I'm building a browser automation workflow that needs to run in CI, any tool suggestions?

Yes — for browser automation that needs to run reliably in CI, the main choices are:

Best general-purpose options

1. Playwright

My top recommendation for CI.

Why it’s good:

• Very stable in headless CI environments
• Works with Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit
• Built-in auto-waiting reduces flaky tests
• Great debugging tools: trace viewer, screenshots, video, network logs
• Easy to run in Docker and common CI systems

Best for:

• End-to-end testing
• Browser workflows/automation
• Cross-browser support
• Teams that want less flakiness

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2. Puppeteer

Good if you only need Chromium/Chrome automation.

Why it’s good:

• Mature and widely used
• Simple API
• Strong for Chrome-specific workflows
• Good for scraping, PDF generation, screenshots, and automation

Tradeoff:

• Mainly Chromium-focused
• Less ideal than Playwright for multi-browser CI testing

Best for:

• Chrome-only automation
• Internal workflows
• Headless browser tasks

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3. Selenium

Best if you need broad ecosystem support or already have Selenium infrastructure.

Why it’s good:

• Very widely supported
• Lots of language bindings
• Works with many browsers and grid setups

Tradeoff:

• More boilerplate
• Often more flaky/less ergonomic than Playwright
• CI setup can be heavier

Best for:

• Existing Selenium teams
• Large browser grids
• Legacy test suites

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If your workflow is more “automation script” than “test suite”

4. Playwright + persistent context

Great when you want:

• Saved login/session state
• Reusable authenticated browser state
• Scripted workflows in CI

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5. Browserless / remote browsers

Useful if you don’t want to manage browsers in CI directly.

Examples:

• Browserless
• Playwright running against a remote Chromium
• Selenium Grid

Best for:

• Scaling
• Keeping CI images smaller
• Centralized browser infrastructure

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CI reliability tips

Whichever tool you choose:

• Prefer headless mode
• Pin browser/tool versions
• Run in a Docker container or known CI image
• Capture screenshots/videos/traces on failure
• Avoid fixed sleeps; use waits/assertions
• Make test data deterministic
• If using GitHub Actions, use the tool’s recommended CI setup

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Quick recommendation

• Use Playwright if you’re starting fresh.
• Use Puppeteer if you only need Chrome and want something lightweight.
• Use Selenium if you need compatibility with an existing setup.

If you want, I can also suggest a setup specifically for:

• GitHub Actions
• Docker
• Node.js / Python / Java / .NET
• scraping vs testing vs RPA-style automation