#Introduction

ferridriver is browser automation written in Rust with a Playwright-shaped API. A single core crate (ferridriver) implements Browser, BrowserContext, Page, Frame, Locator, ElementHandle. Everything above it — the test runner, the BDD framework, the MCP server, the NAPI binding — is a thin translator over that core. There is no second implementation, no JSON-RPC sidecar.

#What ships

#Why ferridriver

If you're on Rust. Your app is Rust, your CI is Rust, your team writes Rust. Running Playwright means standing up a Node toolchain you do not otherwise need. ferridriver is the same Playwright-shaped API in the language you ship in. Tests live next to the code they cover.

If you're on JS. @ferridriver/node is a thin typed browser API. The Rust engine handles the hot path (selector compilation, auto-wait polling, CDP transport), so the NAPI surface is low-overhead. Drive a browser directly, or write Gherkin features whose step bodies are JavaScript / TypeScript and run them with ferridriver bdd.

If you're both. Write Rust #[ferritest] tests and Gherkin features whose step bodies are Rust or TypeScript — same engine, same backend, same reporters, driven by the single ferridriver binary.

#What's in the box

• One engine, multiple frontends. Test runner, BDD framework, MCP server, and NAPI binding all dispatch to the same Browser::launch and Page::click.
• Four backends behind one API. CDP over pipes (default), CDP over WebSocket, Playwright WebKit (cross-platform), and Firefox over WebDriver BiDi.
• Auto-waiting. Actionability checks before every action; Playwright polling schedule (100, 250, 500, 1000 ms) on every assertion.
• Parallel test execution. One browser per worker, fresh context per test, MPMC work-stealing dispatch.
• Everything you expect. Fixtures, hooks, retries with flaky detection, text and pixel snapshots, video, Playwright-compatible traces, terminal / HTML / JSON / JUnit / Cucumber Messages reporters.

#Where to go next

• Installation — install the CLI and a browser.
• Quickstart — a running example in Rust or TypeScript.
• Architecture — how the engine, runner, and backends fit together.
• Migrating from Playwright — honest delta, including current gaps.