I am trying to use Page Object Model for Playwright UI tests. I have created a setup file for login, as this is always the first step in each test.

    import { test as setup, expect } from '@playwright/test';
    import { Credentials } from '../pages/Credentials';
    import { LoginPage } from '../pages/Login.page';

    const authFile = 'playwright/.auth/user.json';

    setup('authenticate', async ({ page }) => {

    const loginPage = new LoginPage(page);

    await loginPage.navigate();
    await loginPage.enterUsername(Credentials.username);
    await loginPage.enterPassword(Credentials.password);
    await loginPage.clickLoginButton();
    expect (await loginPage.getWelcomeMessage()).toBe(true);
    // End of authentication steps.

    await page.context().storageState({ path: authFile });
    });

However, when I continue to the next page of my test, the browser closes and a new empty browser session opens. I want the test to carry on using the existing browser session.

This is my code for the test using POM.

    // PMSIntegrations.ts
    import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
    import PMSIntegrations from '../pages/PMSIntegrations.page';

    test('User can integrate with third parties', async ({ page }) => {

    const pmsIntegrationsPage = new PMSIntegrations(page);
    await pmsIntegrationsPage.navigateToIntegrations();

    expect (await pmsIntegrationsPage.areServicesConnected()).toBe(true);
    });

And this is my config

    import { PlaywrightTestConfig } from '@playwright/test';

    const config: PlaywrightTestConfig = {

    projects: [

    { name: 'setup', testMatch: /.*.setup.ts/ },

       {
         name: 'Chromium',
         use: { browserName: 'chromium',
         // Use prepared auth state.
         storageState: 'playwright/.auth/user.json',
       },
       dependencies: ['setup'],
        }
       ],
     };

    export default config;

Any help always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks