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Runly

Plain-English browser tests for AI agents. MCP-native. Lives in your repo.

npm install -g runly-cli
runly test "open google.com and search playwright"

No dashboard. No subscription. No signup.

What's new in v0.3

  • MCP server — Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf can drive browsers directly through Runly
  • runly import — convert any Playwright .spec.ts / .spec.js to plain English
  • @use modules — reusable test flows with variable overrides
  • verify ai: … — LLM-backed semantic assertions
  • {{faker.*}} — synthetic test data without fixtures

Why Runly

Every browser testing tool today falls into two camps:

Camp 1 — Raw Playwright/Cypress You write 20 lines of boilerplate for every test. Selectors break on every deploy. Debugging is an ordeal.

Camp 2 — Enterprise SaaS $500/month minimum. Tests live in their cloud dashboard, not your repo. You can't grep them, diff them, or review them in a PR.

Runly is camp 3 — Tests-as-code in plain English, driven by your AI.

Feature Raw Playwright Enterprise SaaS Runly
Tests in your repo ✓ ✗ ✓
Plain English ✗ ✓ ✓
Self-healing with AI ✗ ✓ ✓
Semantic AI assertions ✗ ✓ ✓
Reusable modules ✓ ✓ ✓
Callable from Claude Code / Cursor (MCP) ✗ ✗ ✓
Imports existing Playwright tests — ✗ ✓
Free & open source ✓ ✗ ✓
Works offline ✓ ✗ ✓
Git-diffable ✓ ✗ ✓
Pipe to jq ✗ ✗ ✓

Use with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf (MCP)

Runly ships as a Model Context Protocol server. Add it once to your agent's config and your IDE can run browser tests on demand.

~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "runly": { "command": "runly", "args": ["mcp"] }
  }
}

Then in Claude Code:

"Use runly_open_url to smoke-test https://staging.myapp.dev."

Claude calls Runly, the browser opens, the result streams back as a tool response.

Six tools exposed over MCP

Tool Does
runly_test Run one English instruction ("open x.com and verify login visible")
runly_run_file Run a .runly file or directory, with tag/grep filters
runly_list_tests Discover .runly files under a path without running them
runly_inspect Find DOM elements on a page by English description
runly_open_url Quick URL health check (status + title + duration)
runly_last_run Fetch the most recent run's metadata

Migrate from Playwright in 60 seconds

Already have a .spec.ts suite? Convert it:

runly import tests/e2e/

Runly rewrites each page.goto, page.click, page.fill, expect.toBeVisible (and friends) into plain English .runly lines. describe / test nesting is preserved as tags. Lines it can't translate are flagged # TODO (unconverted) — nothing drops silently.

Example round-trip — this .spec.ts:

test('standard user logs in', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://www.saucedemo.com/');
  await page.getByPlaceholder('Username').fill('standard_user');
  await page.getByPlaceholder('Password').fill('secret_sauce');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Login' }).click();
  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/inventory/);
});

…becomes this .runly:

@name: standard user logs in

open https://www.saucedemo.com/
type standard_user in Username
type secret_sauce in Password
click Login button
verify url contains inventory

30-Second Demo

1. Write a test in plain English — save as tests/login.runly:

@name: Login flow works
@tags: critical, auth

open {{site}}/login
type {{user}} in username
type {{pass}} in password
click sign in button
verify dashboard is visible

2. Run it:

runly run tests/ --vars '{"site":"https://app.acme.dev","user":"admin","pass":"secret"}'

3. See results:

  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Suite Results   1 passed, 0 failed, 3829ms total
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

   1. ✓ Login flow works                     3829ms [critical,auth]

   ALL PASSED    1/1 tests

4. Commit the test file to your repo. Review it in PR diffs. Grep it. Diff it. Like any other code.

Installation

npm install -g runly-cli
npx playwright install chromium
runly doctor                     # verify setup

That's the full install. No accounts. No config files. No cloud services.

Quick Start

One-off test

runly test "open google.com and search playwright"

Test files in your repo

my-app/
├── src/
└── tests/
    ├── login.runly
    ├── checkout.runly
    └── smoke.runly

runly run tests/                         # all tests
runly run tests/ --tag critical          # filter by tag
runly run tests/ --parallel 4            # run 4 at a time
runly run tests/login.runly              # single file
runly run tests/ --grep "login|auth"     # filter by content

Interactive REPL

runly              # drops into a shell with history, tab-completion,
                   # and a persistent browser pool for instant reruns

In GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/test.yml
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: ritikpal1122/Runly@v1
        with:
          tests: tests/

Pipe to jq / scripts

# NDJSON output for scripting
runly run tests/ --json | jq '.results[] | select(.success == false)'

The .runly Format

Plain text. One instruction per line. Metadata lines start with @. Comments start with #.

# Tests the entire signup flow
@name: Signup flow works
@tags: auth, critical, signup
@timeout: 30
@retry: 2

open {{site_url}}/signup
type {{email}} in email field
type {{password}} in password field
click create account button
verify welcome message is visible
verify url contains /dashboard

Multiple tests in one file

Separate with ---:

@name: Homepage loads
open example.com
verify Example Domain

---

@name: Title is correct
open example.com
verify title contains Example

Reusable modules (@use)

Keep shared flows DRY. login.runly:

@name: Login module

open {{site}}/login
type {{user}} in username field
type {{pass}} in password field
click sign in button

checkout.runly:

@name: Checkout
@tags: critical, e2e

@use login.runly with user=admin pass=secret site=https://staging.app

click add to cart for the premium plan
click checkout button
verify order confirmation is visible

@use inlines the module's steps with your variable overrides, and detects cycles if two modules reference each other.

AI assertions (verify ai: …)

When exact text matching is too brittle, ask the LLM to make the call:

open https://shop.example/cart

verify ai: the cart total equals the sum of all item prices plus tax
verify ai: a promo banner with this month's discount is visible
verify ai: no error messages are shown anywhere on the page

On each verify ai: step, Runly snapshots the DOM, asks Claude for a strict pass/fail verdict with reasoning, and logs the evidence.

Synthetic data (Faker)

Any {{faker.*}} expression resolves at interpolation time:

type {{faker.person.firstName}} in first name
type {{faker.internet.email}} in email
type {{faker.location.zipCode}} in zip
type {{faker.phone.number}} in phone

Variables

Use {{variable}} syntax. Values come from:

  1. --vars '{"key":"value"}' inline
  2. --vars-file path/to/vars.json
  3. ~/.runly/vars/*.json global defaults
  4. {{faker.*}} synthetic values
  5. @use inline with overrides

Features

Core

  • English parser — converts natural language into atomic test steps
  • 12-strategy selector engine — finds elements by testid, role, text, label, placeholder, alt, title, and more
  • Session reuse — auto-saves login state per domain (skip login on next run)
  • Persistent browser pool — 10× faster than launching fresh (~50 ms reconnect vs ~2 s launch)
  • Variable substitution — {{site}}, {{faker.*}}, and @use with overrides
  • Tag filtering — --tag critical runs only what matters
  • Parallel execution — --parallel 4 runs tests simultaneously
  • Retry on flake — --retry 3 auto-retries failures

AI mode (optional)

When ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set, Runly becomes agentic:

  • Smart parsing — complex English decomposed into atomic steps
  • DOM-aware element finding — Claude picks the right selector when the regex fallback can't
  • Self-healing — on step failure, Claude diagnoses and retries with an alternative
  • Semantic assertions — verify ai: … routes to Claude with a DOM snapshot
  • Learning cache — successful heals are cached so future runs are free and fast

AI mode is completely optional. Runly works great without it.

MCP server

  • stdio transport — one-line config in Claude Code / Cursor / any MCP client
  • Six tools — test, run_file, list_tests, inspect, open_url, last_run
  • Zero state — same local browser + reports as the CLI

Output

  • Terminal — colored step-by-step results with a summary badge
  • JSON — full report at output/reports/report-{timestamp}.json
  • Screenshots — output/screenshots/result-*.png and failure-*.png
  • Auto-generated Playwright specs — every runly test / runly run emits standalone .spec.js next to the report
  • HTML dashboard — runly report generates a pretty view of all past runs
  • NDJSON — --json flag for piping into jq, shell scripts, or CI systems

Commands

runly                     # Interactive REPL
runly run <path>          # Run .runly test files
runly test "..."          # One-off test from English
runly import <spec.ts>    # Convert Playwright specs to .runly
runly mcp                 # Start MCP server (for Claude Code etc.)
runly watch "..."         # Re-run at intervals
runly inspect <url>       # Find elements on a page
runly diff A.json B.json  # Compare two runs
runly report              # HTML dashboard
runly record [url]        # Record user actions into an instruction
runly replay last         # Re-run last test
runly sessions            # Manage saved auth sessions
runly doctor              # Health check
runly auth sk-ant-...     # Enable AI mode
runly serve               # HTTP API server

Philosophy

Tests should live in your repo, not someone else's dashboard.

When tests are in your repo:

  • You can git-diff them
  • You can review them in PRs
  • You can grep them
  • You can refactor them like any other code
  • You can version them alongside the code they test
  • You own them forever

When tests are in a SaaS dashboard:

  • They disappear when your subscription lapses
  • You can't diff them across branches
  • You can't review them in PRs
  • You're locked in
  • You pay per seat

Runly takes Camp 1's ownership and adds Camp 2's ergonomics — and makes the result addressable by your AI agent.

FAQ

Is this production-ready? Yes for small/medium projects. For enterprise needs (SOC 2, on-prem, SSO), you'll want a cloud test platform.

Does it work with React/Vue/Angular? Yes. Runly uses Playwright under the hood — any SPA framework works.

Do I need an Anthropic API key? No for core usage. The regex parser handles most common patterns. AI mode is optional and only improves complex flows, self-healing, and verify ai: assertions.

How does it compare to Playwright codegen? Playwright codegen needs a GUI and produces verbose code. Runly is text-first and produces plain-English .runly files that humans read and edit. Runly also imports Playwright tests in the other direction via runly import.

Can I export back to Playwright code? Yes. Every runly test / runly run auto-emits a standalone .spec.js in output/specs/. Opt out with --no-spec.

What about mobile? Not yet. Currently Chromium / Firefox / WebKit on desktop. Mobile via Appium is planned.

Does it support visual regression? Yes — runly test "..." --baseline saves a baseline, --diff compares against it.

Does it work from Cursor / Windsurf? Yes. Both support MCP. Same runly mcp config.

Contributing

Runly is MIT-licensed. The codebase is ~7000 LOC and organized by concern:

src/
  parser/       # Regex tokenizer + action map
  importer/     # Playwright → .runly converter
  ai/           # Claude client, prompts, healer, assertions
  runner/       # Playwright execution + session store + browser pool
  mcp/          # MCP stdio server + tool handlers
  commands/     # CLI commands
  utils/        # Logger, config, paths

See skills/runly.md for a complete architectural reference.

License

MIT

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