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Playwright Test runs beforeAll once per worker process, not once for the entire test command. When a test fails, Playwright discards that worker and its browser, then starts a replacement worker. The replacement runs beforeAll again. If retries are enabled, it retries the failed test. Any apparent reseeding is caused by your setup code running again; Playwright does not automatically reset or seed your application database.
What happens after a test fails
The sequence explains why setup appears to run twice:
- A test fails in its current worker process.
- Playwright discards the worker process and its browser. Playwright’s Retries documentation states that when a test fails, it discards the entire worker process along with the browser and starts a new one.
- The runner starts a replacement worker. Worker-level setup, including the relevant
beforeAllhook, runs again in that new process. - If retries are configured, the replacement worker retries the failed test before continuing to later tests as appropriate.
Without a failure, tests assigned to a worker run after its beforeAll, and afterAll runs when that worker finishes its work. A failure changes the worker lifecycle: the replacement is a fresh process, so it does not inherit the old process’s in-memory state.
Why data can look reseeded
Playwright restarts its worker; it does not promise to clean, reset, or reseed an application database. If your beforeAll hook or a worker-scoped fixture creates a user, account, record, or other persistent state, that project code may execute again when the replacement worker initializes. The database may still contain changes made by the failed attempt.
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This can lead to duplicate records, unique-key conflicts, or a retry observing state left by the first attempt. Whether that happens depends on your application, the setup code, and the state store. A rerun of beforeAll means the hook ran in a new worker; it does not mean the environment is clean.
Retries, defaults, and serial tests
Retries are opt-in
Playwright retries are disabled by default. The retries configuration option sets the maximum number of retry attempts. With retries enabled, after a failure the replacement worker retries the failed test, then proceeds to later tests when appropriate. Check the configuration used by the command you ran: project-level or command-specific configuration can differ from what you expect.
Serial mode changes the retry unit
In serial mode, a failure skips the remaining tests in that group on that run. If retries are enabled, Playwright retries the group together from its start. This makes shared state and setup particularly consequential: a retry may repeat setup and earlier tests in the group, not just resume at the point of failure. Playwright generally recommends isolated tests because they can run and retry independently. See the official retry guidance.
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Retry strategy depends on Playwright version
The official TestConfig API documents retryStrategy as added in Playwright v1.62. It lists immediate as the default and describes isolated as running retries at the end, one by one in a single worker, to reduce interference at the cost of runtime. This option is version-dependent: verify that the installed Playwright version supports it and consult the current TestConfig API before adding it to configuration.
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Prefer independent tests
Design each test to establish the state it needs and avoid relying on another test’s side effects. Independent tests are easier to retry, run in parallel, and diagnose. Where persistent data must be created, give each test a distinct identity or use a deterministic upsert/cleanup strategy appropriate for the application.
Make seed operations idempotent
A seed routine should tolerate being called more than once. For example, look up a record by a stable test-specific key and update or reuse it rather than blindly inserting another copy. If the operation has external side effects, define how a retry recognizes and safely handles an earlier partial attempt. Use application-specific transactions or cleanup where appropriate; Playwright does not supply a universal database reset.
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Use worker fixtures for worker-owned resources
A worker-scoped fixture is created once for a worker and torn down when that worker ends. It is useful for a resource whose lifetime genuinely belongs to that worker, but it does not survive a worker restart. Its setup and teardown may therefore happen again across a failure recovery. Fixture scope should match the resource lifecycle, not serve as an assumption that setup runs exactly once for the whole test invocation. See the official Fixtures documentation.
Separate parallel data with worker identity carefully
Playwright documents workerIndex and parallelIndex for worker-aware separation. When a worker is restarted, parallelIndex stays the same while workerIndex changes. If names or accounts are derived from worker identity, a retry can occupy the same parallel slot with a new worker index. Choose the identifier deliberately: use the parallel slot when you need to associate work with a slot across restart, and account for the changed worker index when it identifies a particular process. See Parallelism documentation.
Diagnose a repeated setup in your project
- Confirm the hook scope. Find the
beforeAllassociated with the failing test and determine whether it belongs to a file, describe group, or fixture setup. Identify all persistent writes it performs. - Check retry settings. Inspect the active Playwright configuration and invocation for
retries, and check whether tests are running in serial mode. - Trace worker identity. Log a stable test identifier together with
workerIndexandparallelIndexwhere relevant. A changed worker index alongside an unchanged parallel index is consistent with a restarted worker. - Inspect state after the first attempt. Determine whether the failed test or setup already wrote to the database or external service. Do not infer a reset from the fact that the worker was replaced.
- Make the write repeat-safe. Reuse, update, uniquely name, or clean up the test data using a strategy that fits the system, then verify that the retry can safely run after a partial first attempt.
Troubleshooting common symptoms
beforeAlllogs twice after a failure: this is consistent with worker replacement. The hook is once per worker, so a new worker runs it again.- A retry fails with a duplicate-key or already-exists error: the prior attempt may have left persistent state. Make setup idempotent or isolate the data by a suitable test or worker identity.
- Later tests in a serial group did not run: a failure skips the rest of the group for that run. With retries enabled, the group is retried from its start.
- A worker-scoped resource seems to be recreated: worker fixtures are tied to the worker lifetime. A replacement worker creates its own fixture instance.
- Data names change on retry: check whether names use
workerIndex. That value changes when a worker is restarted, whileparallelIndexremains the same. - You expected a retry but none occurred: retries are off by default. Check the effective configuration and confirm that a nonzero retry allowance is set.
Capture an error page as a screenshot
If the failure leaves a useful page open, Playwright can capture it directly. This small TypeScript example records a full-page PNG from the current page; place it in a test failure path where the page fixture is available.
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import { test } from '@playwright/test';
test('checkout shows confirmation', async ({ page }) => {
await page.goto('https://example.com/checkout');
// Test assertions go here.
await page.screenshot({ path: 'checkout.png', fullPage: true });
});For failure-only capture, Playwright’s test fixtures and reporting configuration can attach screenshots to test results; consult the official Screenshots documentation and Test configuration documentation for the installed version. Avoid capturing pages containing credentials, personal data, or secrets into logs accessible to others.
Or skip the browser setup
For a standalone website screenshot rather than a screenshot of the exact in-test browser state, ScreenshotNeo provides a screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request returns an image or PDF; this cURL example saves a WebP image. See the API documentation for parameters.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpCookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before capture; each cleaning step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, failed loads, timeouts, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers report the page verdict and billing status. An MCP server lets AI agents use take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. These captures are for webpages reached by the API, not a substitute for capturing an authenticated or transient state from the Playwright test itself. Sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month with no card.
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Does Playwright rerun every test after one fails?
No. A replacement worker retries the failed test when retries are configured, then continues as appropriate. Serial mode has different group-level behavior.
Does Playwright clean the database when it restarts a worker?
No. Worker replacement restarts runner state, not the application’s persistent data. Cleanup or reseeding behavior comes from your own setup.
Why did my retry use a different worker index?
A restarted worker has a new workerIndex; its parallelIndex remains the same.
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