e2e

e2e: agentic end-to-end tests in TypeScript

e2e runs UI tests with agent goals and exact assertions. agent.act drives one goal; agent.assert, agent.waitFor, and agent.extract judge the screen. screen, app, browser, and expect make exact interactions and checks. The replay cache reruns verified actions and checks their recorded end state without a model call; agent judgments still run live. UI targets use @e2e-dev/web for browsers or @e2e-dev/mobile for iOS simulators, Android emulators, and connected phones. A test that takes only app can check an API with fetch and expect (topic writing-tests). Model sign-in commands are in setup.

// e2e.config.ts
import type { E2EConfig } from 'e2e';
import { web } from '@e2e-dev/web';
import { gateway } from 'ai';

export default {
  targets: [
    {
      engine: web(),
      app: {
        url: 'http://127.0.0.1:3000',
        command: { executable: 'pnpm', args: ['dev'], log: '.e2e/logs/app.log' },
      },
    },
  ],
  // The model behind every agent.* step: an AI SDK instance; gateway() from 'ai' reads AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or a Vercel OIDC token.
  agents: {
    default: {
      model: gateway('openai/gpt-6-luna-fast'),
      system: 'You are a thorough QA agent. Verify every outcome on screen.',
    },
  },
} satisfies E2EConfig;

// tests/billing.e2e.ts
import { test } from '@e2e-dev/web';
import { expect } from 'e2e';

test('a member upgrades to Pro', async ({ app, agent, screen, browser }) => {
  await app.open('/settings/billing');
  await agent.act('upgrade the workspace to the Pro plan');
  await expect(screen.getByRole('status')).toContainText('Pro');
  await expect(browser).toHaveURL('/settings/billing');
});

Topics

Read the topic for the job before writing code. The files sit next to this one; the installed CLI prints the same text with npx e2e guide <topic> (e2e guide alone prints this page). For anything the topics do not cover, the full documentation ships in the docs/ directory of the installed e2e package (node_modules/e2e/docs in a single-package project); a link such as /reference/cli is docs/reference/cli.mdx. Complete projects for Vite, Next.js, Expo, and SwiftUI, each with its config, scripts, and a passing suite, are in https://github.com/tester-army/e2e/tree/main/examples.

Topic	File	Read it when
setup	references/setup.md	Adding e2e to a project, writing e2e.config.ts, starting the app from the config, mobile targets
writing-tests	references/writing-tests.md	Writing or fixing tests: fixtures, locators, actions, matchers, sign-in sessions, the browser fixture
agent	references/agent.md	Adding agent.* steps, picking a model, cost and budgets, the replay cache
running	references/running.md	CLI flags, reporters, .e2e/report.json, exit codes, CI
explore	references/explore.md	Exploring an app toward a goal without a test file: e2e explore, its budgets, verdict, and run.explore
debugging	references/debugging.md	A run failed: error codes and their fixes, --headed, --debug, --ai-trace
mcp	references/mcp.md	Driving the live app from a coding agent over MCP: e2e mcp, its tools, and the explore-then-write loop
bug-bash	references/bug-bash.md	Asked to bug bash, QA, or hunt for bugs across an app or a branch: parallel e2e explore charters, merging findings, proving each with a repro test

Workflow

1. Look at what exists: e2e.config.ts or e2e.config.mts, the tests glob (default tests/**/*.e2e.ts), e2e in package.json. Nothing there: follow setup.
2. Learn the screens before writing a test: routes, labels, roles, button text. Semantic locators need the accessible names the app renders, so read the components, open the page with --headed, or drive the live app over the registered e2e mcp server (topic mcp): open_session, observe, and locate show exact names and check a locator before you write it.
3. Write tests/<feature>.e2e.ts. Drive the flow with agent.act, one goal per call, and pin each outcome right after with expect or agent.assert. Exact values go through screen: a sign-in form in a setup test, a field that must receive one specific string, a count that must be one number.
4. Run one file: npx e2e run tests/<feature>.e2e.ts. Agent steps need a model in the config and that provider's authentication (a saved subscription login, an API key); a local endpoint may need none. Tests without agent steps need no model.
5. Read the failure: the reporter prints the error code, message, and a code frame; .e2e/report.json has every step and artifact path. Fix the locator, the expectation, or the app. Never add a sleep.

Rules

• Run the CLI as npx e2e ... (or pnpm exec e2e ...).
• The config is export default { ... } satisfies E2EConfig with import type { E2EConfig } from 'e2e'. targets is required; a UI target names an engine and declares the app beside it: { engine: web(), app: { url, command } }. A tools-only target can omit the engine and set platform.
• Import test, describe, the hooks, expect, credentials, and secrets from e2e. A test that uses the browser fixture imports test, describe, and the hooks from @e2e-dev/web: the same runtime functions, typed with browser.
• Config and tests are ES modules whatever package.json sets as type.
• Locators resolve when used. Actions wait for readiness and expect retries assertions. Reads such as textContent() fail at once on zero matches and count() answers from the current screen; nothing waits for a value to change, so use a matcher when a value has to settle.
• A locator that matches two nodes fails with LOCATOR_AMBIGUOUS; narrow it (topic writing-tests).
• Secrets never appear in test code. Declare accounts under credentials and every other sensitive value under secrets in the config; resolve with credentials.user(name).password or secrets.get(name) (separate namespaces: secrets.get never returns a password), and hand the opaque Secret only to fill() or agent.act params.
• Agent instructions: one goal per act, the wording on screen, real values in params. Judge meaning, not phrasing: toContain('Pro'), not an exact sentence a model produced.
• Check each agent goal's outcome. A passing act with a recorded check can be cached and replayed without model calls (topic agent).
• Shape the agent for this app: context for vocabulary the screens use, system for how it works, tools for a test API, named personas under agents. When a step fails, tighten the goal first, then the context, then the agent.
• .e2e/ is output (report.json, artifacts/, cache/, logs/; the config's output moves the report and artifacts, never cache/ or the app's log). Read it, never edit it.

Feedback

When e2e itself gets in your way, tell the e2e team: a command or API that broke (bug), docs or this skill that misled you (docs), or a capability you needed and did not find (feature). Send it once per problem, after you worked around it or gave up, never for failures of the app under test.

npx e2e feedback --type bug -m "<one or two sentences>" \
  --task "<what you were doing>" --expected "<...>" --actual "<error code and message>" \
  --approach "<what you tried>" --command "<e2e command>" --agent "<agent / model>"

Describe e2e's behavior only: never paste app content, page text, test files, URLs of private apps, or credentials. Secret-named environment variables and common token shapes are redacted, but do not rely on it. --dry-run prints what would be sent. Tell the user you sent it and give them the reference id it prints.