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---
stage: none
group: unassigned
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# End-to-end Testing
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## What is end-to-end testing?
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End-to-end testing is a strategy used to check whether your application works
as expected across the entire software stack and architecture, including
integration of all micro-services and components that are supposed to work
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together.
## How do we test GitLab?
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We use [Omnibus GitLab ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab ) to build GitLab packages and then we
test these packages using the [GitLab QA orchestrator ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa ) tool, which is
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a black-box testing framework for the API and the UI.
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### Testing nightly builds
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We run scheduled pipelines each night to test nightly builds created by Omnibus.
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You can find these pipelines at < https: / / gitlab . com / gitlab-org / quality / nightly / pipelines >
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(requires the Developer role). Results are reported in the `#qa-nightly` Slack channel.
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### Testing staging
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We run scheduled pipelines each night to test staging.
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You can find these pipelines at < https: / / gitlab . com / gitlab-org / quality / staging / pipelines >
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(requires the Developer role). Results are reported in the `#qa-staging` Slack channel.
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### Testing code in merge requests
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#### Using the `package-and-qa` job
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It is possible to run end-to-end tests for a merge request, eventually being run in
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a pipeline in the [`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror ) project,
by triggering the `package-and-qa` manual action in the `qa` stage (not
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available for forks).
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**This runs end-to-end tests against a custom EE (with an Ultimate license)
Docker image built from your merge request's changes.**
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Manual action that starts end-to-end tests is also available
in [`gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab` merge requests ](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/build/team_member_docs.html#i-have-an-mr-in-the-omnibus-gitlab-project-and-want-a-package-or-docker-image-to-test-it ).
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#### How does it work?
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Currently, we are using _multi-project pipeline_ -like approach to run end-to-end
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pipelines.
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```mermaid
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graph TB
A1 -.->|once done, can be triggered| A2
A2 -.->|1. Triggers an `omnibus-gitlab-mirror` pipeline< br > and wait for it to be done| B1
B2[`Trigger-qa` stage< br > `Trigger:qa-test` job] -.->|2. Triggers a `gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline< br > and wait for it to be done| C1
subgraph "`gitlab-org/gitlab` pipeline"
A1[`build-images` stage< br > `build-qa-image` and `build-assets-image` jobs]
A2[`qa` stage< br > `package-and-qa` job]
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end
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subgraph "`gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` pipeline"
B1[`Trigger-docker` stage< br > `Trigger:gitlab-docker` job] -->|once done| B2
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end
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subgraph "`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline"
C1>End-to-end jobs run]
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end
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```
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1. In the [`gitlab-org/gitlab` pipeline ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab ):
1. Developer triggers the `package-and-qa` manual action (available once the `build-qa-image` and
`build-assets-image` jobs are done), that can be found in GitLab merge
requests. This starts a chain of pipelines in multiple projects.
1. The script being executed triggers a pipeline in
[`gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror )
and polls for the resulting status. We call this a _status attribution_ .
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1. In the [`gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` pipeline ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror ):
1. Docker image is being built and pushed to its Container Registry.
1. Finally, the `Trigger:qa-test` job triggers a new end-to-end pipeline in
[`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror/pipelines ) and polls for the resulting status.
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1. In the [`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror ):
1. Container for the Docker image stored in the [`gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror ) registry is spun-up.
1. End-to-end tests are run with the `gitlab-qa` executable, which spin up a container for the end-to-end image from the [`gitlab-org/gitlab` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab ) registry.
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1. The result of the [`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror ) is being
propagated upstream (through polling from upstream pipelines), through [`gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror ), back to the [`gitlab-org/gitlab` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab ) merge request.
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We plan to [add more specific information ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/team-tasks/-/issues/156 )
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about the tests included in each job/scenario that runs in `gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` .
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NOTE:
You may have noticed that we use `gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror` instead of
`gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab` , and `gitlab-org/gitlab-qa-mirror` instead of `gitlab-org/gitlab-qa` .
This is due to technical limitations in the GitLab permission model: the ability to run a pipeline
against a protected branch is controlled by the ability to push/merge to this branch.
This means that for developers to be able to trigger a pipeline for the default branch in
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`gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab` /`gitlab-org/gitlab-qa`, they would need to have the
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[Maintainer role ](../../../user/permissions.md ) for those projects.
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For security reasons and implications, we couldn't open up the default branch to all the Developers.
Hence we created these mirrors where Developers and Maintainers are allowed to push/merge to the default branch.
This problem was discovered in < https: / / gitlab . com / gitlab-org / gitlab-qa / - / issues / 63 # note_107175160 > and the "mirror"
work-around was suggested in < https: / / gitlab . com / gitlab-org / omnibus-gitlab / - / issues / 4717 > .
A feature proposal to segregate access control regarding running pipelines from ability to push/merge was also created at < https: / / gitlab . com / gitlab-org / gitlab / - / issues / 24585 > .
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#### With Pipeline for Merged Results
In a Pipeline for Merged Results, the pipeline runs on a new ref that contains the merge result of the source and target branch.
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However, this ref is not available to the `gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline.
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For this reason, the end-to-end tests on a Pipeline for Merged Results would use the head of the merge request source branch.
```mermaid
graph LR
A["a1b1c1 - branch HEAD (CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_SHA)"]
B["x1y1z1 - master HEAD"]
C["d1e1f1 - merged results (CI_COMMIT_SHA)"]
A --> C
B --> C
A --> E["E2E tests"]
C --> D["Pipeline for merged results"]
```
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##### Running custom tests
The [existing scenarios ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/blob/master/docs/what_tests_can_be_run.md )
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that run in the downstream `gitlab-qa-mirror` pipeline include many tests, but there are times when you might want to run a
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test or a group of tests that are different than the groups in any of the existing scenarios.
For example, when we [dequarantine ](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/guidelines/debugging-qa-test-failures/#dequarantining-tests )
a flaky test we first want to make sure that it's no longer flaky.
We can do that using the `ce:custom-parallel` and `ee:custom-parallel` jobs.
Both are manual jobs that you can configure using custom variables.
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When clicking the name (not the play icon) of one of the parallel jobs,
you are prompted to enter variables. You can use any of [the variables
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that can be used with `gitlab-qa` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/blob/master/docs/what_tests_can_be_run.md#supported-gitlab-environment-variables)
as well as these:
| Variable | Description |
|-|-|
| `QA_SCENARIO` | The scenario to run (default `Test::Instance::Image` ) |
| `QA_TESTS` | The test(s) to run (no default, which means run all the tests in the scenario). Use file paths as you would when running tests via RSpec, e.g., `qa/specs/features/ee/browser_ui` would include all the `EE` UI tests. |
| `QA_RSPEC_TAGS` | The RSpec tags to add (no default) |
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For now [manual jobs with custom variables don't use the same variable
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when retried](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/31367), so if you want to run the same test(s) multiple times,
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specify the same variables in each `custom-parallel` job (up to as
many of the 10 available jobs that you want to run).
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#### Using the `review-qa-all` jobs
On every pipeline during the `test` stage, the `review-qa-smoke` job is
automatically started: it runs the QA smoke suite against the
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[Review App ](../review_apps.md ).
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You can also manually start the `review-qa-all` : it runs the full QA suite
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against the [Review App ](../review_apps.md ).
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**This runs end-to-end tests against a Review App based on [the official GitLab
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Helm chart](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/), itself deployed with custom
[Cloud Native components ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG ) built from your merge request's changes.**
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See [Review Apps ](../review_apps.md ) for more details about Review Apps.
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## Test reports
### Allure report
For additional test results visibility, tests that run on pipelines generate
and host [Allure ](https://github.com/allure-framework/allure2 ) test reports.
The `QA` framework is using the [Allure RSpec ](https://github.com/allure-framework/allure-ruby/blob/master/allure-rspec/README.md )
gem to generate source files for the `Allure` test report. An additional job
in the pipeline:
- Fetches these source files from all test jobs.
- Generates and uploads the report to the `GCS` bucket `gitlab-qa-allure-report` under the project `gitlab-qa-resources` .
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A common CI template for report uploading is stored in
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[`allure-report.yml` ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/pipeline-common/-/blob/master/ci/allure-report.yml ).
#### Merge requests
When these tests are executed in the scope of merge requests, the `Allure` report is
uploaded to the `GCS` bucket and comment is added linking to their respective reports.
#### Scheduled pipelines
Scheduled pipelines for these tests contain a `generate-allure-report` job under the `Report` stage. They also output
a link to the current test report.
#### Static report links
Each type of scheduled pipeline generates a static link for the latest test report according to its stage:
- [`master` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/package-and-qa/master/index.html )
- [`staging-full` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/staging-full/master/index.html )
- [`staging-sanity` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/staging-sanity/master/index.html )
- [`staging-sanity-no-admin` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/staging-sanity-no-admin/master/index.html )
- [`canary-sanity` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/canary-sanity/master/index.html )
- [`production` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/production/master/index.html )
- [`production-sanity` ](https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-qa-allure-reports/production-sanity/master/index.html )
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## How do I run the tests?
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If you are not [testing code in a merge request ](#testing-code-in-merge-requests ),
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there are two main options for running the tests. If you want to run
the existing tests against a live GitLab instance or against a pre-built Docker image,
use the [GitLab QA orchestrator ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/tree/master/README.md ). See also [examples
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of the test scenarios you can run via the orchestrator](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/blob/master/docs/what_tests_can_be_run.md#examples).
On the other hand, if you would like to run against a local development GitLab
environment, you can use the [GitLab Development Kit (GDK) ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit/ ).
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Please refer to the instructions in the [QA README ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/qa/README.md#how-can-i-use-it )
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and the section below.
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### Running tests that require special setup
Learn how to perform [tests that require special setup or consideration to run on your local environment ](running_tests_that_require_special_setup.md ).
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## How do I write tests?
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In order to write new tests, you first need to learn more about GitLab QA
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architecture. See the [documentation about it ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/blob/master/docs/architecture.md ).
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Once you decided where to put [test environment orchestration scenarios ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/tree/master/lib/gitlab/qa/scenario ) and
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[instance-level scenarios ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/tree/master/qa/qa/specs/features ), take a look at the [GitLab QA README ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/qa/README.md ),
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the [GitLab QA orchestrator README ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/tree/master/README.md ), and [the already existing
instance-level scenarios](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/tree/master/qa/qa/specs/features).
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### Consider **not** writing an end-to-end test
We should follow these best practices for end-to-end tests:
- Do not write an end-to-end test if a lower-level feature test exists. End-to-end tests require more work and resources.
- Troubleshooting for end-to-end tests can be more complex as connections to the application under test are not known.
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Continued reading:
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- [Beginner's Guide ](beginners_guide.md )
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- [Style Guide ](style_guide.md )
- [Best Practices ](best_practices.md )
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- [Testing with feature flags ](feature_flags.md )
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- [Flows ](flows.md )
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- [RSpec metadata/tags ](rspec_metadata_tests.md )
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- [Execution context selection ](execution_context_selection.md )
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## Where can I ask for help?
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You can ask question in the `#quality` channel on Slack (GitLab internal) or
you can find an issue you would like to work on in
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[the `gitlab` issue tracker ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues?label_name%5B%5D=QA&label_name%5B%5D=test ), or
[the `gitlab-qa` issue tracker ](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-qa/-/issues?label_name%5B%5D=new+scenario ).