How to Run All Test Methods in a Playwright Test Class While Keeping the Browser Open?

Question

I'm using Playwright with C# to automate tests for my application. The application requires a login step before executing any test. My goal is to:

1. Log in once when the test class starts execution.
2. Keep the browser session open while running all the test methods inside the test class.
3. Close the browser only after the last test method in the class finishes.

Currently, I use TestInitialize for the login logic, but this means I have to run each test method individually. If I run all methods together, the login logic is executed before every test, which I want to avoid.

I tried using ClassInitialize for the login logic, but it didn't work as ClassInitialize doesn't seem to support Playwright's asynchronous methods.

What I Have Tried:

• Implementing the login logic in ClassInitialize, but I couldn't use async/await in that method.
• Using TestInitialize, but it forces the login logic to execute before every test method.
• Running test methods one by one, but this is inefficient.

My Code:

Here’s a simplified version of my test setup:

using Microsoft.Playwright;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace AutomationTestRuns
{
    public abstract class BaseTest : PageTest
    {     
        public override BrowserNewContextOptions ContextOptions()
        {
            return new BrowserNewContextOptions
            {
                ViewportSize = ViewportSize.NoViewport,
                StorageStatePath = "state.json",
            };
        }

        [TestInitialize]
        public async Task Startup()
        {
                 Page.SetDefaultTimeout(30000);  
            
                await Page.GotoAsync("https://practice.expandtesting.com/login");
                await Page.Locator("#username").FillAsync("practice");
                await Page.Locator("#password").FillAsync("SuperSecretPassword!");
                await Page.Locator("xpath=//button[normalize-space()='Login']").ClickAsync();
        }

        [TestCleanup]
        public async Task Cleanup()
        {
            await Page.WaitForTimeoutAsync(5000);
            if (Page != null) await Page.CloseAsync();
            if (Context != null) await Context.CloseAsync();
            if (Browser != null) await Browser.CloseAsync();
        }
    }
}


namespace AutomationTestRuns
{
    [TestClass]
    public class TestClass1 : BaseTest
    {
        [TestMethod]
        public async Task TestClass1_Method1()
        {
            await Page.WaitForURLAsync("https://practice.expandtesting.com/secure");
            
            var h1 = Page.Locator("xpath=//h1[normalize-space()='Secure Area']");
            Assert.IsNotNull(h1);

        }

        [TestMethod]
        public async Task TestClass1_Method2()
        {
            await Page.WaitForURLAsync("https://practice.expandtesting.com/secure");

            var h3 = Page.Locator("xpath=//h1[normalize-space()='Hi, practice!']");
            Assert.IsNotNull(h3);
        }
    }
}

Problem:

• I want a way to log in once, execute all the test methods in TestClass1, and close the browser only after the last test method finishes.
• How can I achieve this in Playwright with C#? Is there a specific configuration or command to run all test methods inside a particular class of tests while reusing the browser session?

Repo URL

From I run the test class from the test explorer

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.