- Jul 14, 2026
- admin
- 0
Handling Cookies in Playwright
Handling cookies is one of the most common tasks in Playwright. Here are the most useful operations with examples.
- Get All Cookies
import { test } from ‘@playwright/test’;
test(‘Get all cookies’, async ({ page }) => {
await page.goto(‘https://www.google.com’);
const cookies = await page.context().cookies();
console.log(cookies);
});
Output:
[
{
name: ‘AEC’,
value: ‘abc123’,
domain: ‘.google.com’,
path: ‘/’,
expires: 1780000000,
httpOnly: true,
secure: true,
sameSite: ‘None’
}
]
- Get Cookies for Specific URL
const cookies = await page.context().cookies([
‘https://www.google.com’
]);
console.log(cookies);
- Add Cookie
await page.context().addCookies([
{
name: ‘username’,
value: ‘Anand’,
domain: ‘example.com’,
path: ‘/’,
httpOnly: false,
secure: false
}
]);
- Delete All Cookies
await page.context().clearCookies();
- Verify Cookie
const cookies = await page.context().cookies();
const userCookie = cookies.find(c => c.name === ‘username’);
console.log(userCookie);
- Check Cookie Value
const cookies = await page.context().cookies();
const session = cookies.find(c => c.name === ‘session’);
console.log(session?.value);
- Add Multiple Cookies
await page.context().addCookies([
{
name: ‘language’,
value: ‘en’,
domain: ‘example.com’,
path: ‘/’
},
{
name: ‘theme’,
value: ‘dark’,
domain: ‘example.com’,
path: ‘/’
}
]);
- Login Once Using Cookies
After login:
const cookies = await page.context().cookies();
console.log(cookies);
Save them:
import fs from ‘fs’;
fs.writeFileSync(
‘cookies.json’,
JSON.stringify(cookies, null, 2)
);
- Reuse Cookies
import fs from ‘fs’;
const cookies = JSON.parse(
fs.readFileSync(‘cookies.json’, ‘utf-8’)
);
await context.addCookies(cookies);
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto(‘https://example.com’);
No login required if the session is still valid.
- Store Cookies Using Storage State (Recommended)
Playwright recommends using Storage State instead of manually handling cookies.
await page.context().storageState({
path: ‘auth.json’
});
Reuse it:
import { test } from ‘@playwright/test’;
test.use({
storageState: ‘auth.json’
});
This restores:
- ✅ Cookies
- ✅ Local Storage
- ✅ IndexedDB (where applicable)
- Print Cookies in Table Format
const cookies = await page.context().cookies();
console.table(cookies);
Example:
┌─────────┬──────────┬────────────┬──────────────┐
│ Name │ Value │ Domain │ Secure │
├─────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────────┤
│ session │ abc123 │ example.com│ true │
│ theme │ dark │ example.com│ false │
└─────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────────┘
- Best Practices
- Use storageState for login/session reuse instead of manually saving cookies.
- Use context.cookies() to inspect cookies.
- Use context.addCookies() to inject cookies before navigating to the site.
- Use context.clearCookies() to test first-time user or logout scenarios.
- Create a fresh BrowserContext for each test to avoid cookie leakage between tests.
Common Playwright Cookie APIs
| Method | Purpose |
| context.cookies() | Get cookies |
| context.addCookies() | Add cookies |
| context.clearCookies() | Delete cookies |
| context.storageState() | Save cookies + local storage |
| test.use({ storageState }) | Reuse authenticated session |
For more Playwright tutorials, examples, and automation concepts, visit our Playwright Tutorial section.
