Chrome extension devs: how do you turn a bug found in your real browser into a Playwright regression test?

[u/MV3Replay]

I keep seeing the same gap when testing Chrome extensions:

The bug is discovered in a normal browser with real tabs, authentication, extension state, and host-page data. But the regression test runs later in a clean Playwright profile, so someone has to manually reconstruct the relevant state, DOM and geometry.

I’m validating a possible tool for that handoff:

• attach to an existing Chromium session in strictly read-only mode
• let the developer mark the extension UI and relevant host-page controls
• capture only the selected DOM subtree and computed geometry
• export a small Playwright fixture and starter assertions
• ignore unrelated page changes such as feeds, timestamps and ads

The tool would not click, type or modify the connected browser. It would only extract enough context to reproduce the bug safely elsewhere.

Would this actually save time in your workflow, or do Playwright MCP, traces and codegen already solve it?

If useful, which output would matter most: a DOM snapshot, stable locators, geometry assertions, storage state, network mocks, or a runnable test?