Playwright test suites can remain unchanged while reporting results alongside Katalon Studio and manual testing activities in a centralized platform. This was the focus of the webinar Bring Playwright into Katalon True, delivered in two sessions on October 14, 2026.
The webinar focused on how Playwright integrates into a broader testing workflow rather than comparing Playwright with Katalon. Playwright is a free, code-first framework for browser automation that many teams already use. The discussion explored how to centralize test results, improve visibility across teams, manage execution environments, and support release decisions when multiple testing frameworks are involved.
| Session | Time | Audience regions |
|---|---|---|
| APAC | October 14, 06:00 GMT | India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Serbia, Cyprus, and the United States |
| AMER and EU | October 14, 15:00 GMT | Canada, the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and India |
This recap covers the key demonstrations, audience questions, and steps for integration.
The challenges reported by Playwright users generally concern the broader testing workflow rather than the framework itself.
According to the Playwright Practitioner Survey 2026, conducted from July 23 to August 10, 2026, respondents identified the following challenges:
| Challenge | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Lack of a unified view of quality across teams, projects, application types, and frameworks | 52% |
| Limited support for web, API, and mobile testing within a single framework | 45% |
| Limited built-in reporting and analytics | 44% |
During the AMER and EU session, audience votes were evenly split between the first two challenges. Additional concerns included test flakiness caused by race conditions and the learning curve associated with the framework.
Although Playwright provides effective browser automation capabilities, testing teams also need ways to manage test suites, share results with non-technical stakeholders, and determine whether a release is ready. These broader requirements formed the basis of the webinar.
Katalon True serves as a centralized platform for quality management, bringing together requirements, test cases, execution results, evidence, and defects across different testing frameworks.
Katalon Studio provides the desktop IDE for test automation, while Katalon True centralizes execution, reporting, analytics, and test management. Playwright results can now be incorporated into the same platform.
The platform supports three main workflows:
The distinction between Katalon Studio and Katalon True is important. Studio is the automation IDE, whereas Katalon True provides the centralized environment for test execution, reporting, analytics, and management.
Existing Playwright scripts can remain in their current repositories. Teams can choose between uploading results from existing execution environments and running tests directly through Katalon True. Both approaches feed results into the same Test Runs list alongside Katalon Studio results.
| Capability | Upload results | Run from Katalon True |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Install @katalon/playwright-reporter and configure the reporter in playwright.config.ts | Connect the Playwright project as a script repository |
| Execution environment | Local machines or existing CI pipelines | Katalon TestCloud |
| Browser support | Any browser supported by Playwright | Chrome and Chrome headless on Windows and Linux |
| Requirements | Node.js 18 or later and @playwright/test 1.0.0 or later | TypeScript, playwright.config.ts at the repository root, and tests organized inside describe blocks |
| Best suited for | Teams with established pipelines | Teams seeking scheduled execution, managed infrastructure, and browsable test cases |
The recommended starting point is the results-upload approach. It requires only a configuration change and allows teams to begin reviewing centralized reports without changing their existing execution process. Repository integration can be introduced later when managed execution is required.
Source: Playwright Integration - Katalon Documentation.
The first demonstration showed how to integrate Playwright results into Katalon True using a development dependency and a configuration block. A sample Playwright project was executed against a demo banking application, including an intentionally failing test to demonstrate the reporting workflow.
Install @katalon/playwright-reporter and add the reporter configuration to playwright.config.ts.
Without KATALON_API_KEY, reports are written to a local directory. When the API key is configured, results are sent to Katalon True.
Execute the suite using the existing command:
npx playwright test
Tests can run on a developer's machine or through an existing CI pipeline. A separate upload command is also available when results need to be submitted as a distinct pipeline step.
Uploaded runs appear under Executions > History, with the status Uploaded Data. Individual test cases and their execution statuses are displayed in the run details.
The execution overview provides test totals and indicators such as Flakiness, Always Fail, New Failures, and Slow. Linked defects are also available where applicable.
In the reporting section, the Testing Framework filter can be set to Playwright or Katalon. Clearing the filter provides a combined view of Playwright, Katalon Studio, and manual testing results.
The demonstration also covered AI-assisted analysis. A written summary of key results, risks, and recommended focus areas was generated, with supporting data available for verification. Katalon AI Assistant was used to explain the execution, categorize failures by likely cause, and link a failure to a Jira defect. Jira and Azure DevOps are supported for defect management.
This workflow reduces the need to inspect raw test output and traces manually while placing Playwright results alongside other testing activities.
The second approach demonstrated how to move test execution to Katalon TestCloud while retaining Git as the source of truth. Existing Playwright scripts do not need to be rewritten.
Connect a repository hosted on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure Repos, and select Playwright as the test framework.
The platform organizes spec files as folders, describe blocks as test suites, and individual tests as test cases. These test cases can be tagged, prioritized, and linked to requirements.
Create an automated test run, select the required suites, and choose an execution profile. Profiles are derived from the projects configuration in the Playwright configuration file.
Each suite can target its own Chrome version on Windows or Linux, including beta and development channels.
Enable Private/Local Testing to use an existing Katalon Tunnel or IP allowlisting configuration. The existing baseURL can remain unchanged.
Runs can be executed immediately or scheduled for later. They can also be associated with releases or sprints from Jira or Azure DevOps to support traceability.
Cloud executions appear in History with the status Test Cloud, alongside uploaded results.
Execution results retain screenshots, video recordings, trace files, and session logs. Trace files can be opened in Playwright's Trace Viewer, allowing engineers to investigate failures using familiar tooling.
Runs can be repeated, and results can be pushed to Azure DevOps or Xray.
After changes are pushed to Git, select Refresh repository to retrieve new or modified tests. Although periodic refreshes are also performed, a manual refresh is the most reliable way to make recent changes available immediately.
Centralizing results from multiple frameworks provides broader visibility into quality and helps teams make more informed release decisions.
Sources: Playwright Integration and Create Custom Dashboards, Katalon Documentation.
The recommended starting point is to select one Playwright repository with an established, working pipeline.
Before enabling platform execution, verify the current requirements: TypeScript, playwright.config.ts at the repository root, tests organized within describe blocks, and Chrome-based execution on the supported Windows and Linux environments.
The webinar recording is available at Bring Playwright into Katalon True. To explore Katalon True solutions, please read the product information at Katalon True - Governed system of record.