Browser QA — Automated Visual Testing & Interaction
When to Use
- After deploying a feature to staging/preview
- When you need to verify UI behavior across pages
- Before shipping — confirm layouts, forms, interactions actually work
- When reviewing PRs that touch frontend code
- Accessibility audits and responsive testing
How It Works
Uses the browser automation MCP (claude-in-chrome, Playwright, or Puppeteer) to interact with live pages like a real user.
Safety first — blast radius (run read-only by default)
Browser QA drives real auth and real user journeys, so treat the blast radius explicitly. Default to read-only: never run a mutating journey (checkout, payment, delete, mass-update) against a production URL — require an explicit opt-in and a staging/preview URL. Use seeded test credentials, never real production logins, and redact credentials/tokens/PII before saving any screenshot.
Phase 1: Smoke Test
1. Navigate to target URL
2. Check for console errors (filter noise: analytics, third-party)
3. Verify no 4xx/5xx in network requests
4. Screenshot above-the-fold on desktop + mobile viewport
5. Check Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s, C…