Bun: run Playwright specs with the Playwright runner

Problem

In Bun-based repos it is easy to run a Playwright spec with the wrong runner. Passed to bun test, a file that defines Playwright tests is treated as a Bun unit-test file instead of going to Playwright Test. The suite fails before any test runs, with an error that points somewhere else.

Trigger conditions

All of these hold:

• The repo uses Bun for package management and scripts.
• The test file imports from @playwright/test.
• It was run with something like bun test path/to/file.spec.ts.
• The failure looks like:

Playwright Test did not expect test() to be called here.
Most common reasons include:
- You are calling test() in a configuration file.
- You are calling test() in a file that is imported by the configuration file.
- You have two different versions of @playwright/test.

The message invites you to chase duplicate dependencies or bad imports when the only problem is the runner.

Solution

1. Confirm the file is a Playwright spec, not a Bun unit test: it imports from @playwright/test and uses fixtures such as page or request.
2. Don't run it with bun test.
3. Run the Playwright CLI through Bun's package runner:

bunx playwright test path/to/file.spec.ts

4. To pick specific tests, use Playwright's flags, not Bun's (-t is a Bun flag):

bunx playwright test "path/to/file.spec.ts" --grep "test name"

5. Keep using Bun for installs and scripts; use the Playwright CLI for Playwright suites. A package.json script such as "e2e": "playwright test" (run with bun run e2e) stops the mistake from recurring.

Verification

• The test() error is gone.
• Playwright reports the expected number of tests (Running N tests using M workers).
• The run ends with Playwright's normal summary (N passed).

Example

Wrong:

bun test tests/checkout.e2e.spec.ts -t "applies discount"
# error: Playwright Test did not expect test() to be called here.

Right:

bunx playwright test tests/checkout.e2e.spec.ts --grep "applies discount"
# 1 passed

Notes

• This is about runner choice, not a broken Playwright install.
• bunx is Bun's equivalent of npx or pnpm exec for package CLIs, and it honours Node shebangs, so bunx playwright ... runs the Playwright CLI as intended.
• If the error persists under bunx playwright test, then look at the usual Playwright causes: two versions of @playwright/test, or test() called from a file the config imports.
• To keep bun test from picking up e2e specs at all, keep them in a folder Bun's runner doesn't scan, or point bun test at your unit-test paths explicitly.

References

• https://playwright.dev/docs/intro
• https://bun.sh/docs/pm/bunx
• https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/38343