What Testmode can and cannot test

Testmode tests web applications in a real desktop browser in the cloud. It works best on apps a person uses with a mouse and keyboard, reached at a public URL, signed in to with a username and password.

• Web apps and sites of any framework: React, Angular, Vue, server-rendered pages, single-page apps with hash routes.
• Flows people click through: search, filters, forms, carts, checkouts on a test environment, dashboards, settings.
• Apps behind a login with a username and password, through a credential.
• Several environments of the same app: staging, production, previews, one per customer.

Not directly. The browsers run in the cloud and reach your app over the public internet. Use a deployed staging or preview environment. An app behind an IP allowlist or a VPN can’t be reached unless it lets Testmode’s cloud browsers in.

Automatic login types a username and password into a login form, including forms split across two pages. It can’t type a one-time code from email, SMS or an authenticator app, and it can’t sign in through another site, such as “Sign in with Google” or a company SSO. Use a test account with a plain username and password on the environment you test, with MFA off for that account.

Testmode doesn’t solve CAPTCHAs. A site that shows a challenge page or blocks automated browsers fails its tests, and the failure screenshot and session replay show the challenge. Turn the protection off on the test environment, or allow Testmode’s traffic there.

Tests act on what the page shows, including fields inside embedded frames such as payment widgets in test mode. Results depend on the provider; use its test mode and test card numbers, never real cards.

Not reliably. Flows that pass through another domain, such as an external payment page or an identity provider, are not supported. Keep each test on one site.

No. A test can’t open an inbox to follow a confirmation link or read a code. Test the parts of the flow that happen in your app.

Testmode reads the page’s text and structure to follow steps and check outcomes. It isn’t a pixel-by-pixel visual comparison tool. Describe visible results in words: headings, messages, items, values.

Testmode tests web apps in a desktop-sized browser. It doesn’t test native mobile or desktop apps, or APIs on their own. A web app’s responsive mobile layout isn’t covered either: tests use a desktop window.

Tests do what their steps say, on whichever environment you run them against: they can place orders, send messages and change data. Point such tests at a test environment, with test accounts and test payment methods, and mark them Changes data: they are then left out of runs on production unless that environment allows them. An exploration’s crawl only reads pages; its exploratory tests click and type, but stop short of keeping data on such a production environment. See Pause testing and protect data.