this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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How much flakiness do you tolerate in end to end tests? (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by kersplort@programming.dev to c/experienced_devs@programming.dev
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End to end and smoke tests give a really valuable angle on what the app is doing and can warn you about failures before they happen. However, because they're working with a live app and a live database over a live network, they can introduce a lot of flakiness. Beyond just changes to the app, different data in the environment or other issues can cause a smoke test failure.

How do you handle the inherent flakiness of testing against a live app?

When do you run smokes? On every phoenix branch? Pre-prod? Prod only?

Who fixes the issues that the smokes find?

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[–] kersplort@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

Wherever possible, this is a good idea. The campsite rule - tests don't touch data they didn't bring with them - helps as well.

However, many end to end tests exist as a pipeline, especially for entities that are core to the business function of the app. Cramming all sequentiality into single tests will give you all the problems described, but in a giant single test that you need to fish out the result for.