Instead of sending accessibility tree snapshots on every action, Claude just writes Playwright code and runs it. You get back screenshots and console output. That's it.
314 lines of instructions vs a persistent MCP server. Full API docs only load if Claude needs them.
Same browser automation, way less overhead. Works as a Claude Code plugin or manual install.
Token limit issue: https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp/issues/889
Claude Skills docs: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills
If you're willing to have Claude write code to test a thing you could do a teeny bit more work and make that Playwright script a permanent part of your codebase. Then, the script can run in your CI on every build, and you can keep enhancing it as your product changes so it keeps proving that area of your product works as desired.
Have it run inside a harness that spins up its own server & stack (DB etc.) and boom - you now have an end-to-end test suite!