In vitest browser mode with WebdriverIO, using `clear` or `fill("")` doesn't trigger the `input` event, as it should

Describe the bug

I noticed that calling clear on an input won't trigger the input event when using the WebDriver backend.

This is more a FYI in case anybody else finds the issue, but I think ultimately it's up to the browser vendors to fix the issue.

Reproduction

I created a testcase in https://github.com/julienw/testcase-vitest-input-clear.

In that repository you'll find 3 examples of the same app with the same tests:

1. With playwright everything happens as I expect: I get the input event.
2. With @testing-library/user-event I also get the input event.
3. However with webdriver.io I don't get this event.

Playwright sends the event in https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/blob/3afe7ba8c020e1f69c703dce1801d258bd726f89/packages/injected/src/injectedScript.ts#L838-L839 (called from https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/blob/3afe7ba8c020e1f69c703dce1801d258bd726f89/packages/playwright-core/src/server/dom.ts#L594 )

user-event sends the event in https://github.com/testing-library/user-event/blob/ebab6c6e81e7022af7afa5aacd07d01626895eb8/src/event/input.ts#L176-L179 (called from https://github.com/testing-library/user-event/blob/ebab6c6e81e7022af7afa5aacd07d01626895eb8/src/utility/clear.ts#L22)

But webdriver.io doesn't.

But I think it should according to the webdriver specification: https://w3c.github.io/webdriver/#dfn-clear-algorithm

A workaround is fairly easy:

  await searchInput.click(); // Focus the input
  await userEvent.keyboard("{Ctrl>}a{/Ctrl}"); // Select all (Cmd or Control+A)
  await userEvent.keyboard("{Backspace}"); // Delete

Even though it's 3 lines instead of 1.

I was under the impression that await userEvent.keyboard("{selectall}{Backspace}"); would work too but it doesn't.

System Info

System:
    OS: Linux 6.7 Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 12 (bookworm)
    CPU: (16) x64 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900H @ 2.50GHz
    Memory: 37.07 GB / 62.54 GB
    Container: Yes
    Shell: 5.2.15 - /bin/bash
  Binaries:
    Node: 24.8.0 - /home/julien/.nvm/versions/node/v24.8.0/bin/node
    Yarn: 1.22.22 - /usr/bin/yarn
    npm: 11.6.0 - /home/julien/.nvm/versions/node/v24.8.0/bin/npm
    pnpm: 10.9.0 - /home/julien/.local/share/pnpm/pnpm
    bun: 1.0.29 - /home/julien/.bun/bin/bun
    Deno: 2.0.0 - /home/julien/.cargo/bin/deno
    Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/bin/watchman
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 139.0.7258.127
    Chromium: 139.0.7258.127
    Firefox: 128.13.0esr
    Firefox Developer Edition: 128.13.0esr
  npmPackages:
    @vitest/browser: ^3.2.4 => 3.2.4 
    vite: ^7.1.7 => 7.1.9 
    vitest: ^3.2.4 => 3.2.4 
    webdriverio: ^9.20.0 => 9.20.0

Used Package Manager

npm

Validations

• Follow our Code of Conduct
• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion or join our Discord Chat Server.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

Start with the linked minimal reproduction and compare the Playwright, user-event, and WebdriverIO cases described in the issue. Check the WebDriver clear algorithm and determine whether Vitest can address the behavior or whether it belongs with the browser or WebdriverIO vendors; done means identifying the responsible component and a confirmed path forward.