Jenkins integration

Autify provides an official Jenkins plugin to run a test plan or test scenario easily from your Jenkins workflow.

Getting started

This document describes how to use our Autify Jenkins plugin step-by-step.

Prerequisites

First, we assume you already have a Jenkins Project or Pipeline to deploy your software to somewhere e.g. staging, production. We'll add an Autify test step right after the deployment step to confirm the newly deployed software doesn't break the end-to-end experience.

Secondly, you need to create a test plan or test scenario on Autify for Web. The test scenario should be recorded against your target website where the software is deployed by your Jenkins. Please note the URL of your test plan or scenario e.g. https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000 and we'll use it later.

You also need to create a personal access token of Autify for Web. Please note the generated token somewhere so that we can store the value on Jenkins Secrets later.

Note: Since the personal access token is associated with a single user, we recommend you to create a machine user in your organization and use its personal access token for CI/CD integration.

Lastly, we currently only support Jenkins running on Linux or macOS platform. Windows is planned.

Install plugin

Open the Autify Plugin page and click "How to install" on the top right. You'll see the installation options like below:

Store personal access token on Jenkins Secrets

Store the personal access token you generated above on Secrets by following Jenkins's document. Use "Secret text" for "Kind" and you can name an arbitrary "ID". Assuming you named it autifyWebAccessToken here:

Add a build step to run Autify for Web

Finally, let's add a new step to your existing Jenkins Project or Pipeline.

Jenkins Project

Go to configuration of your Project and click "Add build step" under "Build" and select "Run test on Autify for Web":

Then, select the ID of the Secret you created above e.g. autifyWebAccessToken from the select box of "Personal Access Token of Autify for Web" and paste the URL noted above e.g. https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000 to "Autify for Web test URL".

See the examples below.

Simply start a test and finish the step (no waiting for the finish of the test):

Start a test and wait until the test finishes or timed out - Check "Wait?":

Use "URL replacements" to start your test plan or scenario against a different URL - Click "Advanced" and "Add" for "URL replacements":

"URL replacements" is useful when you want to test your staging website using a test scenaio recorded against your production website, for example.

Jenkins Pipeline

Open your Jenkinsfile or Pipeline configuration page and insert the step below right after your deployment step.

Simply start a test and finish the step (no waiting for the finish of the test):

autifyWeb credentialsId: 'autifyWebAccessToken', autifyUrl: 'https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000'

Start a test and wait until the test finishes or timed out:

autifyWeb credentialsId: 'autifyWebAccessToken', autifyUrl: 'https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000', wait: true

Use urlReplacements to start your test plan or scenario against a different URL:

autifyWeb credentialsId: 'autifyWebAccessToken', autifyUrl: 'https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000', urlReplacements: [[patternUrl: 'http://example.com', replacementUrl: 'http://example.net']]

--url-replacements is useful when you want to test your staging website using a test scenaio recorded against your production website, for example.

(Not recommended) Using "Execute shell" step

Here is the summary of the process:

1. Install the following plugins if you don't have yet:
   • Credentials
   • Plain Credentials
   • Credentials Binding
2. Store the personal access token as described above.
3. Add "Execute shell" build step:
   • Jenkins Project:
     1. Add the Secret to "Build Environment" > "Bindings" (Use AUTIFY_WEB_ACCESS_TOKEN as "Variable")
     2. Add "Execute shell" build step e.g.:

     curl https://autify-cli-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/autify-cli/channels/stable/install-cicd.bash | bash -xe
     ./autify/bin/autify web test run https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000
     

   • Jenkins Pipeline:
     1. Add sh step surrounded by withCredentials e.g.:

     withCredentials([string(credentialsId: 'autifyWebAccessToken', variable: 'AUTIFY_WEB_ACCESS_TOKEN')]) {
         sh '''
         curl https://autify-cli-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/autify-cli/channels/stable/install-cicd.bash | bash -xe
         ./autify/bin/autify web test run https://app.autify.com/projects/00/scenarios/000
         '''
     }
     

Note: You can customize the Autify CLI command in the shell step as you like. See Autify CLI's documentation for more details.

Conclusion

By using Autify's Jenkins plugin (or shell step), you can automatically run a test plan or scenario after deployments so that you can detect regressions right away and take an appropriate actions without wasting time.