[playwright-browser-tunnel] Widen playwright-core peer dependency range

[Arshad Narmawala (anarmawala)]

Summary

Widens the playwright-core peer dependency range of @rushstack/playwright-browser-tunnel from ~1.56.1 to >=1.56.1 <2.0.0, and moves the package's own Playwright dependencies to the current release (1.62.1).

Motivation

The ~1.56.1 peer range forces every consumer onto one specific Playwright minor. Any consumer that upgrades Playwright is blocked until this package publishes a matching release, even though the tunnel itself is not coupled to a particular version.

That coupling isn't real. The tunnel negotiates the Playwright version over the wire:

• TunneledBrowserConnection.ts defaults playwrightVersion to the client's installed playwright-core/package.json version and sends it in the handshake.
• PlaywrightBrowserTunnel receives that version and installs it on the host on demand:

  `playwright-core-${playwrightVersion}@npm:playwright-core@${playwrightVersion}`

  then dynamically imports it to launch the browser server.

So the host already runs whatever version the client asks for. The version-matching requirement between the Playwright client and browser server is satisfied by that handshake, not by the peer range.

Everything the package imports from playwright-core is public API — LaunchOptions, Browser, BrowserServer, BrowserType — plus playwright-core/package.json for the version string. LaunchOptionsValidator iterates Object.keys(launchOptions) and has no hardcoded option list, so it needs no changes as Playwright's launch options evolve.

Changes

apps/playwright-browser-tunnel

• peerDependencies.playwright-core: ~1.56.1 → >=1.56.1 <2.0.0
• dependencies.playwright: 1.56.1 → 1.62.1
• devDependencies.playwright-core / @playwright/test: ~1.56.1 → ~1.62.1

vscode-extensions/playwright-local-browser-server-vscode-extension

• dependencies.playwright-core: ~1.56.1 → ~1.62.1

The peer range keeps a <2.0.0 ceiling so a future major still requires an explicit review.

Note

apps/playwright-browser-tunnel declares playwright (not playwright-core) as a runtime dependency, but nothing under src/ imports it — only @playwright/test in tests/ and playwright.config.ts, which are dev-only. It looks like it could be moved to devDependencies, which would also stop pulling a second full Playwright install into consumers' lockfiles. I left it in place since that's a separate call; happy to fold it in if you'd like.