From a0d47a5a6ed6dd56ee2339f747c77dd8df722ff1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yury Semikhatsky <yurys@chromium.org>
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:25:51 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(test runner): do not count statically skipped tests when
 sharding

Fixes: https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/42875
---
 docs/src/test-sharding-js.md                 |  1 +
 packages/playwright/src/runner/testGroups.ts | 22 ++++----
 tests/playwright-test/shard.spec.ts          | 56 ++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 70 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/src/test-sharding-js.md b/docs/src/test-sharding-js.md
index b1c0292c8a44a..67b8ef623af58 100644
--- a/docs/src/test-sharding-js.md
+++ b/docs/src/test-sharding-js.md
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ Without the fullyParallel setting, Playwright Test defaults to file-level granul
 - **With** `fullyParallel: true`: Tests are split at the individual test level, leading to more balanced shard execution.
 - **Without** `fullyParallel`: Tests are split at the file level, so to balance the shards, it's important to keep your test files small and evenly sized.
 - To ensure the most effective use of sharding, especially in CI environments, it is recommended to use `fullyParallel: true` when aiming for balanced distribution across shards. Otherwise, you may need to manually organize your test files to avoid imbalances.
+- Tests that are statically skipped, for example with [`method: Test.skip`] or [`method: Test.fixme`], are not counted when balancing shards, because they do not run.
 
 ## Merging reports from multiple shards
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/runner/testGroups.ts b/packages/playwright/src/runner/testGroups.ts
index 937ad8ac562d5..e7db48224be82 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/runner/testGroups.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/runner/testGroups.ts
@@ -160,10 +160,12 @@ export function filterForShard(shard: { total: number, current: number }, weight
   //
   // Shards are still balanced by the number of tests, not files,
   // even in the case of non-paralleled files.
-
-  let shardableTotal = 0;
-  for (const group of testGroups)
-    shardableTotal += group.tests.length;
+  //
+  // Statically skipped tests take no time, so they are not counted.
+  const activeSizes = testGroups.map(group => group.tests.filter(test => test.expectedStatus !== 'skipped').length);
+  // If all tests are skipped, balance them as usual.
+  const groupSizes = activeSizes.some(Boolean) ? activeSizes : testGroups.map(group => group.tests.length);
+  const shardableTotal = groupSizes.reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0);
 
   // Each shard gets some tests.
   const shardSizes = weights.map(w => Math.floor(w * shardableTotal / totalWeight));
@@ -180,12 +182,14 @@ export function filterForShard(shard: { total: number, current: number }, weight
 
   let current = 0;
   const result = new Set<TestGroup>();
-  for (const group of testGroups) {
+  testGroups.forEach((group, index) => {
     // Any test group goes to the shard that contains the first test of this group.
-    // So, this shard gets any group that starts at [from; to)
-    if (current >= from && current < to)
+    // So, this shard gets any group that starts at [from; to).
+    // Fully skipped groups go along with the preceding group.
+    const position = groupSizes[index] ? current : Math.max(current - 1, 0);
+    if (position >= from && position < to)
       result.add(group);
-    current += group.tests.length;
-  }
+    current += groupSizes[index];
+  });
   return result;
 }
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/shard.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/shard.spec.ts
index 16ef26c2513a2..15774e8e373c5 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/shard.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/shard.spec.ts
@@ -357,3 +357,59 @@ test('should respect custom shard weights', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
     ]);
   });
 });
+
+test('should not count statically skipped tests when sharding', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+  test.info().annotations.push({ type: 'issue', description: 'https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/42875' });
+  const tests = {
+    'a.spec.ts': `
+      import { test } from '@playwright/test';
+      test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' });
+      test.skip('skip1', async () => {});
+      test.fixme('skip2', async () => {});
+      test.describe.skip('suite', () => {
+        test('skip3', async () => {});
+        test('skip4', async () => {});
+      });
+    `,
+    'b.spec.ts': `
+      import { test } from '@playwright/test';
+      test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' });
+      for (let i = 1; i <= 4; i++) {
+        test('test' + i, async () => {
+          console.log('\\n%%b-test' + i + '-done');
+        });
+      }
+    `,
+  };
+
+  await test.step('shard 1', async () => {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(tests, { shard: '1/2', workers: 1 });
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.passed).toBe(2);
+    expect(result.skipped).toBe(4);
+    expect(result.outputLines).toEqual(['b-test1-done', 'b-test2-done']);
+  });
+  await test.step('shard 2', async () => {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(tests, { shard: '2/2', workers: 1 });
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.passed).toBe(2);
+    expect(result.skipped).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.outputLines).toEqual(['b-test3-done', 'b-test4-done']);
+  });
+});
+
+test('should shard when all tests are skipped', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+  const tests = {
+    'a.spec.ts': `
+      import { test } from '@playwright/test';
+      test.describe.configure({ mode: 'parallel' });
+      test.skip('skip1', async () => {});
+      test.skip('skip2', async () => {});
+    `,
+  };
+  for (const shard of ['1/2', '2/2']) {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(tests, { shard, workers: 1 });
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.skipped).toBe(1);
+  }
+});