[Feature] Allow to set launchPersistentContext in playwright.config file

On one of our projects, we need to run tests with extensions. To launch extensions, we have to set browserType.launchPersistentContext in the beforeAll section of each test.

It would be convenient to set launchPersistentContext in a playwright.config file, for instance:

    use: {
        launchPersistentContext: {
            userDataDir: '/tmp/test-user-data-dir',
            args: [
                `--disable-extensions-except=${path.join(__dirname, './my-extension')}`,
                `--load-extension=${path.join(__dirname, './my-extension')}`
            ]
        }
     }

[serembon]

@schmkr Extension should be unpacked. Here is an example:

test.describe('Open Chrome with loaded extension', () => {
    let context: BrowserContext;
    let page: Page;

    test.beforeAll(async () => {
        context = await chromium.launchPersistentContext('/tmp/test-user-data', {
            headless: false,
            channel: 'chrome',
            args: [
                `--disable-extensions-except=${path.join(__dirname, '../files/my-extenstion')}`,
                `--load-extension=${path.join(__dirname, '../files/my-extenstion')}`,
            ],
        });
        page = await context.newPage();
    });

    test('Open extensions page', async () => {
        await page.goto('chrome://extensions/');
        await page.pause();
    });
});

[schmkr]

Yesterday, I also started an attempt to use Playwright Test for writing E2E tests for a Chrome Extension. But because the browser (by default) is launched in incognito, extensions don’t work.

It would be very helpful if it was made possible to define the browser(s) to launch with a persistent context. And/or in a more generic way, if it was possible to add a way to use a (factory) function that returns a browser instance upon invoking. Something like:

// playwright.config.ts
import { PlaywrightTestConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';

const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {
  projects: [
    {
      name: 'chromium-from-a-factory-fn',
      use: () => { // returns a browser instance when invoked },
    },
  ],
};
export default config;

@serembon I would be interested in how you set the browserType.launchPersistentContext in the beforeAll section of each test. Could you show an example?