diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 568f9dde93..8b73006e79 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -70,9 +70,15 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
-      # E2E runs inside docker and doesn't need any node dependencies
+      # E2E tests run inside docker container and don't need installed deps,
+      # but we still need to use `pnpm ls` to determine what the specific
+      # version of playwright being used in pnpm-lock.yaml is
+      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2.0.1
+        with:
+          version: 6.30.1
+
       - name: Run E2E
-        run: PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION=1.17.1 TEST_TYPE=e2e docker-compose -f docker-compose.playwright.yml up --abort-on-container-exit --exit-code-from playwright
+        run: ./bin/playwright.sh
 
   storybook:
     name: Check Storybook build
diff --git a/bin/playwright.sh b/bin/playwright.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..25c13465a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/playwright.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#! /bin/bash'
+
+# todo: find a way to make this portable for Windows users so it can be used for the package.json script
+
+export PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION=$(pnpm ls --dev --depth=0 | grep playwright | awk '{print $2}')
+TEST_TYPE=$1 docker-compose -f docker-compose.playwright.yml up \
+    --abort-on-container-exit \
+    --exit-code-from playwright