feat: normalize query string for playwright engine

This PR introduces query string improvements for Playwright tests, to
reduce the number of distinct metrics a test run can generate and help
users get more meaninful data out of a test.

- `stripQueryString`: as seen in the `metrics-by-endpoint` http plugin,
query strings can now be removed — it defaults to `false`
- `normalizeQueryString`: defaults to `true`, prevents too many distinct
metrics, can be explicity set to `normalizeQueryString: false` to
disable this behavior
  - For numeric values, it converts `/page?id=123` to `/page?id=NUMBER`
  - For string values, it converts `/page?plan=premium` to
`/page?plan=STRING`
  - When mixed values are present, it converts
`/page?id=123&plan=premium` to `/page?id=NUMBER&plan=STRING`

Author: manfromanotherland

packages/artillery-engine-playwright/index.js

@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ class PlaywrightEngine {
     this.showAllPageMetrics =
       typeof script.config.engines.playwright.showAllPageMetrics !==
       'undefined';
+    this.stripQueryString =
+      script.config.engines.playwright.stripQueryString || false;
+    this.normalizeQueryString =
+      script.config.engines.playwright.normalizeQueryString !== false;
 
     this.useSeparateBrowserPerVU =
       typeof script.config.engines.playwright.useSeparateBrowserPerVU ===
@@ -97,8 +101,49 @@ class PlaywrightEngine {
 
     const self = this;
 
+    function normalizeUrl(url) {
+      if (!url) return url;
+
+      try {
+        const urlObj = new URL(url);
+
+        // Strip query string if enabled
+        if (self.stripQueryString) {
+          return urlObj.origin + urlObj.pathname;
+        }
+
+        // Normalize query string if enabled
+        if (self.normalizeQueryString && urlObj.search) {
+          const params = new URLSearchParams(urlObj.search);
+          const normalizedParams = new URLSearchParams();
+
+          for (const [key, value] of params) {
+            // Replace numeric values with NUMBER, all other values with STRING
+            const normalizedValue = /^-?\d+(\.\d+)?$/.test(value)
+              ? 'NUMBER'
+              : 'STRING';
+            normalizedParams.append(key, normalizedValue);
+          }
+
+          return (
+            urlObj.origin +
+            urlObj.pathname +
+            (normalizedParams.toString()
+              ? '?' + normalizedParams.toString()
+              : '')
+          );
+        }
+
+        return url;
+      } catch (e) {
+        // If URL parsing fails, return original URL
+        debug('Failed to parse URL for normalization:', e);
+        return url;
+      }
+    }
+
     function getName(url) {
-      return self.aggregateByName && spec.name ? spec.name : url;
+      return self.aggregateByName && spec.name ? spec.name : normalizeUrl(url);
     }
 
     const step = async (stepName, userActions) => {

packages/artillery-engine-playwright/test/fixtures/processor.js

@@ -44,7 +44,26 @@ async function playwrightFunctionWithFailure(page, _vuContext, events, test) {
   events.emit('counter', 'custom_emitter', 1);
 }
 
+async function urlNormalizationTest(page, _vuContext, events, test) {
+  const testUrls = [
+    '/docs?id=123',
+    '/docs?id=456',
+    '/docs?plan=team',
+    '/docs?plan=business',
+    '/docs?id=789&plan=team',
+    '/docs?id=999&plan=business'
+  ];
+
+  for (const url of testUrls) {
+    await test.step(`visit_${url}`, async () => {
+      await retryGoingToPage(page, url);
+      await page.waitForTimeout(100);
+    });
+  }
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   artilleryPlaywrightFunction,
-  playwrightFunctionWithFailure
+  playwrightFunctionWithFailure,
+  urlNormalizationTest
 };

packages/artillery-engine-playwright/test/fixtures/pw-url-normalization.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+config:
+  target: https://www.artillery.io
+  phases:
+    - duration: 5
+      arrivalRate: 1
+  engines:
+    playwright:
+      extendedMetrics: true
+      stripQueryString: false
+      normalizeQueryString: true
+  processor: "./processor.js"
+
+scenarios:
+  - name: test-url-normalization
+    engine: playwright
+    testFunction: urlNormalizationTest

packages/artillery-engine-playwright/test/index.test.js

@@ -284,3 +284,57 @@ test('playwright typescript test fails and has correct vu count when expectation
     );
   }
 });
+
+test('playwright url normalization works correctly', async (t) => {
+  const output =
+    await $`../artillery/bin/run run ./test/fixtures/pw-url-normalization.yml --output ${playwrightOutput}`;
+
+  t.equal(
+    output.exitCode,
+    0,
+    `should have exit code 0, got ${output.exitCode}`
+  );
+
+  const jsonReport = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(playwrightOutput, 'utf8'));
+  const counters = jsonReport.aggregate.counters;
+  const summaries = jsonReport.aggregate.summaries;
+
+  // Check that numeric parameters were normalized
+  const docsIdMetricKey = `browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?id=NUMBER`;
+  t.ok(
+    counters[docsIdMetricKey] >= 2,
+    'should have normalized /docs?id=123 and /docs?id=456 to /docs?id=NUMBER'
+  );
+
+  // Check that string parameters are normalized
+  const docsPlanMetricKey = `browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?plan=STRING`;
+  t.ok(
+    counters[docsPlanMetricKey] >= 2,
+    'should have normalized /docs?plan=team and /docs?plan=business to /docs?plan=STRING'
+  );
+
+  // Check mixed parameters (both numeric and string)
+  const mixedMetricKey = `browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?id=NUMBER&plan=STRING`;
+  t.ok(
+    counters[mixedMetricKey] >= 2,
+    'should have normalized /docs?id=789&plan=team and /docs?id=999&plan=business to /docs?id=NUMBER&plan=STRING'
+  );
+
+  // Ensure we don’t have the non-normalized metrics
+  t.notOk(
+    counters[`browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?id=123`],
+    'should not have metric for specific id=123'
+  );
+  t.notOk(
+    counters[`browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?id=456`],
+    'should not have metric for specific id=456'
+  );
+  t.notOk(
+    counters[`browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?plan=team`],
+    'should not have metric for specific plan=team'
+  );
+  t.notOk(
+    counters[`browser.page.domcontentloaded.${TEST_URL}docs?plan=business`],
+    'should not have metric for specific plan=business'
+  );
+});

packages/types/schema/engines/playwright.js

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ const PlaywrightConfigSchema = Joi.object({
       'Default maximum navigation time (in seconds) for Playwright navigation methods, like `page.goto()`.\nhttps://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsercontext#browser-context-set-default-navigation-timeout'
     ),
   testIdAttribute: Joi.string()
-    .meta({ title: 'Test ID Attribute'})
+    .meta({ title: 'Test ID Attribute' })
     .description(
       'When set, changes the attribute used by locator `page.getByTestId` in Playwright. \n https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-framelocator#frame-locator-get-by-test-id'
     ),
@@ -61,7 +61,19 @@ const PlaywrightConfigSchema = Joi.object({
     .meta({ title: 'Use a separate browser process for each VU' })
     .description(
       'If enabled, a new browser process will be created for each VU. By default Artillery uses new browser contexts for new VUs.\nWARNING: Using this option is discouraged as it will increase CPU/memory usage of your tests.\nhttps://www.artillery.io/docs/reference/engines/playwright#configuration'
+    ),
+  stripQueryString: artilleryBooleanOrString
+    .meta({ title: 'Strip Query String' })
+    .description(
+      'Strip query strings from page URLs when generating metrics. Similar to the metrics-by-endpoint plugin for HTTP tests.'
+    )
+    .default(false),
+  normalizeQueryString: artilleryBooleanOrString
+    .meta({ title: 'Normalize Query String' })
+    .description(
+      'Replace parameter values in query strings with placeholders when generating metrics. Numeric values become NUMBER, string values become STRING. For example, /page?id=123 becomes /page?id=NUMBER and /page?name=john becomes /page?name=STRING'
     )
+    .default(true)
 });
 
 module.exports = {