Playwright GitLab CI Setup - TestDino Documentation

What you’ll learn

How to upload Playwright results from GitLab CI/CD to TestDino
How to configure sharded test runs with merged reporting

Set up a GitLab CI/CD pipeline to upload Playwright test results to TestDino and view aggregated analytics, failure analysis, and flaky test detection on your dashboard. This guide covers a basic pipeline, sharded pipeline for parallel test execution across multiple shards, and merged reporting.

Prerequisites

Before setting up, ensure you have:

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)
Playwright configured with JSON and HTML reporters in playwright.config.js:

playwright.config.js

// ...existing config

reporter: [
  ['html', { outputDir: './playwright-report' }],  // Optional
  ['json', { outputFile: './playwright-report/report.json' }],  // ✅ Required
]

Set Up Your API Key

Go to your GitLab project
Open Settings → CI/CD
Expand the Variables section
Click Add variable
Set the key to TESTDINO_TOKEN
Paste your TestDino API key as the value
Check Mask variable to hide it from job logs
Save the variable

WarningNever 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, add the upload step after your Playwright tests.

.gitlab-ci.yml — Basic pipeline

.gitlab-ci.yml

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

variables:
  CI: "true"

stages:
  - test

playwright:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx playwright test
    - npx tdpw upload ./playwright-report --token="$TESTDINO_TOKEN"
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - playwright-report/
      - test-results/
    expire_in: 14 days
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"

TipThe artifacts: when: always ensures test results are saved even if tests fail.

Upload Options

Flag	Description	Default
`--environment <value>`	Target environment tag (staging, production, qa)	unknown
`--tag <values>`	Comma-separated run tags for categorization (max 5)	None
`--upload-images`	Upload image attachments	false
`--upload-videos`	Upload video attachments	false
`--upload-html`	Upload HTML reports	false
`--upload-traces`	Upload trace files	false
`--upload-files`	Upload file attachments (.md, .pdf, .txt, .log)	false
`--upload-full-json`	Upload all attachments	false
`--json`	Output results as JSON to stdout (for CI/CD)	false
`-v, --verbose`	Enable verbose logging	false

Sharded Test Runs

For larger test suites, GitLab CI/CD parallel keyword splits tests across multiple jobs. Each shard produces a blob report that gets merged before uploading to TestDino.

How it works

GitLab CI/CD runs Playwright across 4 parallel shards
Each shard saves its blob report as a job artifact
A separate merge-report job collects all blob reports, merges them into a single report.json, and uploads to TestDino
The merge job runs even if some shards fail (when: always)

Full sharded config

.gitlab-ci.yml — Sharded pipeline

.gitlab-ci.yml

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

stages:
  - test
  - report

variables:
  CI: "true"

playwright:
  stage: test
  parallel: 4
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx playwright test --shard=$CI_NODE_INDEX/$CI_NODE_TOTAL
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - blob-report/
      - test-results/
    expire_in: 14 days
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"

merge-report:
  stage: report
  when: always
  needs:
    - job: playwright
      artifacts: true
  script:
    - npm ci
    - mkdir -p merged-blob-reports playwright-report
    - find . -type f -path "*/blob-report/*.zip" -exec cp {} merged-blob-reports/ \;
    - npx playwright merge-reports --reporter=json ./merged-blob-reports > playwright-report/report.json
    - npx tdpw upload ./playwright-report --token="$TESTDINO_TOKEN"
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - playwright-report/
    expire_in: 14 days

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
`artifacts: when: always`	Saves blob reports even if shards fail
`needs: - job: playwright`	Downloads artifacts from all parallel shard jobs
`when: always` on merge job	Ensures merge and upload run regardless of shard outcomes

Pipeline execution

After the pipeline runs, GitLab shows all shard jobs and the merge stage in the pipeline view. GitLab pipeline view showing 4 parallel playwright shard jobs in the test stage and a passing merge-report job in the report stage

GitLab pipeline view showing 4 parallel playwright shard jobs in the test stage and a passing merge-report job in the report stage

Results in TestDino

Once uploaded, the test run appears in your TestDino dashboard with full failure details, flaky detection, and trend data. TestDino Test Runs dashboard showing uploaded results from GitLab CI pipeline with pass/fail counts and AI Insights

TestDino Test Runs dashboard showing uploaded results from GitLab CI pipeline with pass/fail counts and AI Insights

Rerun Failed Tests

Cache test metadata to enable selective reruns:

.gitlab-ci.yml

playwright:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx playwright test
    - npx tdpw cache --token="$TESTDINO_TOKEN"
    - npx tdpw upload ./playwright-report --token="$TESTDINO_TOKEN" --upload-full-json
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - playwright-report/

Rerun only failed tests on the next run:

.gitlab-ci.yml

rerun-failed:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - FAILED=$(npx tdpw last-failed --token="$TESTDINO_TOKEN")
    - |
      if [ -n "$FAILED" ]; then
        npx playwright test $FAILED
      else
        echo "No failed tests found."
      fi
  when: manual

For advanced rerun strategies, caching patterns, and CI optimization techniques, see CI Optimization.

Troubleshooting

Upload step skipped after test failure

Ensure artifacts: when: always is set on the test job so blob reports are saved on failure. The merge-report job must use when: always to run regardless of shard outcomes.

report.json not found

Verify your playwright.config.js includes both HTML and JSON reporters with HTML listed first. For sharded runs, ensure blob reports are listed in the test job artifacts: paths.

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.

Next Steps

CI Optimization

Reduce CI time with smart reruns

Branch Mapping

Map branches to environments for organized test runs

Integrations

Connect Slack, Jira, Linear, Asana, and more

GitLab Integration

MR comments and merge request sync

​Prerequisites

​Set Up Your API Key

​Basic Pipeline Config

​Upload Options

​Sharded Test Runs

​How it works

​Full sharded config

​Key details

​Pipeline execution

​Results in TestDino

​Rerun Failed Tests

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

CI Optimization

Branch Mapping

Integrations

GitLab Integration

Prerequisites

Set Up Your API Key

Basic Pipeline Config

Upload Options

Sharded Test Runs

How it works

Full sharded config

Key details

Pipeline execution

Results in TestDino

Rerun Failed Tests

Troubleshooting

Next Steps