Playwright + BrowserStack: GitHub Actions with Hourly & Nightly Runs

This repo runs Playwright tests on BrowserStack Automate using the browserstack-node-sdk. A GitHub Actions workflow runs the tests on every push/PR, hourly, nightly, and on demand.

Repository layout

Path	Purpose
.github/workflows/browserstack-tests.yml	CI workflow (push, PR, schedules, manual)
browserstack.yml	BrowserStack config: platforms, parallels, build name, credentials
playwright.config.js	Playwright config (tests in module*/**/*.js)
moduleA/, moduleB/, moduleC/	Test files

Step 1: Create your own repository from this template

1. On this repository's GitHub page, click Use this template → Create a new repository. Choose your own organization/account and set visibility to Private. (If you don't see the button, ask the owner to enable Settings → General → Template repository, or download this repo as a ZIP and push it to a new repo you own.)
2. Open your new repository. Everything below (secrets, Actions, schedules) is configured there, not in the template.
3. Optionally clone it locally:

   git clone https://github.com/<your-org>/<your-repo>.git
   cd <your-repo>

Step 2: Add BrowserStack credentials as GitHub secrets

1. Get your Username and Access Key from BrowserStack Account Settings.
2. In GitHub, go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret.
3. Add two secrets:
   • BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME
   • BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY

Credentials are never stored in the code: browserstack.yml reads them from environment variables.

Step 3: Enable GitHub Actions

Open the Actions tab. If prompted, click "I understand my workflows, go ahead and enable them".

Step 4: Run the workflow

Triggers

Trigger	When	Build name on BrowserStack
Push / Pull request	On changes to main	ci-run
Hourly schedule	0 * * * * (minute 0 of every hour, UTC)	hourly-run
Nightly schedule	0 0 * * * (00:00 UTC daily)	nightly-run
Manual	Actions → BrowserStack Playwright Tests → Run workflow	manual-run / hourly-run / nightly-run (chosen input)

Build names appear on the Automate dashboard next to projectName: BrowserStack Samples, with an incrementing #<build number>. Filter by build name to separate hourly, nightly, and CI results.

Changing the schedule

Edit the cron entries under on.schedule in .github/workflows/browserstack-tests.yml. Cron times are UTC. Examples:

• Every 30 minutes: */30 * * * *
• Nightly at 02:30 UTC: 30 2 * * *
• Weekdays only, hourly: 0 * * * 1-5

If you change a cron expression, also update the matching string in the BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME expression so the build label stays correct.

Notes on scheduled workflows

• Schedules only run from the default branch (main).
• GitHub may delay scheduled runs by several minutes during peak load; they are not guaranteed to start exactly on the hour.
• In public repos, schedules are disabled after 60 days of repo inactivity; re-enable them from the Actions tab.

Step 5: View results

• GitHub: Actions tab → select a run → logs and the uploaded test-artifacts-<run id> artifact.
• BrowserStack: Automate dashboard and Test Observability (enabled via testObservability: true) for videos, logs, and screenshots.

Customizing

• Browsers/OS: edit the platforms list in browserstack.yml (full list).
• Parallelism: set parallelsPerPlatform in browserstack.yml. Total parallels = platforms × parallelsPerPlatform. Make sure this fits your BrowserStack plan (calculator).
• Your own tests: add specs under moduleA/, moduleB/, moduleC/ (or change testMatch in playwright.config.js).
• Local/private sites: set browserstackLocal: true in browserstack.yml (docs).

Running locally

export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME=<your-username>
export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=<your-access-key>
export BROWSERSTACK_BUILD_NAME=local-run
npm install
npm run sample-test

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Authentication failed / 401	Re-check the two secrets' names and values
Scheduled run not starting	Confirm workflow is on main and Actions are enabled
Tests queued on BrowserStack	Reduce parallelsPerPlatform/platforms or upgrade parallels
Hourly and nightly overlap at 00:00	Expected; both run, using separate builds