feat(helpers): add experimental Moli CDP helper

Moli (https://github.com/lexmount/moli) is a Rust headless browser with V8
and Stylo, served over CDP. The helper is a thin CDPBrowser subclass like
Lightpanda: it self-launches `moli serve` on a free port, or attaches to an
explicit endpoint.

Moli runs without --layout on purpose: with --layout element geometry is
frozen on first read and only a screenshot refreshes it, which breaks
waitForVisible/waitForText. Presets pin synthetic input, layout 'real' and
no screenshots, since the runtime probe would otherwise pick coordinate
input that Moli rejects in this mode.

- shared webapi suite: 289 passing, 50 pending; 6 tests skipped with
  verified reasons (clickXY, upload MIME type, link color)
- 19 acceptance scenarios tagged @Moli, including gherkin features
- CI workflow pinned to v1.1.17 with SHA256 check
- docs: alternative browsers, installation, README, helper reference

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: DavertMik

.github/workflows/moli.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+name: Moli Helper Tests
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - 4.x
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - '**'
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+env:
+  CI: true
+  FORCE_COLOR: 1
+  MOLI_VERSION: v1.1.17
+  MOLI_SHA256: e338cdd2ab6e3e6262117e56aba625bf6c71c44fd72ac3870bbd9c0e6c1ec351
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    timeout-minutes: 15
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        node-version: [22.x]
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
+        with:
+          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
+      - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
+        with:
+          php-version: 8.0
+      - name: npm install
+        run: npm i --force
+      - name: Cache Moli tarball
+        uses: actions/cache@v6
+        with:
+          path: ~/moli-bin/moli.tar.gz
+          key: moli-${{ env.MOLI_VERSION }}-x86_64-linux
+      - name: Download Moli
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p ~/moli-bin
+          if [ ! -f ~/moli-bin/moli.tar.gz ]; then
+            curl -sfL --retry 3 -o ~/moli-bin/moli.tar.gz https://github.com/lexmount/moli/releases/download/${MOLI_VERSION}/moli-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
+          fi
+          echo "${MOLI_SHA256}  $HOME/moli-bin/moli.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c -
+          tar xzf ~/moli-bin/moli.tar.gz -C ~/moli-bin --strip-components=1
+          ~/moli-bin/moli --version
+      - name: start test server
+        run: |
+          php -S 127.0.0.1:8000 -t test/data/app &
+          sleep 1
+          curl -sf http://127.0.0.1:8000/info > /dev/null
+      - name: run moli helper tests
+        run: |
+          export MOLI_PATH="$HOME/moli-bin/moli"
+          npm run test:unit:webbapi:moli
+      - name: run moli acceptance tests
+        run: |
+          export MOLI_PATH="$HOME/moli-bin/moli"
+          ./bin/codecept.js run -c test/acceptance/codecept.Moli.js --grep @Moli --debug

Bunoshfile.js

@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ const inheritedHelperDocs = {
   },
   Obscura: { parent: 'CDPBrowser' },
   Lightpanda: { parent: 'CDPBrowser' },
+  Moli: { parent: 'CDPBrowser' },
   Kitesurf: { parent: 'CDPBrowser', excludeConfig: ['endpoint', 'headers'] },
 }
 

README.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 | 🌐 Web    | WebDriver  | [![WebDriver Tests](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/webdriver.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/webdriver.yml)                  |
 | 🌐 Web    | Obscura    | [![Obscura Helper Tests](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/obscura.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/obscura.yml)               |
 | 🌐 Web    | Lightpanda | [![Lightpanda Helper Tests](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/lightpanda.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/lightpanda.yml)      |
+| 🌐 Web    | Moli       | [![Moli Helper Tests](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/moli.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/moli.yml)                        |
 | 📱 Mobile | Appium     | [![Appium Tests - Android](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/appium_Android.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/actions/workflows/appium_Android.yml) |
 
 # CodeceptJS [![Made in Ukraine](https://img.shields.io/badge/made_in-ukraine-ffd700.svg?labelColor=0057b7)](https://stand-with-ukraine.pp.ua)
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ CodeceptJS uses **Helper** modules to provide actions to `I` object. Currently,
 - [**WebDriver**](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/blob/master/docs/helpers/WebDriver.md) - uses [webdriverio](http://webdriver.io/) to run tests via WebDriver or Devtools protocol.
 - [**Obscura**](https://codecept.io/helpers/Obscura) - drives the lightweight Obscura browser through Chrome DevTools Protocol. See [Alternative Browser Engines](https://codecept.io/alternative-browsers).
 - [**Lightpanda**](https://codecept.io/helpers/Lightpanda) - drives the Lightpanda headless browser through Chrome DevTools Protocol. See [Alternative Browser Engines](https://codecept.io/alternative-browsers).
+- [**Moli**](https://codecept.io/helpers/Moli) - drives the Moli headless browser through Chrome DevTools Protocol. See [Alternative Browser Engines](https://codecept.io/alternative-browsers).
 - [**Appium**](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/blob/master/docs/helpers/Appium.md) - for **mobile testing** with Appium
 - [**Detox**](https://github.com/codeceptjs/CodeceptJS/blob/master/docs/helpers/Detox.md) - This is a wrapper on top of Detox library, aimed to unify testing experience for CodeceptJS framework. Detox provides a grey box testing for mobile applications, playing especially well for React Native apps.
 

docs/alternative-browsers.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ title: Alternative Browser Engines
 # Alternative Browser Engines
 
 ::: warning Experimental
-The `Obscura`, `Lightpanda` and `Kitesurf` helpers are experimental. Keep a Playwright or WebDriver job for compatibility-critical tests.
+The `Obscura`, `Lightpanda`, `Moli` and `Kitesurf` helpers are experimental. Keep a Playwright or WebDriver job for compatibility-critical tests.
 :::
 
 Playwright drives full Chromium, Firefox and WebKit: the most accurate way to test what users see, at the cost of a heavy browser per worker. Alternative engines trade part of that accuracy for speed, a small footprint, or cloud scale. They are a good fit for functional tests (text appears, form submits, redirect happens, cookie is set) and a poor one for anything visual.
@@ -143,6 +143,61 @@ Lightpanda: {
 
 All options: [Lightpanda helper reference](/helpers/Lightpanda).
 
+## Moli
+
+[Moli](https://github.com/lexmount/moli) is an open-source headless browser built in Rust for automation. It runs your app's JavaScript in V8 and computes real CSS, but skips layout and painting, so it starts fast and stays small. Visibility checks such as `seeElement` and `waitForVisible` work.
+
+Limitations:
+
+- No screenshots: `saveScreenshot`, failure screenshots and the `screencast` plugin do not work.
+- `clickXY` does not work.
+- `attachFile` uploads files without a MIME type; the server receives `application/octet-stream`.
+- Links have no default color: `a` computes `color: rgb(0, 0, 0)`.
+
+### Setup
+
+Install Moli following the [official instructions](https://github.com/lexmount/moli#direct-installation) and put `moli` on `PATH`. Then enable the helper:
+
+```js
+// codecept.conf.js
+export const config = {
+  helpers: {
+    Moli: {
+      url: 'http://localhost:3000',
+    },
+  },
+}
+```
+
+If the binary is not on `PATH`, set `binaryPath` in the config or the `MOLI_PATH` environment variable.
+
+### Usage
+
+```sh
+npx codeceptjs run
+```
+
+The helper starts `moli serve` on a free port before the first test and stops it after the last one. Each worker gets its own instance:
+
+```sh
+npx codeceptjs run-workers 8
+```
+
+To connect to a Moli you started yourself, set `endpoint`; the helper then never starts or stops it:
+
+```sh
+moli serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 9222
+```
+
+```js
+Moli: {
+  url: 'http://localhost:3000',
+  endpoint: 'http://127.0.0.1:9222',
+}
+```
+
+All options: [Moli helper reference](/helpers/Moli).
+
 ## Kitesurf
 
 [Kitesurf](https://blog.cloudflare.com/kitesurf/) is Cloudflare's browser running on Cloudflare Workers, with a real layout and rendering pipeline. Sessions start in about a second and nothing runs on your machine, so the number of parallel browsers is limited only by how far your suite splits.