Creating visual documentation has always been a time-consuming process. As developers and technical writers, we've all experienced the tedious cycle of manually taking screenshots, adding highlights, organizing files, and updating documentation whenever our applications change.
What if I told you there's a way to automate this entire workflow with a single prompt?
The Problem with Manual Screenshot Documentation
Traditional documentation workflows involve:
- Manual navigation through your application
- Individual screenshots at each step
- Post-processing to add highlights and annotations
- File organization and naming
- Repetitive updates when features change
This process can take time for a simple user flow, and it's often the reason documentation gets outdated quickly.
Enter Playwright MCP Server
The Playwright MCP (Model Context Protocol) server changes everything. With one simple prompt, you can generate complete visual documentation automatically.
Here's a simple prompt as an example:
Navigate to the website and fill in the search term for movie.
As you interact with each element, add a red CSS border around
the element and take a screenshot.
That's it. No complex setup, no scripting required.
How It Works
The Playwright MCP server:
- Navigates to your specified website
- Interacts with elements step by step
- Adds CSS highlighting to show user interactions
- Captures screenshots automatically at each step
- Saves organized files with descriptive names
The Technical Magic
Behind the scenes, Playwright MCP uses the evaluate JavaScript tool to inject CSS directly into the page:
element.style.border = '3px solid red';
element.style.borderRadius = '5px';
This creates clear visual indicators of where users should focus their attention.
Real-World Results
In the demonstration, the automated process generated:
- Initial page screenshot - The starting state
- Search element highlighted - Shows where to find the search
- Search input highlighted - Indicates the active input field
- Final search results - The completed user journey
Each screenshot is automatically saved with descriptive filenames, ready to drop into your documentation.
Perfect Use Cases
Workshop Documentation
Create step-by-step visual guides for hands-on workshops without spending hours on manual screenshots.
User Flow Testing
Document complex user journeys for QA teams with consistent visual markers.
Tutorial Creation
Generate professional-looking tutorial assets that highlight exactly where users should click.
Product Documentation
Keep your product docs up-to-date with automated visual guides that regenerate when features change.
Conclusion
Playwright MCP transforms documentation from a time-consuming chore into an automated process. With one simple prompt, you can generate professional visual guides that would traditionally take hours to create manually.
Top comments (1)
Yeah, keeping docs up-to-date is a total grind - especially when your UI’s changing every other week. I’ve tried to make life easier with tools like Docusaurus, Swagger, and GitHub Actions, but honestly taking and updating screenshots manually still eats up way too much time. That’s where Playwright MCP swoops in like a legend. It automates UI snapshots across different flows, user roles, and screen sizes - so your docs stay sharp and way more scalable. I’ve been using it to automate flows like onboarding and dashboards, and even messing around with injecting CSS highlights to guide users visually. Super slick.