Charon/docs/testing/README.md

E2E Testing & Debugging Guide

Recent Updates: See Sprint 1 Improvements for information about recent E2E test reliability and performance enhancements (February 2026).

Quick Navigation

Getting Started with E2E Tests

• Running Tests: npm run e2e
• All Browsers: npm run e2e:all
• Headed Mode: npm run e2e:headed

Debugging Features

This project includes comprehensive debugging enhancements for Playwright E2E tests.

📚 Documentation

• Debugging Guide - Complete guide to debugging features
• Implementation Summary - Technical implementation details

🛠️ VS Code Debug Tasks

Five new debug tasks are available in VS Code:

1. Test: E2E Playwright (Debug Mode - Full Traces)

   • Interactive debugging with Playwright Inspector
   • Full trace capture during execution
   • Best for: Step-by-step test analysis

2. Test: E2E Playwright (Debug with Logging)

   • Enhanced console output with timing
   • Network activity logging
   • Best for: Understanding test flow without interactive mode

3. Test: E2E Playwright (Trace Inspector)

   • Opens recorded trace files in Playwright Trace Viewer
   • Best for: Analyzing traces from previous test runs

4. Test: E2E Playwright - View Coverage Report

   • Opens E2E code coverage in browser
   • Best for: Analyzing test coverage metrics

5. Test: E2E Playwright - View Report (existing)

   • Opens HTML test report
   • Best for: Quick results overview

📊 Debugging Utilities Available

Debug Logger (tests/utils/debug-logger.ts)

const logger = new DebugLogger('test-name');
logger.step('Action description');
logger.network({ method, url, status, elapsedMs });
logger.assertion('Expected behavior', passed);
logger.error('Error context', error);

Network Interceptor (tests/fixtures/network.ts)

const interceptor = createNetworkInterceptor(page, logger);
// ... test runs ...
const csv = interceptor.exportCSV();

Test Step Helpers (tests/utils/test-steps.ts)

await testStep('Describe action', async () => {
  // test code
}, { logger });

await testAssert('Check result', assertion, logger);

Switch/Toggle Helpers (tests/utils/ui-helpers.ts)

import { clickSwitch, expectSwitchState, toggleSwitch } from './utils/ui-helpers';

// Click a switch reliably (handles hidden input pattern)
await clickSwitch(page.getByRole('switch', { name: /cerberus/i }));

// Assert switch state
await expectSwitchState(switchLocator, true); // Checked
await expectSwitchState(switchLocator, false); // Unchecked

// Toggle and get new state
const newState = await toggleSwitch(switchLocator);

<EFBFBD> Switch/Toggle Component Testing

Problem: Switch components use a hidden <input> with a styled sibling, causing "pointer events intercepted" errors.

Solution: Use the switch helper functions in tests/utils/ui-helpers.ts:

import { clickSwitch, expectSwitchState, toggleSwitch } from './utils/ui-helpers';

// ✅ GOOD: Use clickSwitch helper
await clickSwitch(page.getByRole('switch', { name: /enable cerberus/i }));

// ✅ GOOD: Assert state after change
await expectSwitchState(page.getByRole('switch', { name: /acl/i }), true);

// ✅ GOOD: Toggle and get new state
const isEnabled = await toggleSwitch(page.getByRole('switch', { name: /waf/i }));

// ❌ BAD: Direct click on hidden input (fails in WebKit/Firefox)
await page.getByRole('switch').click({ force: true }); // Don't use force!

Key Features:

• Automatically handles hidden input pattern
• Scrolls element into view (sticky header aware)
• Cross-browser compatible (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit)
• No force: true or hard-coded waits needed

When to Use:

• Any test that clicks Switch/Toggle components
• Settings pages with enable/disable toggles
• Security dashboard module toggles
• Access lists, WAF, rate limiting controls

References:

• Implementation - Full helper code
• QA Report - Test results and validation

---

<EFBFBD>🔍 Common Debugging Tasks

See test output with colors:

npm run e2e

Run specific test with debug mode:

npm run e2e -- --grep="test name"

Run with full debug logging:

DEBUG=charon:*,charon-test:* npm run e2e

View test report:

npx playwright show-report

Inspect a trace file:

npx playwright show-trace test-results/[test-name]/trace.zip

📋 CI Features

When tests run in CI/CD:

• Per-shard summaries with timing for parallel tracking
• Failure categorization (timeout, assertion, network)
• Slowest tests automatically highlighted (>5s)
• Job summary with links to artifacts
• Enhanced logs for debugging CI failures

🎯 Key Features

Feature	Purpose	File
Debug Logger	Structured logging with timing	tests/utils/debug-logger.ts
Network Interceptor	HTTP request/response capture	tests/fixtures/network.ts
Test Helpers	Step and assertion logging	tests/utils/test-steps.ts
Switch Helpers	Reliable toggle/switch interactions	tests/utils/ui-helpers.ts
Reporter	Failure analysis and statistics	tests/reporters/debug-reporter.ts
Global Setup	Enhanced initialization logging	tests/global-setup.ts
Config	Trace/video/screenshot setup	playwright.config.js
Tasks	VS Code debug commands	.vscode/tasks.json
CI Workflow	Per-shard logging and summaries	.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml

📈 Output Examples

Local Test Run:

├─ Navigate to home page
├─ Click login button (234ms)
   ✅ POST https://api.example.com/login [200] 342ms
   ✓ click "[role='button']" 45ms
   ✓ Assert: Button is visible

Test Summary:

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║              E2E Test Execution Summary                      ║
╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ Total Tests:        150                                     ║
║ ✅ Passed:          145 (96%)                               ║
║ ❌ Failed:          5                                       ║
║ ⏭️  Skipped:         0                                       ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

🚀 Performance Analysis

Slow tests (>5s) are automatically reported:

⏱️  Slow Tests (>5s):
1. Complex test name           12.43s
2. Another slow test            8.92s
3. Network-heavy test           6.15s

Failures are categorized:

🔍 Failure Analysis by Type:
timeout      │ ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 2/5 (40%)
assertion    │ ██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  2/5 (40%)
network      │ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  1/5 (20%)

📦 What's Captured

• Videos: Recorded on failure (Visual debugging)
• Traces: Full interaction traces (Network, DOM, Console)
• Screenshots: On failure only
• Network Logs: CSV export of all HTTP traffic
• Docker Logs: Application logs on failure

🔧 Configuration

Environment variables for debugging:

DEBUG=charon:*,charon-test:*    # Enable debug logging
PLAYWRIGHT_DEBUG=1               # Playwright debug mode
PLAYWRIGHT_BASE_URL=...          # Override application URL
CI_LOG_LEVEL=verbose             # CI log level

📖 Additional Resources

• Complete Debugging Guide - Detailed usage for all features
• Implementation Summary - Technical details and file inventory
• Playwright Docs - Official debugging docs

---

File Structure

docs/testing/
├── README.md                           # This file
├── debugging-guide.md                  # Complete debugging guide
└── DEBUGGING_IMPLEMENTATION.md         # Implementation details

tests/
├── utils/
│   ├── debug-logger.ts                 # Core logging utility
│   └── test-steps.ts                   # Step/assertion helpers
├── fixtures/
│   └── network.ts                      # Network interceptor
└── reporters/
    └── debug-reporter.ts               # Custom Playwright reporter

.vscode/
└── tasks.json                          # Updated with 4 new debug tasks

playwright.config.js                    # Updated with trace/video config

.github/workflows/
└── e2e-tests.yml                       # Enhanced with per-shard logging

Quick Links

• Run Tests: See Debugging Guide - Quick Start
• Local Debugging: See Debugging Guide - VS Code Tasks
• CI Debugging: See Debugging Guide - CI Debugging
• Troubleshooting: See Debugging Guide - Troubleshooting

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Total Implementation: 2,144 lines of new code and documentation Status: ✅ Complete and ready to use Date: January 27, 2026