Playwright "No files were found with the provided path" uploading trace in CI

The upload step found nothing at playwright-report/ or test-results/. Either tracing/reporting was off, the run produced no artifacts (it errored before tests), or the output path differs from the upload path.

What this error means

The job shows "Warning: No files were found with the provided path: playwright-report. No artifacts will be uploaded." and the debugging trace you wanted is missing.

github-actions

Warning: No files were found with the provided path: playwright-report.
No artifacts will be uploaded.

Common causes

Tracing or the HTML reporter was not enabled

Without trace and the html reporter configured, no playwright-report/ or trace files exist to upload.

The upload runs only on success or wrong path

A default upload step is skipped when the test step fails, or it points at a folder the reporter does not write to.

How to fix it

Enable tracing and the HTML reporter

Configure Playwright to write a trace on retry and emit the HTML report so artifacts exist.

playwright.config.ts

reporter: [['html']],
use: { trace: 'on-first-retry' },

Always upload, even when tests fail

Use if: always() so the report uploads on failure, which is exactly when you need the trace.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  if: always()
  with:
    name: playwright-report
    path: playwright-report/

How to prevent it

Configure the HTML reporter and trace: on-first-retry for CI.
Upload artifacts with if: always() so failures keep their evidence.
Match the upload path to the reporter's output directory.