Today we are thrilled to announce the release of Cypress 13, packed with new features to enhance how you debug and diagnose test failures. The highlight of this release is the introduction of Test Replay. This feature allows you to interact with previous tests as they occurred during Continuous Integration (CI), eliminating the need for reproducing failures locally.
Test Replay brings the debugging experience you know and love from the Cypress app directly into Cypress Cloud, allowing you to view previous test runs in a live browser, inspect your application, and debug test failures. Having all the data at your fingertips means you can quickly figure out what's going on without having to reproduce the test run locally.
Previously, when encountering test failures in CI, we relied on screenshots, videos, and stack traces to identify and debug errors. While these resources provided great insights, they sometimes fell short of giving us the complete context needed to effectively diagnose the root cause of the failures.
Test Replay allows you to directly interact with the tests as they occurred in CI, providing a seamless time-traveling experience through your tests. With Test Replay, you can step through each action, inspecting the application state at any point during the test run. You can also view console and network logs as they happened in real time throughout the test, just like in the Cypress app.
Getting started
Ready to check it out? All you need to do is update to Cypress 13 and record a test to Cypress Cloud. Test Replay is enabled by default, and there is no additional configuration you need to do to use it. Once recorded, log into Cypress Cloud and view the previous test runs. While inspecting a test, click the "Test Replay" button to review it.
Test Replay is only available for Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Electron) with this initial release. Test Replay will be available with all existing Cypress Cloud plans, including the free tier. If you do not want to capture test data for replay and debugging purposes, simply "shut off" Test Replay in project settings.
Hearing from our valued customers
At Cypress, we're proud to introduce Test Replay, a groundbreaking solution designed to revolutionize your testing experience. But don't just take our word for it – hear directly from those who have already experienced the power of Test Replay. Our customers' feedback speaks volumes about the impact this innovative tool has had on their development workflows. Discover how Test Replay has transformed their testing processes and elevated their projects to new heights.
“Something I miss when trying to debug runs in the cloud is the information from the local app, and access to the selectors. Test Replay gives me those features I was missing, making the debugging experience much easier.” - FanDuel
“We have been wishing for this feature for a long time.” - Extend
“This feature significantly enhances debugging and troubleshooting failures within our CI process.” - AppDirect
“My team and I have been testing this out and the feedback has been unanimously fantastic! It’s helped us reduce the time to debug failing tests, increase the speed of testing both locally and on our pipelines and is overall a hit on our team.” - Maersk
What’s next for Cypress?
With Cypress 13, we analyze your previous test results in ways that weren't possible before. The first outcome of this endeavor is Test Replay, and we hope you see the benefits this provides to your workflows.
The foundations for Test Replay pave the way for deeper insights into the quality of your application in the future, and you can expect further advancements in test analysis and optimization to come soon. "Test Replay is more than a technological advancement,” says Brian Mann, Founder of Cypress. “It's a paradigm shift in how we think about app quality. It lays the groundwork for an ecosystem where our customers can confidently iterate, innovate, and excel, knowing that the backbone of their applications is fortified by Test Replay's rock-solid quality assurance."
What Test Replay means for video capture
The arrival of Test Replay as a superior debugging experience also presents some breaking changes to how Cypress handles video artifacts in Cypress v13.
For starters, video capture and videoCompression of captured video are set to false by default in Cypress v13. Recording and compressing videos can be resource intensive, often impacting the duration of tests running in CI. Test Replay now serves as the primary replacement for debugging via video. We’ve changed these video options to be opt-in so you can configure recording video based on your needs. Learn more about video configuration options.
Additionally, videoUploadOnPasses has been removed. Most users leveraged this as a way to skip the time to compress and upload videos to the Cloud. Since videoCompression will now be off by default, this configuration option does not offer the time saving value that it once did. If you want to prevent a passing test from uploading to the Cloud, we recommend deleting the video using our guide with code examples to discard captured video of passing tests.
Wrapping up
We hope you enjoy the new features in Cypress 13, particularly the transformative power of Test Replay. This release lets you dive into the heart of your tests and application with unparalleled ease. To learn more about Cypress 13 and its features, we invite you to explore our documentation, Changelog, and migration guide.
Want to learn more? Please join us at a webinar on September 6th 12pm ET, where we will dive deep into Cypress 13 and Test Replay. Register here.
Until then, happy testing!