diff --git a/.github/workflows/merge.config.ts b/.github/workflows/merge.config.ts
index b39944bc809c1..e8582ed5213e4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/merge.config.ts
+++ b/.github/workflows/merge.config.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 export default {
   testDir: '../../tests',
-  reporter: [['markdown'], ['html']]
+  reporter: [[require.resolve('../../packages/playwright/lib/reporters/markdown')], ['html']]
 };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/common/config.ts b/packages/playwright/src/common/config.ts
index a694839f815e1..11a176cb90460 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/common/config.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/common/config.ts
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ export function toReporters(reporters: BuiltInReporter | ReporterDescription[] |
   return reporters;
 }
 
-export const builtInReporters = ['list', 'line', 'dot', 'json', 'junit', 'null', 'github', 'html', 'blob', 'markdown'] as const;
+export const builtInReporters = ['list', 'line', 'dot', 'json', 'junit', 'null', 'github', 'html', 'blob'] as const;
 export type BuiltInReporter = typeof builtInReporters[number];
 
 export type ContextReuseMode = 'none' | 'when-possible';
diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/runner/reporters.ts b/packages/playwright/src/runner/reporters.ts
index 2f7b16f2a6748..2bab152f08376 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/runner/reporters.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/runner/reporters.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import JSONReporter from '../reporters/json';
 import JUnitReporter from '../reporters/junit';
 import LineReporter from '../reporters/line';
 import ListReporter from '../reporters/list';
-import MarkdownReporter from '../reporters/markdown';
 import type { Suite } from '../common/test';
 import type { BuiltInReporter, FullConfigInternal } from '../common/config';
 import { loadReporter } from './loadUtils';
@@ -45,7 +44,6 @@ export async function createReporters(config: FullConfigInternal, mode: 'list' |
     junit: JUnitReporter,
     null: EmptyReporter,
     html: HtmlReporter,
-    markdown: MarkdownReporter,
   };
   const reporters: ReporterV2[] = [];
   descriptions ??= config.config.reporter;
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-markdown.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-markdown.spec.ts
index d24f2561c12c1..076e28d66e2e6 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/reporter-markdown.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/reporter-markdown.spec.ts
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 import { expect, test } from './playwright-test-fixtures';
 
+const markdownReporter = require.resolve('../../packages/playwright/lib/reporters/markdown');
+
 test('simple report', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   const files = {
     'playwright.config.ts': `
       module.exports = {
         retries: 1,
-        reporter: 'markdown',
+        reporter: ${JSON.stringify(markdownReporter)},
       };
     `,
     'dir1/a.test.js': `
@@ -83,7 +85,7 @@ test('custom report file', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   const files = {
     'playwright.config.ts': `
       module.exports = {
-        reporter: [['markdown', { outputFile: 'my-report.md' }]],
+        reporter: [[${JSON.stringify(markdownReporter)}, { outputFile: 'my-report.md' }]],
       };
     `,
     'a.test.js': `
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ test('report error without snippet', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
     'playwright.config.ts': `
       module.exports = {
         retries: 1,
-        reporter: 'markdown',
+        reporter: ${JSON.stringify(markdownReporter)},
       };
     `,
     'a.test.js': `
@@ -135,7 +137,7 @@ test('report with worker error', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
     'playwright.config.ts': `
       module.exports = {
         retries: 1,
-        reporter: 'markdown',
+        reporter: ${JSON.stringify(markdownReporter)},
       };
     `,
     'a.test.js': `