26. Test Lifecycle Hooks & Clean Isolation

The Test Lifecycle

import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";
test.describe("User Profile Suite", () => {
  test.beforeAll(async () => {
    // Runs once before ALL tests in this describe block (e.g. seed test DB)
    console.log("Suite initialization");
  });
test.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => {
    // Runs before EACH test. Excellent for common navigation.
    await page.goto("/profile");
  });
test.afterEach(async ({ page }) => {
    // Runs after EACH test. Good for reporting or cleanup.
  });
test.afterAll(async () => {
    // Runs once after ALL tests finish.
    console.log("Suite teardown");
  });
test("can edit display name", async ({ page }) => {
    await page.getByLabel("Name").fill("Dhanu");
    await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Save" }).click();
  });
});

---

Fixtures vs Hooks

| Criterion | Hooks (beforeEach) | Fixtures | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Execution | Always runs for every test in file | Runs ONLY if requested by test params | | Data Sharing | Requires outer-scope let variables | Clean return via use(data) | | Reusability | File-bound (hard to share across files) | Globally shareable across entire repo |