Test creation best practices

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Tl;dr:

• start with auto-generation
• have AI agent generate more test cases
• create test cases with a prompt
• use dependencies
• help the AI agent where it went wrong
• use run locally and Playwright Codegen
• work on multiple test cases in parallel

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Start with the AI auto-generation

Our AI auto-generation gives you a head start with up to 3 AI auto-generated tests.

You can have the AI agent generate more test cases. Go into the test case and hover over the generate more icon - a button will appear. Click on it. Find more on how generate more works here.

The AI agent will auto-generate up to 3 new tests based on the one you started it from. The original test will be added as dependency. We will auto-generate steps for every found test case and validate them.

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Create more tests with a prompt

This comes in handy when you want a specific test the AI agent didn’t find during auto-generation. There are multiple ways to start with a prompt.

Use the generate test case button on the overview page or on the test cases page.

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Use dependencies

Best practice is to keep the test cases short and to the point. Ideally, each test case represents a small task you want to achieve.

What if you want to test if a full user flow is working? A good method for this is test chaining - the use of dependencies.

Take accept all cookies, login and open profile page. Every test case runs in isolation and therefore needs to include the full flow. Open profile page would have to include steps for closing cookie banner and logging in.

Unless you chain the tests together - make accept all cookies a dependency of login and make login a dependency of open profile page.

This way the test runner as well as the AI Agent are using pre-play to execute dependencies before starting their actual work.

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Help the AI agent when it went wrong

We are constantly improving the AI agent but it still might make mistakes. Help it find its way. Use the steps tab to edit and fine tune your test.

You can add missing steps by clicking the + add step button and choosing the desired interaction or assertion. Use the virtual locator picker to select the right locator in the snapshot on the right. Drag and drop the step where needed.

More details can be found in the editing test cases section.

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Run Octomind tests locally

Run locally is most helpful for step by step adjustments since it is giving you the current state of a page. It will noticeably speed up your test creation efforts.

You can find the run locally button in the debug tab of your test case. Find out how to run Octomind tests locally.

You can use the locator tool to easily receive locators. Activate it and click on the desired element. Then you can copy the locator.