playwriter logfile

Print the paths to the relay server log files. Useful for debugging connection issues and inspecting CDP traffic.

playwriter logfile

Returns

Prints two log file paths to stdout:

relay: /Users/you/.playwriter/relay.log
cdp: /Users/you/.playwriter/cdp.jsonl

Log Files

relay.log

file

Main relay server log file containing:

Server startup/shutdown events
Extension connection status
Error messages and warnings
Session lifecycle events

cdp.jsonl

file

Chrome DevTools Protocol event log in JSONL format (one JSON object per line):

All CDP commands sent between extension, CLI, MCP, and relay
CDP events from the browser
Request/response pairs
Direction indicators (client→server, server→client)

Exit Codes

0 - Always succeeds

Examples

playwriter logfile

CDP Log Format

Each line in cdp.jsonl is a JSON object with this structure:

{
  "timestamp": "2024-03-02T10:30:45.123Z",
  "direction": "client->server",
  "message": {
    "id": 1,
    "method": "Page.navigate",
    "params": {
      "url": "https://example.com"
    }
  }
}

timestamp

string

ISO 8601 timestamp of the event

direction

string

Message flow direction:

client->server - Command from MCP/CLI to extension
server->client - Response or event from extension

message

object

The CDP message object containing id, method, and params

Common Use Cases

Debug connection issues

# Check if extension is connected
grep "connected" $(playwriter logfile | grep relay | cut -d' ' -f2)

Analyze CDP traffic

# See all CDP methods used
jq -r '.message.method // "response"' ~/.playwriter/cdp.jsonl | sort | uniq

Find failed commands

# Search for errors in CDP responses
jq 'select(.message.error)' ~/.playwriter/cdp.jsonl

Monitor real-time CDP events

# Watch CDP events as they happen
tail -f ~/.playwriter/cdp.jsonl | jq -r '.direction + " " + (.message.method // "response")'

CLI Commands

Runtime API

MCP Tools

Programmatic API

playwriter logfile