FAQ

My parallel replay tests sometimes hit the real backend — why?

You’re likely calling playwrightProxy.teardown() in a per-test hook. It sets the global proxy mode to transparent, and with fullyParallel: true each Playwright worker runs its own test.afterAll. If a fast test finishes and calls teardown() while a slower test is still running, the proxy flips to transparent mid-test and the remaining requests are forwarded to the real backend instead of being replayed.

// ❌ breaks parallel replay — teardown() affects all sessions globally
test.afterAll(async () => {
  await playwrightProxy.teardown();
});

Fix: omit test.afterAll. Session cleanup is automatic via context.on('close') → cleanupSession(). Use a global teardown only if you need to reset the proxy after the entire run.

Should I commit recordings to git?

Yes. Recordings must be in git so CI can replay them with no network — do not add e2e/recordings to .gitignore. To keep large recording files from bloating PR diffs, mark them binary in .gitattributes:

/e2e/recordings/** binary

Does the proxy <target-url> matter for browser-only (HAR) recording?

No. For browser-only recording the target is irrelevant — the proxy process just needs to run so its /__control endpoint is available for session management. The target only matters when server-side (SSR) requests are also routed through the proxy.

Can I record against the Next.js dev server?

Prefer next build + next start over next dev for recording and replaying. The dev server is slow and can cause timeouts or flaky recordings.

How do I update a recording?

Re-run in record mode (set MODE = 'record' in your fixture, or RECORD_MODE=1) against the real API, then switch back to replay and commit the updated files in e2e/recordings/.