What is a browser context in Playwright?

A browser context is an isolated, incognito-like browser profile with its own cookies, storage and pages, running inside one browser. You can open several in one test to act as different users at the same time.

This answer is one piece of Chapter 25: Frames, Tabs, Files and Login State.

Working with Iframes & Shadow DOM
Multiple Tabs, Windows & Popups
File Uploads, Downloads & Screenshots
Authentication & Storage State
Practice and interview questions: Advanced Playwright Techniques

Playwright's docs describe contexts as "equivalent to incognito-like profiles" and say they "are fast and cheap to create and are completely isolated, even when running in a single browser." Launching a browser is slow; a context is quick, which is why Playwright can give every test a new one.

Most of the time you never create one yourself. The page fixture already belongs to a fresh context the runner made for that test. You reach for browser.newContext() when one test needs two separate people, such as a manager and a customer, or an admin and a user.

In the example, the test opens two contexts. The manager's page uses ?autologin=1, so it is signed in and sees the grinder's price, ₹11,900. The visitor's page has no sign-in and sees Sign in for pricing on the same card. Sign-in on this app is kept in local storage, and the two contexts do not share it, so each sees its own version of the page. The test closes both contexts at the end, because it created them.

context.spec.js(https://practice.learnplayforge.com)

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('a signed-in and a signed-out visitor at the same time', async ({ browser }) => {
  const managerContext = await browser.newContext();
  const visitorContext = await browser.newContext();
  const manager = await managerContext.newPage();
  const visitor = await visitorContext.newPage();

  await manager.goto('/catalog.html?mock=static&seed=42&autologin=1');
  await visitor.goto('/catalog.html?mock=static&seed=42');

  const price = (page) =>
    page.locator('article[data-sku="MRD-1003"]').getByTestId('product-price');
  await expect(price(manager)).toHaveText('₹11,900');
  await expect(price(visitor)).toHaveText('Sign in for pricing');

  await managerContext.close();
  await visitorContext.close();
});

Output

1 passed (2.5s)

Test yourself

Two contexts are opened in one test. The first signs in. What does the second see?

Practised in the full course: the drill Auth: Signed Out.

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What is a browser context in Playwright?

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