Framework review: Cypress
Fast and reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. It uses Javascript to make setting up, writing, running and debugging tests easy — for QAs and developers.
Code
Example of automation at GitHub.
Use cases 🥇
Automate end-to-end (E2E) tests using the UI or the client-side Javascript. It also supports API testing and mocks.
Learning curve 🥇
Cypress has little setup and comes with intuitive methods and assertions, so you will be writing your first tests in no time. When you open Cypress, you can watch the test execution step-by-step in the browser, pause it, even go back in time!
Language 🥈
Tests are written in Javascript, thus some basic knowledge is required to code and understand the tests. You will only take full advantage of this powerful framework if you are proficient with Javascript though.
Ecosystem 🥇
Javascript. I used VS Code to write tests and (after a simple configuration) it’s IntelliSense made me very productive.
Readability 🥈
A non-tech person can only understand the title of each test. E2E tests easily become hard to read even for devs. There are unofficial libs to support Gherkin. By default there’s no test report file, only an ASCII output, but you can add any Mocha test reporter.
Extensibility 🥉
You can create your own Cypress Commands (not picked up by IntelliSense without using TypeScript) or regular Javascript functions. PageObjects is a nightmare (their recommendation isn’t better). There are several Cypress plugins (but they offer functionality that should be built-in). It’s a pity that parallel test execution is a paid feature.
Maintainability 🥈
Debugging is good (pause, go back in time, DOM inspection), I longed for step-by-step. IntelliSense usually guides your coding. Cypress commands run asynchronously and that leads to issues (e.g. run conditions) and limitations (e.g. can’t mix sync and async code).
Documentation 🥇
The online doc is abundant and comprehensive. It covers how to use Cypress, including some recipes/examples, but also explains some test concepts (e.g. when to use test mocks, anti-patterns, etc.).
VERDICT: 4.5/5
Awesome “value for effort” ratio. Extra good if your SUT also uses JavaScript.
Originally published at https://www.diogonunes.com on January 4, 2021.
