Playwright (Web Automation)
The Playwright integration gives Phyllax a real browser. The AI assistant can navigate to a page, click elements, fill forms, and extract text — useful for sites without an API.
Quick Setup
- In Phyllax → Integrations → Playwright → click Connect
- Phyllax checks for a Chromium install. If missing, it offers to install it (one-time, ~300MB)
- Click Install Chromium if prompted
- Done — no credentials, no signup
First-run downloads Chromium
Playwright needs its own bundled Chromium binary. Phyllax handles the download from the official Playwright CDN — no manual setup.
Required Credentials
None.
What Playwright Lets the AI Do
| Capability | Example |
|---|---|
| Navigate to a URL | "Open the latest PR on my company's GitHub Enterprise" |
| Read page text | "What's the headline on hn.algolia.com right now?" |
| Fill forms and click buttons | "Submit the contact form on example.com with my email" |
| Take screenshots of pages | "Show me what acme.com's homepage looks like today" |
| Scrape structured data | "Pull the names and prices from this product listing page" |
When to Use Playwright vs Tavily/Brave
| Use case | Best tool |
|---|---|
| "What's the URL of X?" | Tavily or Brave |
| "Summarize this article" | Tavily (returns clean text) |
| "Click submit on this form" | Playwright (only one that can interact) |
| "Scrape this site that has no API" | Playwright |
| "Take a screenshot of how a page renders" | Playwright |
Privacy & Limitations
- Playwright runs locally on your machine. The browser session, cookies, and any data the AI captures stay on your machine until they're sent to your AI provider for analysis.
- Phyllax doesn't share a logged-in browser profile. Sites that need authentication need to be logged into within the Playwright session each time, or scripted with credentials.
- For sites with anti-bot detection (Cloudflare, hCaptcha), Playwright will be blocked — this is by design on the site's side.
Troubleshooting
"Chromium install failed"
The CDN may have been unreachable. Try again with a stable internet connection. If your network blocks Playwright's CDN, you can pre-install: npx playwright install chromium.
"Browser crashed"
Usually a memory issue — Chromium is heavy. Close other browsers, or restart Phyllax.
Site blocks Phyllax
Some sites detect automated browsers. There's no general workaround — try a different data source (the site's API if it has one, or an aggregator that mirrors the content).