9.2Strategy 1: Snapshot for Discovery, Refs for Execution

The Pattern

The discovery/execution split now lives inside the CLI:

Phase 1: Discovery (one snapshot read)
  Agent: "What's on this page?"
  → playwright-cli snapshot        (returns a file path)
  → Agent reads the YAML: textbox "Email" [ref=e3],
    textbox "Password" [ref=e4], button "Sign in" [ref=e5]

Phase 2: Execution (refs, dozens of tokens each)
  → playwright-cli fill e3 "user@test.com"
  → playwright-cli fill e4 "secret"
  → playwright-cli click e5

Token Cost

Discovery phase:  ~1,500-5,000 tokens (one snapshot read, sized by page)
Execution phase:  ~200 tokens (3 ref commands)
Total:            ~2,000-5,000 tokens

vs. Pure MCP:     ~15,000-25,000 tokens (schemas every turn + a tree per action)

When to Use

• Always, basically — this is the default working rhythm of a CLI-driven agent
• UI that changes frequently — a fresh snapshot re-discovers refs automatically
• First test run of a new feature — later runs already know the flow

The equivalent MCP pattern (call browser_snapshot, then act) still applies when you're on the MCP transport — the difference is that with MCP you also pay the tree tax on every action, not just on discovery.