scaffold installs the e2e harness but not its dependencies: a fresh project has no package.json or playwright, and the cached browser can be the wrong revision #675

Summary

bin/init-project.sh / bin/install-tests.sh copy tests/e2e/*.js into a project but write no package.json and run no npm install. The first verify-module.sh therefore cannot run journeys, monkey or the rendered design audit. HEAD now reports this as one clear row ("e2e harness dependency", verify-module.sh:645-672, from #446/#501), which is a real improvement, but the fix is still "run this command by hand", and on a machine whose cached Chromium is an older revision than the newest playwright the plain fix command still ends in a browser launch failure. The follow-up that #502 left open ("install the e2e harness from init-project.sh / sync-project.sh") is listed there as not done, and #502 is closed.

Repro

mkdir -p /tmp/r9/tests/e2e && cd /tmp/r9
cp <toolkit>/project-tests/e2e/helpers.js tests/e2e/
ls                                  # no package.json, no node_modules
node -e 'try{require.resolve("playwright",{paths:["tests/e2e"]})}catch(e){console.log("missing:",e.code)}'

With a real scaffold: bin/init-project.sh <dir> (or sync-project.sh), then bin/verify-module.sh MyModule.

Observed

missing: MODULE_NOT_FOUND

and, from a fresh scaffold, the summary starts with the FAULT row "e2e harness dependency: not installed: playwright axe-core" plus the instruction (cd "$ROOT" && npm install playwright axe-core && npx playwright install chromium). Nothing in the scaffold ran that command. In the field run the only cached Chromium was revision 1217 (older than any playwright the project could install), so after npm install the harness still needed a matching playwright plus npx playwright install chromium-headless-shell, done by hand in a scratch directory.

Expected

The scaffold (or doctor.sh --fix, or test-stack-up.sh as a first-use step) creates a pinned package.json for the harness, runs npm ci, installs the matching browser, and exports the module path so the harness scripts find it wherever the project keeps them. doctor.sh should say whether the browser revision on the machine matches the installed playwright.

Root cause

• bin/install-tests.sh has no npm/package.json step (grep returns nothing); bin/init-project.sh:387-399 and bin/sync-project.sh:1334-1394 copy and refresh the engine files only.
• bin/doctor.sh:1689 merely prints a note: "e2e additionally needs a Playwright browser in the project: npx playwright install chromium".
• project-tests/e2e/helpers.js:21-32 degrades to a clear INSTRUMENT FAULT (good), and its FALLBACK_CHROMIUM (:46-51) points at /opt/pw-browsers/chromium, a container path, so a workstation with an older cached browser gets no fallback at all.

Workaround

cd <project> && npm install playwright axe-core && npx playwright install chromium

If a browser launch still fails with a revision error, install the headless shell for the same playwright version (npx playwright install chromium-headless-shell) or pin playwright to the revision already cached.

Suggested fix

Provide project-tests/e2e/package.json with exact versions, copy it with the engine, run npm ci and the browser install from install-tests.sh (idempotent, skipped when node_modules/playwright already resolves), and add the revision check to doctor.sh. Keep the existing verify-module probe as the safety net.

Related

Closed: #446 and PR #501 (probe and one-row report, done), #502 (follow-ups, the install item still open in substance). Open, related scope: #525 (local lane: what runs where).

Versions

• mxcli: nightly-20261105-f3c4d531d (not involved)
• Mendix: 11.15.0
• Toolkit: 97c1139c (field run used c9dedb11; every file:line above was re-read at 97c1139c)

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