# Browser Session Management

Manage isolated browser sessions with state persistence. In 5chan, keep only one session active machine-wide and use the shared wrapper for the open/close lifecycle.

```bash
./scripts/pw-session.sh open verify-chrome https://5chan.localhost --browser=chrome
playwright-cli -s=verify-chrome snapshot
./scripts/pw-session.sh close verify-chrome
```

## Named Browser Sessions

Use `-b` flag to isolate browser contexts:

```bash
# Browser 1: Authentication flow
playwright-cli -s=auth open https://app.example.com/login

# Browser 2: Public browsing (separate cookies, storage)
playwright-cli -s=public open https://example.com

# Commands are isolated by browser session
playwright-cli -s=auth fill e1 "user@example.com"
playwright-cli -s=public snapshot
```

## Browser Session Isolation Properties

Each browser session has independent:
- Cookies
- LocalStorage / SessionStorage
- IndexedDB
- Cache
- Browsing history
- Open tabs

## Browser Session Commands

```bash
# List all browser sessions
playwright-cli list

# Stop a browser session (close the browser)
playwright-cli close                # stop the default browser
playwright-cli -s=mysession close   # stop a named browser

# Stop all browser sessions
playwright-cli close-all

# Forcefully kill all daemon processes (for stale/zombie processes)
playwright-cli kill-all

# Delete browser session user data (profile directory)
playwright-cli delete-data                # delete default browser data
playwright-cli -s=mysession delete-data   # delete named browser data
```

## Environment Variable

Set a default browser session name via environment variable:

```bash
export PLAYWRIGHT_CLI_SESSION="mysession"
playwright-cli open example.com  # Uses "mysession" automatically
```

## Common Patterns

### Sequential Cross-Browser Verification

```bash
#!/bin/bash
# Keep one browser active at a time, machine-wide.

for engine in chrome firefox webkit; do
  session="verify-$engine"
  ./scripts/pw-session.sh open "$session" https://5chan.localhost --browser="$engine"
  playwright-cli -s="$session" snapshot
  ./scripts/pw-session.sh close "$session"
done
```

### A/B Testing Sessions

```bash
# Test different user experiences
playwright-cli -s=variant-a open "https://app.com?variant=a"
playwright-cli -s=variant-b open "https://app.com?variant=b"

# Compare
playwright-cli -s=variant-a screenshot
playwright-cli -s=variant-b screenshot
```

### Persistent Profile

By default, browser profile is kept in memory only. Use `--persistent` flag on `open` to persist the browser profile to disk:

```bash
# Use persistent profile (auto-generated location)
playwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent

# Use persistent profile with custom directory
playwright-cli open https://example.com --profile=/path/to/profile
```

## Default Browser Session

When `-s` is omitted, commands use the default browser session:

```bash
# These use the same default browser session
playwright-cli open https://example.com
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli close  # Stops default browser
```

## Browser Session Configuration

Configure a browser session with specific settings when opening:

```bash
# Open with config file
playwright-cli open https://example.com --config=.playwright/my-cli.json

# Open with specific browser
playwright-cli open https://example.com --browser=firefox

# Open in headed mode
playwright-cli open https://example.com --headed

# Open with persistent profile
playwright-cli open https://example.com --persistent
```

## Best Practices

### 1. Name Browser Sessions Semantically

```bash
# GOOD: Clear purpose
playwright-cli -s=github-auth open https://github.com
playwright-cli -s=docs-scrape open https://docs.example.com

# AVOID: Generic names
playwright-cli -s=s1 open https://github.com
```

### 2. Always Clean Up

```bash
# Stop browsers when done
playwright-cli -s=auth close
playwright-cli -s=scrape close

# Do not use these global commands while concurrent agents may own sessions.
# Stop all at once
playwright-cli close-all

# If browsers become unresponsive or zombie processes remain
playwright-cli kill-all
```

### 3. Delete Stale Browser Data

```bash
# Remove old browser data to free disk space
playwright-cli -s=oldsession delete-data
```