Playwright: Wait for Page to Load After Click (Complete Guide)

When automating browser interactions using Playwright, a common challenge is waiting for a page to fully load after a click. This guide explains best practices, offers code examples, compares wait strategies, and provides recommended solutions.

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Playwright: Wait for Page to Load After Click (Complete Guide)

When automating browser interactions using Playwright, a common challenge is waiting for a page to fully load after a click. This guide explains best practices, offers code examples, compares wait strategies, and provides recommended solutions.

🔥 Quick Answer

Use Playwright's built-in mechanisms like page.waitForNavigation() immediately after a click:

await Promise.all([
  page.waitForNavigation(), // Wait for the page to load
  page.click('a#my-link'),  // Perform the click
]);

🚦 Why You Need to Wait After Click

Modern web apps often use:

• Full-page navigation
• Client-side routing (SPA)
• AJAX/fetch/XHR updates

If you don’t wait properly, you might interact with elements that don’t exist yet or have outdated data.

✅ Best Ways to Wait After Click in Playwright

🧪 Solution 1: waitForNavigation() (Recommended for Full Page Loads)

await Promise.all([
  page.waitForNavigation({ waitUntil: 'load' }),
  page.click('text=Go to Dashboard'),
]);

• ✅ Ensures navigation completes
• 🔒 Use Promise.all() to avoid race conditions

🧪 Solution 2: waitForURL() (SPA or Dynamic Routes)

await Promise.all([
  page.waitForURL('**/dashboard'),
  page.click('text=Dashboard'),
]);

• ✅ Best for client-side routing (SPA)
• 💡 Use wildcard URL patterns

🧪 Solution 3: waitForLoadState()

await page.click('text=Profile');
await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle');

• ✅ Simple for most cases
• ⚠️ May fail in SPAs (no load event triggered)

🧪 Solution 4: locator.waitFor() (Wait for Element After Click)

await page.click('text=Submit');
await page.locator('#success-message').waitFor();

• ✅ Best for AJAX-based updates
• 🚫 Doesn’t handle navigation

🧪 Solution 5: Wait for Specific Network Request

await Promise.all([
  page.waitForResponse(response =>
    response.url().includes('/api/dashboard') && response.status() === 200
  ),
  page.click('text=Dashboard'),
]);

• ✅ Perfect for waiting on AJAX/XHR
• 🕵️ Use .url() and .status() to target the request

🧠 Tips and Best Practices

• Always use Promise.all() to start click and wait in parallel
• Use waitUntil: 'load', 'domcontentloaded', or 'networkidle' as needed
• Debug timing issues with DEBUG=pw:api or --slowMo

🧰 Comparison Table

🧩 Which Should You Use?

🏁 Conclusion

Playwright offers flexible tools to handle page transitions after clicks. Choose the best approach based on your app's architecture: whether it's an SPA, MPA, or hybrid.

For full reliability:

• Use Promise.all() for parallel waiting
• Combine strategies if needed (e.g., waitForURL() + waitForResponse())