Agent skill

test-automation-strategy

Design and implement effective test automation with proper pyramid, patterns, and CI/CD integration. Use when building automation frameworks or improving test efficiency.

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npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/testing/test-automation-strategy-proffesor-for-testin-agentic-qe

SKILL.md

Test Automation Strategy

<default_to_action> When designing or improving test automation:

  1. FOLLOW test pyramid: 70% unit, 20% integration, 10% E2E
  2. APPLY F.I.R.S.T. principles: Fast, Isolated, Repeatable, Self-validating, Timely
  3. USE patterns: Page Object Model, Builder pattern, Factory pattern
  4. INTEGRATE in CI/CD: Every commit runs tests, fail fast, clear feedback
  5. MANAGE flaky tests: Quarantine, fix, or delete - never ignore

Quick Anti-Pattern Detection:

  • Ice cream cone (many E2E, few unit) → Invert to pyramid
  • Slow tests (> 10 min suite) → Parallelize, mock external deps
  • Flaky tests → Fix timing, isolate data, or quarantine
  • Test duplication → Share fixtures, use page objects
  • Brittle selectors → Use data-testid, semantic locators

Critical Success Factors:

  • Fast feedback is the goal (< 10 min full suite)
  • Automation supports testing, doesn't replace judgment
  • Invest in test infrastructure like production code </default_to_action>

Quick Reference Card

When to Use

  • Building new automation framework
  • Improving existing test efficiency
  • Reducing flaky test burden
  • Optimizing CI/CD pipeline speed

Test Pyramid

Layer % Speed Isolation Examples
Unit 70% < 1ms Complete Pure functions, logic
Integration 20% < 1s Partial API, database
E2E 10% < 30s None User journeys

F.I.R.S.T. Principles

Principle Meaning How
Fast Quick execution Mock external deps
Isolated No shared state Fresh fixtures per test
Repeatable Same result every time No random data
Self-validating Clear pass/fail Assert, don't print
Timely Written with code TDD, not after

Anti-Patterns

Problem Symptom Fix
Ice cream cone 80% E2E, 10% unit Invert pyramid
Slow suite 30+ min CI Parallelize, prune
Flaky tests Random failures Quarantine, fix timing
Coupled tests Order-dependent Isolate data
Brittle selectors Break on CSS change Use data-testid

Page Object Model

javascript
// pages/LoginPage.js
class LoginPage {
  constructor(page) {
    this.page = page;
    this.emailInput = '[data-testid="email"]';
    this.passwordInput = '[data-testid="password"]';
    this.submitButton = '[data-testid="submit"]';
    this.errorMessage = '[data-testid="error"]';
  }

  async login(email, password) {
    await this.page.fill(this.emailInput, email);
    await this.page.fill(this.passwordInput, password);
    await this.page.click(this.submitButton);
  }

  async getError() {
    return this.page.textContent(this.errorMessage);
  }
}

// Test uses page object
test('shows error for invalid credentials', async ({ page }) => {
  const loginPage = new LoginPage(page);
  await loginPage.login('bad@email.com', 'wrong');
  expect(await loginPage.getError()).toBe('Invalid credentials');
});

CI/CD Integration

yaml
name: Test Pipeline
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  unit-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run test:unit -- --coverage
        timeout-minutes: 5
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3

  integration-tests:
    needs: unit-tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:15
    steps:
      - run: npm run test:integration
        timeout-minutes: 10

  e2e-tests:
    needs: integration-tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: npx playwright test
        timeout-minutes: 15

Flaky Test Management

typescript
// Quarantine flaky tests
describe.skip('Quarantined - INC-123', () => {
  test('flaky test awaiting fix', () => { /* ... */ });
});

// Agent-assisted stabilization
await Task("Fix Flaky Tests", {
  tests: quarantinedTests,
  analysis: ['timing-issues', 'data-isolation', 'race-conditions'],
  strategies: ['add-waits', 'isolate-fixtures', 'mock-externals']
}, "qe-flaky-test-hunter");

Agent-Assisted Automation

typescript
// Generate tests following pyramid
await Task("Generate Test Suite", {
  sourceCode: 'src/',
  pyramid: { unit: 70, integration: 20, e2e: 10 },
  patterns: ['page-object', 'builder', 'factory'],
  framework: 'jest'
}, "qe-test-generator");

// Optimize test execution
await Task("Optimize Suite", {
  algorithm: 'johnson-lindenstrauss',
  targetReduction: 0.3,
  maintainCoverage: 0.95
}, "qe-regression-risk-analyzer");

// Analyze flaky patterns
await Task("Flaky Analysis", {
  testHistory: 'last-30-days',
  detectPatterns: ['timing', 'data', 'environment'],
  recommend: 'stabilization-strategy'
}, "qe-flaky-test-hunter");

Agent Coordination Hints

Memory Namespace

aqe/automation/
├── test-pyramid/*        - Coverage by layer
├── page-objects/*        - Shared page objects
├── flaky-registry/*      - Quarantined tests
└── execution-metrics/*   - Suite performance data

Fleet Coordination

typescript
const automationFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({
  strategy: 'test-automation',
  agents: [
    'qe-test-generator',         // Generate pyramid-compliant tests
    'qe-test-executor',          // Parallel execution
    'qe-coverage-analyzer',      // Coverage gaps
    'qe-flaky-test-hunter',      // Flaky detection
    'qe-regression-risk-analyzer' // Smart selection
  ],
  topology: 'hierarchical'
});

Related Skills

Remember

Pyramid: 70% unit, 20% integration, 10% E2E. F.I.R.S.T. principles for every test. Page Object Model for E2E. Parallelize for speed. Quarantine flaky tests - never ignore them. Treat test code like production code.

With Agents: Agents generate pyramid-compliant tests, detect flaky patterns, optimize execution time, and maintain test infrastructure. Use agents to scale automation quality.

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