Play Music from YouTube — Clear, Stable, High SNR Instruction Set

This skill controls a visible browser using playwright-cli to search and play YouTube music. All actions follow snapshot → ref → action pattern. Never guess. Never assume.

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CORE PRINCIPLES

1. Always use a named session

-s=music_player

Every command must include it.

2. Always snapshot before interacting

playwright-cli -s=music_player snapshot

Never click/fill without fresh refs.

3. Only use ref-based actions

click e123
fill e45 "text"

Never use CSS, XPaths, or assumptions.

4. Browser must be visible

--headed

Use headed by default unless the user explicitly requests headless.

5. Session continues in background

After playback begins, do not block waiting. Continue responding normally.

6. Use persistent browser profile

--persistent

Always include --persistent when opening a new session. This saves the browser profile (cookies, localStorage, IndexedDB, cache) to disk, so login state survives session restarts.

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SNAPSHOT STORAGE

Snapshots generated by playwright-cli may exist in two possible locations:

1. $WORKSPACE/.playwright-cli/ ← primary (search here first)
2. ~/.playwright-cli/ ← fallback when the workspace folder is empty

Use only these two folders unless the user explicitly authorizes a broader search.

If no .yml snapshots appear here, it is almost always MacOS permission-related. Ask the user to run:

playwright-cli open https://www.youtube.com --headed

This will trigger macOS system dialogs for:

• Screen Recording
• Automation
• Accessibility

Approve all to enable snapshot generation.

Note: On Windows and Linux, these permission dialogs do not apply. If snapshots are missing on those platforms, check that the browser launched correctly.

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SESSION MANAGEMENT

Check whether the session exists

playwright-cli list

• Exists → continue
• Missing → recreate:

playwright-cli -s=music_player open https://www.youtube.com --headed --persistent

On any unexpected error, run playwright-cli list first to diagnose before retrying.

If the session is frozen or blank

playwright-cli -s=music_player goto https://www.youtube.com

This reliably resets the page without closing the session.

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SEARCH QUERY CONSTRUCTION

Build the search query based on user intent:

Search tips:

• For artist requests, a simple artist name search usually surfaces "Mix" and playlist results at the top — prefer these for continuous playback.
• Use the original language for non-English songs (e.g. Chinese characters for Chinese songs).

Voice transcription (ASR) and typo handling:

• Do NOT ask the user to confirm potentially misheard names. YouTube has robust auto-correction and will show results for the intended query even with typos or homophones (e.g. searching "楊成林" will auto-correct to "楊丞琳").
• Always search directly with whatever text you have. After the search, check the results snapshot — if YouTube shows a "Did you mean: ..." or "顯示以下搜尋結果: ..." banner with corrected results, the correction is already applied.
• Only fall back to web search or asking the user if the YouTube search results are clearly unrelated or empty.

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SEARCH WORKFLOW (HIGH SIGNAL, LOW AMBIGUITY)

Step 1 — Reset search state

A clean search state avoids dropdown obstruction.

Perform the following every time before a new search:

1. Snapshot.
2. If button "Clear search query" / "清除搜尋查詢" is present → click it.
3. Else press:

playwright-cli -s=music_player press Escape

1. If suggestions or overlays still block results → reset page:

playwright-cli -s=music_player goto https://www.youtube.com

Then snapshot again.

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Step 2 — Locate search bar

Snapshot → find:

• combobox "搜尋" or
• combobox "Search"

Record its ref (e.g., e34).

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Step 3 — Perform search

playwright-cli -s=music_player fill <searchRef> "SEARCH TERM"
playwright-cli -s=music_player press Enter

Then snapshot immediately to avoid suggestion-panel obstruction.

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Step 4 — Choose best result

Select result based on user intent:

• Specific song → click the link whose heading matches the song title.
• Artist → prefer "Mix - [Artist]" links or playlist links for continuous playback.
• Genre / mood → prefer long-duration compilations or playlists (>20 mins).
• Fallback if no clear match → prefer: Mix > Long playlist > Official channel upload > Single MV.

For guidance on identifying YouTube result types, see ./references/youtube-guide.md.

Important: Do NOT click channel cards (e.g. link "Artist Name ... @handle•NNNK subscribers ..." / "Artist Name ... @handle•NNN萬位訂閱者 ..."). They navigate to the channel page, not music. Look for Mix or playlist results below them.

Click using its ref:

playwright-cli -s=music_player click eXYZ

If click is blocked:

1. press Escape
2. Retry click once.
3. If still blocked → goto https://www.youtube.com and restart from Step 1.

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AD HANDLING LOOP

After clicking a result:

playwright-cli -s=music_player snapshot

Loop up to 4 iterations:

1. Playback detected

If you see:

• button "Pause (k)" or
• button "Play (k)" (but video advancing)

AND no ad indicators → playback is active → report song title to the user.

2. Skip button detected

Any element whose label contains:

• skip / Skip / 略過
• Skip Ad / Skip Ads / 略過廣告

→ click it immediately.

Note: If the skip button is [disabled] (countdown not yet elapsed), do NOT click it — wait ~5 seconds instead (see step 3).

Then snapshot again. YouTube often plays two consecutive ads — always check for a second ad after skipping.

3. Non-skippable ad / countdown

Wait 5 seconds:

playwright-cli -s=music_player eval "await new Promise(r=>setTimeout(r,5000))"

Then snapshot again and repeat from step 1.

If ads persist >20 seconds

• press Escape
• or reload page

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PLAYBACK CONTROLS

Always snapshot first.

Keyboard shortcuts (reliable alternative when button refs are hard to locate):

k        → play / pause
Shift+n  → next track
Shift+p  → previous track
m        → mute / unmute
f        → fullscreen toggle
j        → rewind 10s
l        → forward 10s

Usage: playwright-cli -s=music_player press <key>

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ERROR RECOVERY & EDGE CASES

If snapshot empty or missing critical refs

playwright-cli -s=music_player goto https://www.youtube.com

→ restart from Step 1.

If browser crashes or session disappears

playwright-cli list shows no music_player. Inform the user the browser was closed, then recreate session:

playwright-cli -s=music_player open https://www.youtube.com --headed --persistent

Because --persistent is used, the browser profile (including login state) is restored automatically. No need to log in again.

YouTube cookie consent / sign-in dialogs

Snapshot → locate dismiss actions:

• "Accept all" / "全部接受"
• "Reject all"
• "No thanks" / "不用了，謝謝"
• Close (X)

Click dismiss.

YouTube Premium trial popup

Snapshot → look for "No thanks", "不用了，謝謝", or a dismiss/close button → click to dismiss.

Video unavailable

Snapshot shows "Video unavailable" or similar error.

• playwright-cli -s=music_player go-back → snapshot → try the next result link.

Cannot find elements in search results

• Scroll down: playwright-cli -s=music_player press PageDown → snapshot again.

Page frozen or blank

• playwright-cli -s=music_player reload → snapshot.
• If still broken: playwright-cli -s=music_player close → reopen and retry from Step 1.

Persistent profile corrupted or login expired

If the browser opens but login state is lost, or YouTube forces re-authentication:

1. Inform the user they need to log in again in the browser.
2. After login, the persistent profile will be updated automatically.

To completely reset the profile (last resort):

playwright-cli -s=music_player close
playwright-cli -s=music_player delete-data
playwright-cli -s=music_player open https://www.youtube.com --headed --persistent

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REFERENCES

• Playwright CLI reference
• YouTube result identification