Introduction

Building a reliable software platform requires more than just writing code—it demands a structured approach to testing and a well-thought-out PR workflow. Without these, projects can quickly become unmanageable, riddled with bugs, and burdened with security risks.

Imagine launching a new feature, only to find it breaking key functionality in production. Now imagine the chaos of scrambling to fix it post-release. A robust testing strategy prevents these scenarios, ensuring that every deployment is stable, scalable, and secure.

In this post, we explore how a carefully planned test suite and a structured PR workflow can help developers maintain high-quality code while optimizing costs.

The Case for Comprehensive Testing

Testing is often seen as an overhead expense, but in reality, it’s an investment in long-term stability. The key is not just to test but to test smartly—balancing coverage, cost, and execution time.

A Pragmatic Approach to Testing

A pragmatic testing approach recognizes that not all tests are equally valuable or necessary in every scenario. The key is prioritizing tests based on their impact and likelihood of catching critical bugs. This involves a multi-layered approach:

1. Testing at Different Levels:
   • Each level of testing serves a distinct purpose, from catching regressions in the UI to validating individual functions.
   • Instead of running every test in every pipeline execution, we optimize when and how different test types are executed.
2. Balancing Speed and Depth:
   • Running a full E2E suite on every commit would be inefficient, slowing down the development cycle.
   • Instead, lightweight unit tests run automatically on every PR, while deeper E2E and visual tests run only on staging environments.
3. Parallelizing Tests for Efficiency:
   • We split tests across multiple environments and execute them in parallel to minimize feedback time.
   • For example, web and mobile E2E tests run in separate environments to avoid bottlenecks.
4. Focusing on Critical Path Coverage:
   • Prioritizing test coverage for core user flows ensures that the most important functionalities remain stable.
   • Tests should focus on areas prone to frequent changes, such as authentication, payments, and critical UI elements.
5. Using Change Detection to Run Relevant Tests:
   • Instead of running all tests on every update, we use Git’s diffing capabilities to identify affected areas.
   • For instance, if only the dashboard component is modified, we trigger Cypress and unit tests specific to that component.
6. Preventing Flaky Tests from Blocking Deployments:
   • Flaky tests can create frustration and erode confidence in the test suite.
   • We implement retry mechanisms and quarantine unstable tests until they are fixed.

A Breakdown of Our Testing Strategy

1. End-to-End (E2E) Testing

E2E tests simulate real user interactions, ensuring that core workflows function as expected. Given their complexity, they tend to be expensive but are invaluable for catching regressions.

• Web: Cypress ($75/month) provides a robust UI testing framework.