pace

What it does

pace(page, ms) adds a timed wait to the current step, giving the video enough time for voiceover narration to play. Without pacing, fast test execution may cause steps to end before the narration finishes.

Call pace at the end of a step definition to pad the step's duration.

Usage

import { pace } from 'playwright-recast'

await pace(page, 4000) // Wait 4 seconds

Parameters

When to use

Use pace when a step's narration is longer than the action itself. For example, navigating to a page takes milliseconds, but the voiceover explaining it might take several seconds:

Given('the user opens the dashboard', async ({ page }, docString?: string) => {
  narrate(docString)
  await page.goto('/dashboard')
  await pace(page, 4000) // Hold for narration
})

Without pace, the speed processor would compress this step to near-zero duration since nothing is happening after the navigation completes.

Tips

• Place pace at the end of the step, after all interactions
• Match the duration roughly to the expected narration length
• The speed processor still applies -- pace creates idle time that can be compressed, so set durations generously
• For steps with no narration, pace is usually not needed

Example with playwright-bdd

import { Given, When } from './fixtures'
import { narrate, pace } from 'playwright-recast'

Given('the user opens the dashboard', async ({ page }, docString?: string) => {
  narrate(docString)
  await page.goto('/dashboard')
  await pace(page, 4000)
})

When('the user clicks the settings icon', async ({ page }, docString?: string) => {
  narrate(docString)
  await page.click('[data-testid="settings"]')
  await pace(page, 3000)
})