WeAreDevelopers Logo WeAreDevelopers
Sign in
For You LIVE
WeAreDevelopers LIVE • Dec 1, 2023

Fighting test flakiness with time machines

Filip Hric

Stop patching flaky tests with arbitrary wait commands. Start using time-travel debuggers to step backward through execution states. Eliminate end-to-end instability for good.

Pause
Mute Enter Fullscreen
#1 about 3 min

Introduction to time travel for debugging flaky tests

The concept of observing previous state helps diagnose unstable test automation scripts.

#2 about 4 min

Analyzing test automation challenges and the Cypress timeline

Using built-in timeline features to observe unpredictable state variations during test execution.

#3 about 4 min

Fixing timing issues in Cypress with guarding assertions

Adding explicit state expectations prevents failures caused by unpredictable application load speeds.

#4 about 7 min

Using Playwright Trace Viewer to debug unstable scripts

Generating and inspecting execution traces reveals hidden transitions and interaction failures.

#5 about 9 min

Uncovering application errors with the Replay browser

Capturing full runtime environments allows reverse debugging without modifying underlying source code.

#6 about 14 min

Integrating automated recordings to fix asynchronous state bugs

Examining network payloads within recorded tests reveals root causes of automation flakiness.

#7 about 6 min

Underlying architecture and adoption challenges of runtime capture

Forking the Chromium engine enables deep runtime visibility despite a steep usability learning curve.

#8 about 8 min

Managing continuous integration setups and white box strategies

Automated recording in pipelines securely captures runtime data while encouraging deeper code exploration.

Matching moments

2:45 min

Advantages of using Cypress for testing workflows

Anna Mcdougall · JS Congress

2:23 min

Keeping up with Web3 testing tools

Soumaya Erradi · LIVE

2:50 min

Introduction to end-to-end testing with Cypress

Soumaya Erradi · LIVE

2:00 min

The software testing timeline and regression checking pitfalls

Ingo Philipp · LIVE

7:11 min

Identifying root causes of flaky testing and false negatives

Ramona Schwering Ramona Schwering · LIVE

3:01 min

Exploring the expansion of end-to-end testing utility suites

Daniel Afonso Daniel Afonso · WWC 2025

More from WeAreDevelopers LIVE

Aliens in Quarantine, Python Deprecates Loops, and AI Buys Old Books - Zbyszek Tenerowicz thumbnail
5:43
5 days ago

Aliens in Quarantine, Python Deprecates Loops, and AI Buys Old Books - Zbyszek Tenerowicz

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Node and Package Security thumbnail
1:08:30
5 days ago

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Node and Package Security

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney, Zbyszek Tenerowicz

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Streaming HTML thumbnail
1:10:26
12 days ago

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Streaming HTML

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney, Jad Joubran

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - CODE100 at WeAreDevelopers Europe thumbnail
1:02:34
19 days ago

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - CODE100 at WeAreDevelopers Europe

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney, Justin Halsall, Werner Jeschko, Nicole Jeschko, Mirco Tomić

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Web Performance in an AI World thumbnail
1:07:59
26 days ago

WeAreDevelopers LIVE - Web Performance in an AI World

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

FIFA Hack, Midjourney Does Ultrasounds, and Trampoline Traffic Lights - Nicole Jeschko and Werner Jeschko thumbnail
5:55
about 2 months ago

FIFA Hack, Midjourney Does Ultrasounds, and Trampoline Traffic Lights - Nicole Jeschko and Werner Jeschko

Chris Heilmann, Daniel Cranney

Upcoming sessions on this topic

Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Agents Can't Iterate Against Tests That Lie

Rocky Warren

Senior Staff Software Engineer at Clipboard

Rocky Warren
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

One Repo, One Strategy: Scalable Full-Stack Testing in a Monorepo World

Bartosz Leczycki, Paweł Matynia

Bartosz Leczycki
Paweł Matynia
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Your Evals Passed. Your Agent Just Emptied a Database.

Tejas Pravinbhai Patel

IEEE Award-Winning Researcher | Best Keynote Speaker | Sr. Software Engineer at Amazon | AI Systems & Agent Architect

Tejas Pravinbhai Patel
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

GitHub’s Team X-Ray: Your Repository Knows More About Your Team Than Your Team Does

Andrea Griffiths

Senior Developer Advocate

Andrea Griffiths
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Testing React Backends Like a Pro: Mocking Databases with SQLite

David Morris

Solution Architect

David Morris
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

Reinventing Testing Practices in the AI Era

Eric Deandrea

Java Champion & Senior Principal Software Engineer, IBM

Eric Deandrea

Related videos

Watch Tests Go Brrrr! : Getting Started with Cypress in ReactJS thumbnail
53:45
JS Congress • over 4 years ago

Watch Tests Go Brrrr! : Getting Started with Cypress in ReactJS

Anna Mcdougall

Let's get visual - Visual testing in your project thumbnail
54:23
LIVE • over 3 years ago

Let's get visual - Visual testing in your project

Ramona Schwering

Let's get visual - Visual testing in your project thumbnail
44:59
JS Congress • over 4 years ago

Let's get visual - Visual testing in your project

Ramona Schwering

Measure and improve frontend performance by using test automation thumbnail
25:38
WWC 2023 • almost 3 years ago

Measure and improve frontend performance by using test automation

Ramona Schwering

How not to test thumbnail
43:07
WWC 2021 • about 5 years ago

How not to test

Golo Roden

It's a (testing) trap! - Common testing pitfalls and how to solve them thumbnail
24:19
WWC 2024 • almost 2 years ago

It's a (testing) trap! - Common testing pitfalls and how to solve them

Ramona Schwering

Related articles

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.