Test Automation Expert

Comprehensive testing guidance from unit to E2E. Designs test strategies, implements automation, and optimizes coverage for sustainable quality.

When to Use

Use for:

• Designing test strategy for new projects
• Setting up testing frameworks (Jest, Vitest, Playwright, Cypress, pytest)
• Writing effective unit, integration, and E2E tests
• Optimizing test coverage and eliminating gaps
• Debugging flaky tests
• CI/CD test pipeline configuration
• Test-Driven Development (TDD) guidance
• Mocking strategies and test fixtures

Do NOT use for:

• Manual QA test case writing - this is automation-focused
• Load/performance testing - use performance-engineer skill
• Security testing - use security-auditor skill
• API contract testing only - use backend-architect for API design

Test Pyramid Philosophy

         /\
        /  \      E2E Tests (10%)
       /----\     - Critical user journeys
      /      \    - Cross-browser validation
     /--------\
    /          \  Integration Tests (20%)
   /            \ - API contracts
  /--------------\- Component interactions
 /                \
/------------------\ Unit Tests (70%)
                    - Fast, isolated, deterministic
                    - Business logic validation

Distribution Guidelines

Test Type	Percentage	Execution Time	Purpose
Unit	70%	< 100ms each	Logic validation
Integration	20%	< 1s each	Component contracts
E2E	10%	< 30s each	Critical paths

Framework Selection

JavaScript/TypeScript

Framework	Best For	Speed	Config Complexity
Vitest	Vite projects, modern ESM	Fastest	Low
Jest	React, established projects	Fast	Medium
Playwright	E2E, cross-browser	N/A	Low
Cypress	E2E, component testing	N/A	Medium

Python

Framework	Best For	Speed	Features
pytest	Everything	Fast	Fixtures, plugins
unittest	Standard library	Medium	Built-in
hypothesis	Property-based	Varies	Generative

Decision Tree: Framework Selection

New project?
├── Yes → Using Vite?
│   ├── Yes → Vitest
│   └── No → Jest or Vitest (both work)
└── No → What exists?
    ├── Jest → Keep Jest (migration cost rarely worth it)
    ├── Mocha → Consider migration to Vitest
    └── Nothing → Vitest (modern default)

Need E2E?
├── Cross-browser critical → Playwright
├── Developer experience priority → Cypress
└── Both → Playwright (more flexible)

Unit Testing Patterns

Good Unit Test Anatomy

describe('UserService', () => {
  describe('validateEmail', () => {
    // Arrange-Act-Assert pattern
    it('should accept valid email formats', () => {
      // Arrange
      const validEmails = ['user@example.com', 'name+tag@domain.co'];

      // Act & Assert
      validEmails.forEach(email => {
        expect(validateEmail(email)).toBe(true);
      });
    });

    it('should reject invalid email formats', () => {
      // Arrange
      const invalidEmails = ['invalid', '@missing.com', 'no@tld'];

      // Act & Assert
      invalidEmails.forEach(email => {
        expect(validateEmail(email)).toBe(false);
      });
    });

    // Edge cases explicitly tested
    it('should handle empty string', () => {
      expect(validateEmail('')).toBe(false);
    });

    it('should handle null/undefined', () => {
      expect(validateEmail(null)).toBe(false);
      expect(validateEmail(undefined)).toBe(false);
    });
  });
});

Mocking Strategies

// ✅ Good: Mock at boundaries
jest.mock('../services/api', () => ({
  fetchUser: jest.fn()
}));

// ✅ Good: Explicit mock setup per test
beforeEach(() => {
  fetchUser.mockReset();
});

it('handles user not found', async () => {
  fetchUser.mockRejectedValue(new NotFoundError());
  await expect(getUser(123)).rejects.toThrow('User not found');
});

// ❌ Bad: Mocking implementation details
jest.mock('../utils/internal-helper'); // Don't mock internals

Test Isolation Checklist

• Each test can run independently
• No shared mutable state between tests
• Database/API state reset between tests
• No test order dependencies
• Parallel execution safe

Integration Testing Patterns

API Integration Test

describe('POST /api/users', () => {
  let app;
  let db;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    db = await createTestDatabase();
    app = createApp({ db });
  });

  afterAll(async () => {
    await db.close();
  });

  beforeEach(async () => {
    await db.clear();
  });

  it('creates user with valid data', async () => {
    const response = await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send({ name: 'Test', email: 'test@example.com' })
      .expect(201);

    expect(response.body).toMatchObject({
      id: expect.any(String),
      name: 'Test',
      email: 'test@example.com'
    });

    // Verify side effects
    const dbUser = await db.users.findById(response.body.id);
    expect(dbUser).toBeDefined();
  });

  it('rejects duplicate email', async () => {
    await db.users.create({ name: 'Existing', email: 'test@example.com' });

    await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send({ name: 'New', email: 'test@example.com' })
      .expect(409);
  });
});

Component Integration (React)

import { render, screen, waitFor } from '@testing-library/react';
import userEvent from '@testing-library/user-event';
import { UserProfile } from './UserProfile';
import { UserProvider } from '../context/UserContext';

describe('UserProfile integration', () => {
  it('loads and displays user data', async () => {
    render(
      <UserProvider>
        <UserProfile userId="123" />
      </UserProvider>
    );

    // Verify loading state
    expect(screen.getByRole('progressbar')).toBeInTheDocument();

    // Wait for data
    await waitFor(() => {
      expect(screen.getByText('John Doe')).toBeInTheDocument();
    });

    // Verify loaded state
    expect(screen.queryByRole('progressbar')).not.toBeInTheDocument();
  });
});

E2E Testing Patterns

Playwright Best Practices

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test.describe('Checkout Flow', () => {
  test.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => {
    // Seed test data via API
    await page.request.post('/api/test/seed', {
      data: { scenario: 'checkout-ready' }
    });
  });

  test('complete purchase with credit card', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/cart');

    // Use accessible selectors
    await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Proceed to checkout' }).click();

    // Fill payment form
    await page.getByLabel('Card number').fill('4242424242424242');
    await page.getByLabel('Expiry').fill('12/25');
    await page.getByLabel('CVC').fill('123');

    // Complete purchase
    await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Pay now' }).click();

    // Verify success
    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Order confirmed' })).toBeVisible();
    await expect(page.getByText(/Order #\d+/)).toBeVisible();
  });

  test('shows error for declined card', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/checkout');

    // Use test card that triggers decline
    await page.getByLabel('Card number').fill('4000000000000002');
    await page.getByLabel('Expiry').fill('12/25');
    await page.getByLabel('CVC').fill('123');

    await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Pay now' }).click();

    await expect(page.getByRole('alert')).toContainText('Card declined');
  });
});

Flaky Test Detection & Prevention

Common Causes:

1. Race conditions in async operations
2. Time-dependent tests
3. Shared state between tests
4. Network variability
5. Animation/transition timing

Fixes:

// ❌ Bad: Fixed timeout
await page.waitForTimeout(2000);

// ✅ Good: Wait for specific condition
await expect(page.getByText('Loaded')).toBeVisible();

// ❌ Bad: Checking exact time
expect(new Date()).toEqual(specificDate);

// ✅ Good: Mock time
jest.useFakeTimers();
jest.setSystemTime(new Date('2024-01-15'));

// ❌ Bad: Depending on animation completion
await page.click('.button');
expect(await page.isVisible('.modal')).toBe(true);

// ✅ Good: Wait for animation
await page.click('.button');
await expect(page.locator('.modal')).toBeVisible();

Coverage Optimization

What to Measure

Metric	Target	Priority
Line coverage	80%+	Medium
Branch coverage	75%+	High
Function coverage	90%+	Medium
Critical path coverage	100%	Critical

Coverage Configuration

// vitest.config.js
export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    coverage: {
      provider: 'v8',
      reporter: ['text', 'json', 'html'],
      exclude: [
        'node_modules/',
        'test/',
        '**/*.d.ts',
        '**/*.config.*',
        '**/index.ts', // barrel files
      ],
      thresholds: {
        branches: 75,
        functions: 80,
        lines: 80,
        statements: 80
      }
    }
  }
});

Finding Coverage Gaps

# Generate detailed coverage report
npx vitest run --coverage

# Find untested files
npx vitest run --coverage --reporter=json | jq '.coverageMap | to_entries | map(select(.value.s | values | any(. == 0))) | .[].key'

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Tests
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  unit-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test -- --coverage
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4

  e2e-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps
      - run: npm run test:e2e
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: failure()
        with:
          name: playwright-report
          path: playwright-report/

Test Parallelization

// vitest.config.js - parallel by default
export default defineConfig({
  test: {
    pool: 'threads',
    poolOptions: {
      threads: {
        singleThread: false
      }
    }
  }
});

// playwright.config.js
export default defineConfig({
  workers: process.env.CI ? 2 : undefined,
  fullyParallel: true
});

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern: Testing Implementation Details

What it looks like:

// ❌ Testing internal state
expect(component.state.isLoading).toBe(true);

// ❌ Testing private methods
expect(service._calculateHash()).toBe('abc123');

Why wrong: Couples tests to implementation, breaks on refactors

Instead:

// ✅ Test observable behavior
expect(screen.getByRole('progressbar')).toBeInTheDocument();

// ✅ Test public interface
expect(service.getHash()).toBe('abc123');

Anti-Pattern: Over-Mocking

What it looks like:

// ❌ Mocking everything
jest.mock('../utils/format');
jest.mock('../utils/validate');
jest.mock('../utils/transform');

Why wrong: Tests pass even when real code is broken

Instead: Mock only at system boundaries (APIs, databases, external services)

Anti-Pattern: Flaky Acceptance

What it looks like: "That test is just flaky, skip it"

Why wrong: Flaky tests indicate real problems (race conditions, timing issues)

Instead: Fix the flakiness or quarantine while fixing

Anti-Pattern: Coverage Theater

What it looks like:

// ❌ Testing for coverage, not behavior
it('covers the function', () => {
  myFunction();
  // No assertions!
});

Why wrong: 100% coverage with 0% confidence

Instead: Every test should assert meaningful behavior

Quick Commands

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run with coverage
npm test -- --coverage

# Run specific file
npm test -- src/utils/format.test.ts

# Run in watch mode
npm test -- --watch

# Run E2E tests
npx playwright test

# Run E2E with UI
npx playwright test --ui

# Debug E2E test
npx playwright test --debug

# Update snapshots
npm test -- -u

Reference Files

• references/test-strategy.md - Comprehensive test strategy framework
• references/framework-comparison.md - Detailed framework comparison
• references/coverage-patterns.md - Coverage optimization techniques
• references/ci-integration.md - CI/CD pipeline configurations

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Covers: Test strategy | Unit testing | Integration testing | E2E testing | Coverage | CI/CD | Flaky test debugging

Use with: security-auditor (security tests) | performance-engineer (load tests) | code-reviewer (test quality)