Mobile proxies for geo-testing and regional QA

export PROXY_URL="http://USERNAME-mbl-fr-sid-qa-fr-01-rot-sticky:[email protected]:7000"

# Sticky + a stable -sid- keeps the whole test session on one device,
# so the country cannot flip halfway through a checkout flow.

import { chromium, devices } from 'playwright';
import { expect } from '@playwright/test';

const url = new URL(process.env.PROXY_URL);

const browser = await chromium.launch({
  proxy: {
    server: `http://${url.host}`,
    username: decodeURIComponent(url.username),
    password: decodeURIComponent(url.password),
  },
});

// Match the locale and timezone to the exit country, or you are testing
// a combination (FR IP, en-US browser) that almost no real user has.
const context = await browser.newContext({
  ...devices['Pixel 7'],
  locale: 'fr-FR',
  timezoneId: 'Europe/Paris',
  geolocation: { latitude: 48.8566, longitude: 2.3522 },
  permissions: ['geolocation'],
});

const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto('https://your-app.example/pricing');

await expect(page.getByTestId('price')).toContainText('€');
await expect(page.getByTestId('vat-note')).toContainText('TVA');
await expect(page.locator('#cmp-banner')).toBeVisible();   // GDPR consent

await page.screenshot({ path: 'fr-pricing.png', fullPage: true });
await browser.close();

Setting locale and timezone alongside the proxy is what makes this a realistic French user rather than a French IP with an American browser.

// playwright.config.js — one project per market, same specs.
const markets = [
  { name: 'fr', country: 'fr', locale: 'fr-FR', tz: 'Europe/Paris' },
  { name: 'de', country: 'de', locale: 'de-DE', tz: 'Europe/Berlin' },
  { name: 'gb', country: 'gb', locale: 'en-GB', tz: 'Europe/London' },
  { name: 'us', country: 'us', locale: 'en-US', tz: 'America/New_York' },
];

const proxyFor = (country, sid) => {
  const u = new URL(process.env.PROXY_URL);
  // Rewrite only the country and sid tokens; everything else is unchanged.
  const user = decodeURIComponent(u.username)
    .replace(/-(?:us|gb|de|fr|es|nl|pl|ch|pa|am|ge)-/, `-${country}-`)
    .replace(/-sid-[a-z0-9_]+/, `-sid-${sid}`);
  return {
    server: `http://${u.host}`,
    username: user,
    password: decodeURIComponent(u.password),
  };
};

export default {
  projects: markets.map((m) => ({
    name: m.name,
    use: {
      proxy: proxyFor(m.country, `qa-${m.name}`),
      locale: m.locale,
      timezoneId: m.tz,
    },
  })),
};

The whole market matrix is a string rewrite. No per-country infrastructure, no VPN profiles to maintain.