E2E Testing Guide¶

E2E tests verify real user flows in a real browser.

Use them for high-value journeys only - login, scheduling, file upload. Logic that fits in a unit or integration test belongs there instead.

Where Things Live¶

apps/e2e/
  playwright.config.ts   ← Playwright configuration
  tests/
    some.spec.ts         ← test files go here

Tools¶

Tool	Role
	Browser automation (Chromium)

Local vs CI¶

Setting	Local	CI
Workers	Fully parallel	Single worker
Retries	0	2
Reporter	HTML (opens on failure)	List + HTML (never auto-opens)
Base URL	`http://localhost:3001`	`$PLAYWRIGHT_BASE_URL` env var
`test.only`	Allowed	Breaks the build

What to Run¶

# App must be running first (pnpm run dev)
pnpm --filter e2e run test

# Against a different URL
PLAYWRIGHT_BASE_URL=http://localhost:4000 pnpm --filter e2e run test

# Single file
pnpm --filter e2e exec playwright test tests/login.spec.ts

# View the HTML report
pnpm --filter e2e exec playwright show-report

# First-time browser install
pnpm --filter e2e exec playwright install

E2E is excluded from CI

The pipeline runs pnpm run test:unit which skips apps/e2e. You must run E2E locally before pushing.

What to Worry About¶

The app must be running

Start infrastructure and the app before running tests:

pnpm run dev:infra   # Postgres, Redis, MinIO, solver
pnpm run dev         # frontend + backend

test.only will break CI

forbidOnly: true is enabled. Remove any test.only before committing.

Definition of Done¶

E2E Checklist

[ ] Test covers a real user journey - not logic that belongs in a unit test.
[ ] Test file is in apps/e2e/tests/.
[ ] No test.only left in the file.
[ ] App is running and tests pass locally.
[ ] Test name describes the user action: test('student can upload PDF and view schedule')