Playwright GitLab CI Setup

Stream Playwright test results from GitLab CI/CD to TestDino live, with sharded jobs grouped into one run.

Stream Playwright test results from GitLab CI/CD to TestDino during the run. Sharded jobs group into one run when they share the same --ci-run-id.

Prerequisites

• A TestDino account with a project created
• A TestDino API key (Generate API Keys)
• A GitLab account with CI/CD pipelines enabled on your repository
• A Playwright test project (or clone the TestDino Example Repository to get started)
• @testdino/playwright installed and configured in playwright.config.ts|js|mjs:

npm install @testdino/playwright

playwright.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';

export default defineConfig({
  reporter: [
    ['@testdino/playwright', {
      token: process.env.TESTDINO_TOKEN,
      serverUrl: "https://reporter.testdino.com",
    }],
  ],
});

Set Up Your API Key

1. Go to your GitLab project
2. Open Settings → CI/CD
3. Expand the Variables section
4. Click Add variable
5. Set the key to TESTDINO_TOKEN
6. Paste your TestDino API key as the value
7. Check Mask variable to hide it from job logs
8. Save the variable

Warning

Never commit your API key directly in pipeline files. Always use CI/CD variables. Masked variables are hidden from job output.

Basic Pipeline Config

For a simple setup without sharding, run your tests with TESTDINO_TOKEN set. Results stream to TestDino during the run, so no separate upload step is needed.

.gitlab-ci.yml: Basic pipeline

.gitlab-ci.yml

image: mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.59.1-noble

variables:
  CI: "true"
  TESTDINO_TOKEN: $TESTDINO_TOKEN
  TESTDINO_SERVER_URL: https://reporter.testdino.com

stages:
  - test

playwright:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx playwright test
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"

Tip

Results stream live even when tests fail, so failures land on the dashboard without a when: always artifact step.

Sharded Test Runs

For larger test suites, the GitLab CI/CD parallel keyword splits tests across multiple jobs. Each shard streams its own results, and TestDino groups them into one run when they share a ci-run-id.

How it works

1. GitLab CI/CD runs Playwright across 4 parallel shards
2. Each shard streams its results to TestDino during the run
3. Every shard passes the same --ci-run-id so TestDino merges them into a single run
4. No merge or upload step runs after the shards finish

Full sharded config

.gitlab-ci.yml: Sharded pipeline

.gitlab-ci.yml

image: mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.59.1-noble

stages:
  - test

variables:
  CI: "true"
  TESTDINO_TOKEN: $TESTDINO_TOKEN
  TESTDINO_SERVER_URL: https://reporter.testdino.com

playwright:
  stage: test
  parallel: 4
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx tdpw test --ci-run-id "$CI_PIPELINE_ID" -- --shard=$CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"

Key details

Config Block	What It Does
parallel: 4	Runs 4 shard jobs in parallel
--shard=$CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL	GitLab provides 1-based index and total count automatically
--ci-run-id "$CI_PIPELINE_ID"	Groups all shards into one run on the dashboard
TESTDINO_TOKEN	Read from the masked CI/CD variable, used by @testdino/playwright to stream results

Set the ciRunId reporter option in playwright.config to $CI_PIPELINE_ID if you prefer running npx playwright test directly instead of npx tdpw test.

Pipeline execution

After the pipeline runs, GitLab shows all shard jobs in the pipeline view. Each shard streams its results, and TestDino merges them into one run.

Results in TestDino

The test run appears in your TestDino dashboard with full failure details, flaky detection, and trend data as tests complete.

Troubleshooting

Results not appearing on the dashboard

Confirm @testdino/playwright is in your playwright.config reporter array and TESTDINO_TOKEN is available to the job. Results stream during the run, so no separate upload step is required.

Sharded runs show up as separate runs

Pass the same --ci-run-id "$CI_PIPELINE_ID" (or ciRunId reporter option) to every shard. Different values create one run per shard.

TESTDINO_TOKEN not available in job

Confirm the variable is set in Settings → CI/CD → Variables. If the variable is marked Protected, it is only available on protected branches.

Related

CI Optimization

Reduce CI time with smart reruns

Environment Mapping

Route test results to Dev, Staging, or Production by branch

Integrations

Connect Slack, Jira, Linear, Asana, and more

GitLab Integration

MR comments and merge request sync