# Practicing Playwright: API Testing, Intercepting Network Requests, and Mocking APIs

DevFeed: [Practicing Playwright: API Testing, Intercepting Network Requests, and Mocking APIs](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/practicing-playwright-api-testing-intercepting-network-requests-and-mocking-apis-22405.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.tjmaher.com/2026/05/practicing-playwright-api-testing.html>)

Author: T.J. Maher (noreply@blogger.com)

Published: 2026-05-28T02:20:30Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [T.J. Maher](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/t-j-maher.md>)

Topics: [Playwright](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/playwright.md>), [Testing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/testing.md>), [API](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/api.md>), [Mocking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mocking.md>), [Network](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/network.md>)

Tags: [api](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/api.md>), [api-testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/api-testing.md>), [browser](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/browser.md>), [guide](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/guide.md>), [mocking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mocking.md>), [network](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network.md>), [playwright](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/playwright.md>), [testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/testing.md>)

## AI overview

A practical tutorial on Playwright API testing using page.route to intercept, modify, abort, fetch, and mock network requests. It examines tests for the PracticeSoftwareTesting.com shopping cart and shows how API data can support UI assertions.

## Source excerpt

How would you intercept a network request and use the data for assertions? Mock a network request using those assertions? And make sure that all data is loaded in the UI before making your assertions, and that all tests can pass when run? We will be walking through Butch Mayhew's code that answers all of these questions, part of his LinkedIn Learning course: Playwright Essential Training. We will be examining the shopping cart test site PracticeSoftwareTesting.com and looking at code on Butch's companion GitHub site on how to mock out the API and use them in the UI tests. Playwright has a lot of features when it comes to API testing. You can intercept network requests, aborting, modifying, and mocking network requests. You can also simulate a slow network. This is all done through the Playwright methods: page.route. A route is the specific path or URL a client uses to request data or trigger a function on a server. GET /product would be an API call that gets everything from the address string called products, which then retrieves all products from the API endpoint called "products". The endpoint is "products" and the route is the name that accesses the endpoint. The Playwright API has a method called route, which allows Playwright to monitor and modify browser network traffic. Playwright.dev / Docs / Network: https://playwright.dev/docs/network Playwright and page.route: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-route Playwright Mocking API Guide: https://playwright.dev/docs/mock Adding page.route to your test allows you to do things such as: abort the route request with route.abort(), simulating various error codes such as accessdenied, addressunreachable, blockedbyclient, blockedbyresponse, connection aborted, connectionclosed, timedout, etc. continue sending the route's request with optional overrides such as changing the request URL, the headers, the method such as GET or POST, and the post data of the request. fetch the request without yet fulfilling it, so the res