriaSnapshotAsync().
• Options Depth and Mode in Locator.AriaSnapshotAsync().
• Method Locator.NormalizeAsync() converts a locator to follow best practices like test ids and aria roles.
• Method Page.PickLocatorAsync() enters an interactive mode where hovering over elements highlights them and shows the corresponding locator. Click an element to get its Locator back. Use Page.CancelPickLocatorAsync() to cancel.

New APIs

Screencast

• Page.Screencast provides video recording, real-time frame streaming, and overlay management.
• Methods Screencast.StartAsync() and screencast.stop() for recording and frame capture.
• Methods Screencast.ShowActionsAsync() and Screencast.HideActionsAsync() for action annotations.
• Methods Screencast.ShowChapterAsync() and Screencast.ShowOverlayAsync() for visual overlays.
• Methods Screencast.ShowOverlaysAsync() and Screencast.HideOverlaysAsync() for overlay visibility control.

Storage, Console and Errors

• Method BrowserContext.SetStorageStateAsync() clears existing cookies, local storage, and IndexedDB for all origins and sets a new storage state — no need to create a new context.
• Methods Page.ClearConsoleMessagesAsync() and page.clearPageErrors() to clear stored messages and errors.
• Option Filter in Page.ConsoleMessagesAsync() and page.pageErrors() controls which messages are returned.
• Proeprty ConsoleMessage.Timestamp.

Miscellaneous

• BrowserContext.Debugger provides programmatic control over the Playwright debugger.
• Property BrowserContext.IsClosed.
• Property Request.ExistingResponse returns the response without waiting.
• Method...