3.6Microsoft Settled the Argument

In early 2026 Microsoft shipped @playwright/cli — a CLI purpose-built for coding agents, with a --skills flag that generates a SKILL.md — and began recommending it over their own MCP server for coding-agent workflows, citing the 4x token reduction (27k vs ~114k per task). Snapshots and screenshots go to disk; the agent reads them on demand.

This isn't a third-party opinion — it's the team that builds the world's most popular browser-automation MCP server concluding that, for coding agents, the CLI-skill transport wins.