Reuse Auth State in Playwright

From the Playwright cheat sheet · Authentication & Storage State · verified Jul 2026

Reuse Auth State

Log in once and share the session across multiple tests

typescript
// auth.setup.ts — runs once before all tests
import { test as setup, expect } from '@playwright/test';

const authFile = 'playwright/.auth/user.json';

setup('authenticate', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/login');
  await page.getByLabel('Email').fill('user@test.com');
  await page.getByLabel('Password').fill('password');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Log in' }).click();
  await page.waitForURL('/dashboard');
  await page.context().storageState({ path: authFile });
});
💡 storageState saves cookies and localStorage — tests start already logged in
⚡ The setup project runs once, then all dependent projects reuse the saved auth state
📌 Add playwright/.auth/ to .gitignore — auth state files contain session tokens
🟢 Use dependencies in config to ensure setup runs before authenticated test projects
authloginstorage-state
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