Browser mode (experimental)

Rstest provides Browser Mode, allowing you to run tests in a real browser instead of simulated environments like jsdom or happy-dom.

What is browser Mode?

Browser Mode uses Playwright to execute your test code in real browsers (Chromium, Firefox, or WebKit). This means your tests run with the exact same browser APIs and behaviors as in production.

Locator API

Browser Mode now supports a Playwright-style Locator workflow: you can use page.getBy* for element queries, then use expect.element(locator) for auto-waiting assertions.

This approach is ideal when you want semantic queries (role/label/text) and chainable assertions, making component tests and DOM tests closer to real user interaction semantics.

See User interactions for detailed usage.

When to use browser mode

Use this decision tree to determine if you need Browser Mode:

Depends on real browser APIs? ─── Yes ─▶ ✅ Browser Mode
         │ No
         ▼
Need cross-browser testing?  ─── Yes ─▶ ✅ Browser Mode
         │ No
         ▼
Unexpected behavior in jsdom? ── Yes ─▶ ✅ Browser Mode
         │ No
         ▼
    💡 jsdom is fine

Recommendation

Even if your tests work fine in jsdom, we still recommend using Browser Mode. See the comparison table below for specific advantages.

Browser mode vs jsdom/happy-dom

Browser Mode and jsdom/happy-dom represent different trade-offs: Browser Mode provides full browser compatibility and visual debugging but consumes more resources; jsdom/happy-dom runs faster and lighter but can only simulate a subset of browser APIs.

Feature	Browser Mode	jsdom / happy-dom
Browser API coverage	✅ Full support	⚠️ Partial simulation
Canvas / WebGL	✅ Native support	❌ Unsupported or needs polyfill
CSS computed styles	✅ Real rendering	⚠️ Limited support
Web Workers	✅ Native support	❌ Unsupported
Execution speed	⚠️ Slower	✅ Faster
Resource usage	⚠️ Higher	✅ Lower
Debugging experience	✅ Visual debugging	⚠️ Console only
Cross-browser testing	✅ Multiple browsers	❌ Unsupported

Next steps

Getting started - Configure and run your first browser test
User interactions - Use page + expect.element for semantic tests
Framework guides - Complete configuration and component testing examples for each framework
User interactions - Simulate user clicks, typing, and other actions

#Browser mode (experimental)

#What is browser Mode?

#Locator API

#When to use browser mode

#Browser mode vs jsdom/happy-dom