Documentation

Observer Documentation

Welcome to the Observer documentation. Observer is a test observability system for Playwright pipelines that ingests execution events over gRPC, processes them through NATS JetStream, and exposes run data through a REST API and Web UI.

Getting Started

New to Observer? Start here:

Getting Started Guide - Quick start guide to get Observer up and running
Installation - Deployment instructions for Docker and Kubernetes/Helm
Architecture - Understanding Observer’s distributed architecture
Integrations - Connect Observer with Playwright and your CI/CD pipeline
Playwright Reporter - Detailed guide for the Playwright reporter
Demo - Run a realistic local demo flow with Playwright
Roadmap - Planning scaffold for upcoming Observer milestones

Key Features

Observer provides comprehensive test observability for modern CI/CD pipelines:

Real-Time Test Monitoring: Track test execution in real-time with WebSocket streaming
Run and Test Analytics: Inspect run-level status, test outcomes, and trends
Step-by-Step Tracking: Monitor individual test steps with timing and status information
Attachment Management: Automatically handle screenshots, videos, and trace files
Sharding Support: Aggregate results from parallel test execution
Flexible Deployment: Choose between All-in-One mode for simplicity or Distributed mode for scalability

Architecture

Observer is built on a modern, event-driven architecture:

Ingestion Service: gRPC endpoint for receiving test events
NATS JetStream: Message broker for reliable event streaming
Processor Service: Consumes events and persists durable run data to PostgreSQL
API Service: Provides REST endpoints and WebSocket streaming
Web UI: React-based dashboard for visualizing test runs
MongoDB (limited scope): Live in-flight step buffering only