| ## Required Reading |
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| - Before writing, changing, or reviewing E2E tests, ALWAYS read and follow Playwright's official [Best Practices](https://playwright.dev/docs/best-practices), [Auto-waiting](https://playwright.dev/docs/actionability), and [Assertions](https://playwright.dev/docs/test-assertions) guides. |
| - Use the official [Locators](https://playwright.dev/docs/locators), [Network](https://playwright.dev/docs/network), and [Test Isolation](https://playwright.dev/docs/browser-contexts) guides when those concerns apply. |
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| ## Test Hygiene |
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| - Test user-visible behavior with isolated, deterministic data and scoped, unique locators. |
| - Prefer role, label, text, and explicit test-contract locators. Do not use `.first()` or `.last()` merely to silence strictness errors. |
| - Use locator actions, Playwright auto-waiting, and web-first assertions for observable readiness and outcomes. |
| - NEVER use `waitForTimeout`, `setTimeout`, sleeps, animation-frame counts, or other wall-clock delays to synchronize a test. Wait for the specific UI state, request, response, event, or application outcome instead. |
| - Do not treat navigation, a network response, DOM attachment, or visibility alone as proof that asynchronously rendered UI is ready. Assert the state the next action actually requires. |
| - Register event and network waits before the action that triggers them. |
| - Do not retry state-changing actions. Retry idempotent readiness checks, then perform the action once and assert its outcome. |
| - Keep action and assertion timeouts adaptive. Do not use short timeouts as readiness probes or rely on retries to hide flakes. |
| - Assert exact outcomes and identities so stale state, duplicate rendering, and interactions with the wrong element cannot pass. |
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