Frontend Testing Guide

This document is the single source of truth for automated frontend tests under web/. Tests should protect product behavior and make refactoring safer. They are not a file-by-file completion exercise. Dify UI owns its package-specific test boundary in the Dify UI testing contract.

Testing Mindset

Write or update a test when a change affects a stable, observable contract:

• User interactions and resulting UI state.
• Navigation, URL state, persistence, permissions, or data flow.
• Loading, success, error, and empty states that users can actually reach.
• Accessibility semantics, keyboard behavior, focus management, or disabled state.
• Business logic or a reusable utility with meaningful input/output behavior.
• A bug fix whose regression can be reproduced through a public boundary.

Do not add a test only because:

• A component, hook, prop, branch, or file exists.
• A component can be rendered without crashing.
• An implementation uses useState, useEffect, useMemo, or useCallback.
• A coverage report shows an uncovered line.
• TypeScript already makes an input impossible.
• A change only adjusts classes, spacing, colors, or responsive layout without changing behavior.

For visual-only changes, verify the real UI at representative widths and states. Use browser, screenshot, Storybook, or end-to-end coverage when the risk justifies automation.

Coverage

Coverage is a diagnostic signal, not a quality target. This guide defines no required percentage and reviewers should not request tests solely to increase coverage. Use a report to find suspicious gaps, then decide whether each gap represents a product risk worth protecting.

Choose the Right Boundary

Use the smallest boundary that includes the behavior owner and proves the product contract without coupling the test to implementation:

• Test pure transformations and business rules as unit tests.
• Test hooks directly only when the hook itself exposes a reusable public contract. Otherwise, exercise the hook through its owning component or feature.
• Use React Testing Library for component and feature behavior visible through the DOM or external side effects.
• Use integration tests for behavior that crosses meaningful module boundaries.
• Use a real browser for layout, responsive behavior, browser-specific APIs, animation, and focus behavior that happy-dom cannot represent faithfully.
• Follow the Dify UI testing contract for the Storybook and Vitest boundary of Dify UI primitives.

Test the behavior owner. Barrel exports, pass-through wrappers, and purely presentational children do not need separate tests when the owning feature already proves their contract. Do not repeat generic behavior already owned by Base UI, React Aria, or the browser; test Dify's integration, overrides, and known regressions.

Browser Mode Admission

happy-dom is the default choice for tests under web/. Use the unit project for pure logic, hooks, and DOM-observable component or feature behavior that does not depend on a browser's rendering engine. This split follows Vitest test projects and Why Browser Mode.

Use the browser project only when the asserted contract depends on browser-owned behavior that happy-dom cannot represent faithfully, such as:

• Layout geometry, CSS hit testing, responsive behavior, or pointer targeting.
• Native focus, selection, scrolling, keyboard, or pointer behavior.
• Browser APIs, observers, or animation lifecycles whose real implementation affects the result.

Rendering UI, reducing mocks, increasing confidence, or raising coverage is not enough reason to use Browser Mode. Each *.browser.spec.{ts,tsx} test under web/app/ must name the browser-owned behavior and why happy-dom is insufficient, exercise the smallest owner through semantic locators, and justify its additional runtime. Do not use forced interaction, fixed sleeps, private DOM or CSS assertions, or real network requests.

Browser Mode remains a focused component or feature test and currently proves Chromium only. Use the end-to-end suite for a running application, authentication, real routing, backend APIs, persistence, or complete journeys.

Assert Behavior, Not Implementation

• Drive state transitions through props, user interaction, URL changes, or public APIs.
• Assert rendered UI, ARIA state, navigation, persistence, network-boundary calls, or another observable result.
• Do not inspect React state, refs, hook call order, effect dependencies, or private DOM structure.
• Test referential identity only when identity is itself a documented public contract.
• One test should describe one behavior. It may contain multiple assertions when they jointly prove that behavior.
• Test only input states supported by the type and product contract. Do not manufacture null, undefined, or extreme values without a reachable scenario.
• Avoid snapshots and CSS class assertions unless the serialized output or class contract is intentionally public and stable.

Queries, Interaction, and Accessibility

Prefer selectors in this order:

1. getByRole with an accessible name.
2. getByLabelText for labeled form controls.
3. getByText, getByPlaceholderText, or other user-visible queries when appropriate.
4. getByTestId only for boundaries with no useful DOM semantics, such as canvas output, editor shims, or mocked non-visual integrations.

When repeated content creates ambiguity, narrow to a semantic container, then query within it with within in React Testing Library or locator chaining in Browser Mode.

If an interactive control cannot be found semantically, first check whether the production markup needs a real button, link, label, landmark, or accessible name.

• In React Testing Library tests, use a userEvent.setup() instance inside the test. Use fireEvent only when the low-level event itself is the contract.
• In Browser Mode, interact through awaited locators. Use .element() only for DOM APIs that locators do not expose.
• Test keyboard and focus behavior when they are part of the interaction contract.
• Assert accessible names and ARIA state when they communicate product state.
• Semantic queries and automated checks do not constitute complete accessibility conformance.
• Exact copy assertions are valid when the copy or translation key is the contract; otherwise prefer a semantic query or resilient match.
• In React Testing Library, use queryBy* for synchronous absence, findBy* for asynchronous appearance, and waitForElementToBeRemoved or waitFor for asynchronous disappearance. In Browser Mode, use expect.element for eventual assertions.

Mock at Real Boundaries

Keep the production code that owns or transforms the asserted behavior real. Mock only dependencies outside the target contract, where isolation improves the signal:

• Service and network boundaries.
• Next.js navigation or browser APIs not provided by the test environment.
• External SDKs and expensive providers.
• Independently tested child boundaries that do not own or transform the asserted behavior and whose setup would otherwise dominate the owner test.

Mocks must preserve the public contract needed by the test. Do not mock interactive Dify UI primitives or feature-owned wrappers around them. Keep their semantic roles, state attributes, portals, focus behavior, and render(props, state) contract real; mock only service or external-data boundaries needed to reach the scenario.

• Never make real network requests.
• Reset shared mock state before each test that mutates it.
• Create a fresh TanStack Query client for tests that exercise query behavior.
• Prefer typed builders with valid defaults for complex data. Add overrides only for fields relevant to the scenario.
• Keep local mocks local. Move a mock helper to web/__mocks__/ only when multiple suites genuinely share it.

Async, Time, and Isolation

• Await user interactions, promises, findBy*, and waitFor.
• Wait for observable state changes. Do not use fixed sleeps or broad retries to hide incorrect timing.
• Use findBy* for an element that appears asynchronously and waitFor for an eventually true external assertion.
• Use fake timers only when timer behavior is part of the contract. Restore real timers after the test.
• Control time, randomness, network responses, and shared stores so tests are deterministic.
• web/vitest.setup.ts already runs Testing Library cleanup and resets Zustand stores after each test.
• Call vi.clearAllMocks() in beforeEach when a suite relies on mock call history. Do not use afterEach to prepare the next test.

Dify Test Setup

• Following Vite+ testing configuration, tests under web/ use two explicit projects in web/vite.config.ts. Supported commands and CI select one project explicitly: unit runs in happy-dom and loads web/vitest.setup.ts, while browser runs matching app/**/*.browser.spec.{ts,tsx} files in Playwright Chromium and loads web/vitest.browser.setup.ts. Bare vp test runs both registered projects.
• Browser failures keep screenshots and Playwright traces under web/.vitest-browser/. CI uploads that directory only when failure artifacts exist; Browser Mode does not own coverage or report merging.
• New component and feature specs should generally use a sibling __tests__/ directory. Existing colocated utility and hook specs may follow their owning module's convention. Cross-feature integration specs belong in web/__tests__/.
• The shared react-i18next mock is loaded globally. Use createReactI18nextMock from web/test/i18n-mock only when a test needs custom translations.
• For nuqs behavior, use the helpers in web/test/nuqs-testing.tsx and assert URL updates. Mock nuqs only when URL synchronization is explicitly outside the test contract.
• Do not add another test runner, DOM environment, or network interception library without a demonstrated project-level need.

Workflow

1. Read the behavior owner, its public dependencies, and nearby tests.
2. State the contract and regression risk before deciding to add tests.
3. Choose the smallest boundary that proves the contract.
4. For a behavior change or bug fix, establish the failing case first when practical.
5. Implement one coherent scenario, run its focused spec, and fix failures before expanding scope.
6. Run the affected suite and the relevant repository checks.
7. Remove redundant assertions, unnecessary mocks, and tests that only mirror implementation.

When working across several files, order the work by dependency and verify each coherent slice before continuing. Do not create one test file per source file by default.

Commands

Run from web/:

# happy-dom; omit the path to run the full unit project
vp test run --project unit path/to/spec-or-directory

# Browser Mode; omit the path to run the full browser project
vp test run --project browser path/to/spec.browser.spec.tsx

# Watch mode; select browser instead for Browser Mode
vp test watch --project unit path/to/spec

# Diagnostic coverage report for the unit project; not an acceptance target
vp test run --project unit --coverage path/to/spec-or-directory

Always pass --project unit or --project browser. Bare vp test runs both registered projects and is not the standard Web test command.

Review Checklist

• Does each test protect a reachable product contract or meaningful regression?
• Is the behavior exercised through a public boundary?
• Are semantic queries and accessibility contracts used where relevant?
• Are mocks placed at intentional boundaries and faithful to those boundaries?
• Is the suite deterministic, focused, and cheaper to maintain than the regression it prevents?
• Would the test survive a refactor that preserves behavior?
• Can the reviewer name one realistic regression and the assertion that would fail?
• For Browser Mode, is the browser-owned contract explicit, impossible to prove faithfully in happy-dom, and worth the additional runtime?

References

• Vitest documentation
• Vitest test projects
• Why Browser Mode
• Vitest Browser Mode documentation
• Vitest Browser Mode locators
• Vitest Browser Mode traces
• Storybook Vitest addon
• Testing Library guiding principles
• React Testing Library documentation
• Testing Library query guidance
• Testing Library user-event guidance