Context
We currently use Chromatic for visual regression testing of our Storybook components. It works well — builds Storybook, runs interaction tests, does pixel-diffing, and provides a review UI for accepting/rejecting visual changes. But it's slow and paid.
The open source alternatives (Lost Pixel OSS, raw Playwright VRT) are fast and free but lack the review UI — baseline acceptance is done by committing updated screenshot files via PR, with no side-by-side diff viewer or per-story accept/reject flow.
There's a real gap in the market for a self-hosted, open source visual regression review UI that sits on top of any screenshot diffing engine.
Idea
A tool that:
- Takes baseline + current + diff images from CI (generated by Playwright
toHaveScreenshot(), Lost Pixel, or any diffing engine)
- Provides a web UI for reviewing visual changes: side-by-side, overlay, slider diffs per story/component
- Accept/reject per-change, writes approvals back to git (updates baseline images)
- Deployable as a static app on Vercel (or any hosting)
- Free and open source
Why this matters for GameLord
- Could replace Chromatic with a faster, free, self-hosted alternative
- We already have Storybook with comprehensive stories for all UI states
- We already have Vercel for hosting
- Playwright is already a dev dependency
Prior art
- Chromatic — best-in-class review UI, but paid SaaS, slow builds
- Lost Pixel Platform — similar review UI, $100/mo, not self-hostable
- Lost Pixel OSS — no review UI, baseline updates via auto-PR
- Percy (BrowserStack) — paid SaaS, more page-level than component-level
- Playwright VRT — free, fast, no review UI at all
Status
Exploration / future work. Not blocking anything — Chromatic works fine for now.
Context
We currently use Chromatic for visual regression testing of our Storybook components. It works well — builds Storybook, runs interaction tests, does pixel-diffing, and provides a review UI for accepting/rejecting visual changes. But it's slow and paid.
The open source alternatives (Lost Pixel OSS, raw Playwright VRT) are fast and free but lack the review UI — baseline acceptance is done by committing updated screenshot files via PR, with no side-by-side diff viewer or per-story accept/reject flow.
There's a real gap in the market for a self-hosted, open source visual regression review UI that sits on top of any screenshot diffing engine.
Idea
A tool that:
toHaveScreenshot(), Lost Pixel, or any diffing engine)Why this matters for GameLord
Prior art
Status
Exploration / future work. Not blocking anything — Chromatic works fine for now.