Code editors such as Visual Studio Code

You can write a test script in any plain text editor, but a proper code editor gives you back a surprising amount of help for free. Syntax highlighting colours your code as you type, so a typo like a missing closing bracket jumps out visually instead of hiding until you run the script and get a confusing error. Autocomplete shows you what's actually available as you type — type page. or driver. in a modern editor and it'll list every method the library offers, which is often faster than searching the docs.

An integrated terminal lets you run your test script without leaving the editor window, and a built-in debugger lets you pause a failing test mid-run and actually look at what the browser found on the page — the real state of things — rather than guessing from a trail of console.log statements. On top of all that, editors support extensions: for example, Playwright ships its own official VS Code extension, which can run your tests from a sidebar and even generate new test code by recording your clicks in a real browser.

Visual Studio Code is free, extremely widely used, and a very reasonable default if you don't already have a favourite editor. For a video introduction, watch "Master Visual Studio Code Crash Course for beginners in just 15 min" (Learn Web Dev with Norbert, 15 min).

Examples you can ask AI

I've never used a proper code editor before — what's the real difference between a code editor and something like Notepad, and is Visual Studio Code a reasonable place to start?
I already use VS Code casually — what extensions or features would actually help me write and debug browser automation tests specifically?
How do I set up a shared VS Code configuration — extensions, settings, debugger config — so my whole team gets a consistent test-writing experience, not just me?