Compliance glossary
Glossary of productivity, time management, & work-life balance terms.
Assertion
A check embedded in a test that verifies the application is in an expected state, failing the test when the condition is not met.
Automated Testing
Using software to execute pre-scripted tests against an application automatically, instead of a person clicking through the steps by hand.
Accessibility Testing
Verifying that an application can be used by people with disabilities, including support for screen readers, keyboard navigation, and sufficient contrast.
API Testing
Testing an application at the service or endpoint layer by sending requests and validating responses, independent of any user interface.
Acceptance Testing
Testing that confirms an application meets business requirements and is ready for release, usually framed around real user scenarios.
Ad-hoc Testing
Informal, unscripted testing performed without a predefined plan, aimed at quickly uncovering defects through improvisation.
Auto-Wait
A test runner's built-in ability to wait for elements to become actionable before interacting, eliminating brittle fixed sleeps.
Bug (Defect)
A flaw in software that causes it to behave differently from what is intended or expected.
Baseline
A recorded reference state of an application used as the point of comparison for detecting future changes or regressions.
Black-Box Testing
Testing an application purely through its external behavior, without any knowledge of its internal code or implementation.
Boundary Value Analysis
A test design technique that focuses on the edges of input ranges, where defects most commonly occur.
Browser Automation
Programmatically controlling a real browser to navigate pages, interact with elements, and drive tests as a user would.
Build Verification Test
A quick set of critical checks run against every new build to confirm it is stable enough for deeper testing.
Bug Triage
The process of reviewing incoming defects to assign priority, severity, and ownership so the most important issues are fixed first.
Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)
A collaborative approach that describes desired software behavior in plain-language scenarios shared by business and engineering.
CI Gating
Configuring a continuous integration pipeline to block merges or deployments when required tests fail.
Cypress
A JavaScript end-to-end testing framework that runs tests directly in the browser alongside the application.
Cross-Browser Testing
Running the same tests across different browsers and engines to ensure consistent behavior everywhere users are.
Code Coverage
A metric showing which parts of the source code were exercised by a test run, expressed as a percentage.
Codegen
Automatically generating test code from recorded user interactions instead of writing every line by hand.
Component Testing
Testing an individual UI component in isolation, mounted on its own, to verify its behavior and rendering.
Continuous Testing
Running automated tests continuously throughout the delivery pipeline to get fast, ongoing feedback on quality.
Capture and Replay
Recording a user's interactions once and replaying them automatically as a repeatable test.
Deterministic Run
A test execution that produces the same result every time given the same inputs, with no random pass or fail.
Defect Density
A quality metric expressing the number of confirmed defects relative to the size of a component or release.
Debugging
The process of locating, diagnosing, and fixing the root cause of a defect in software or a failing test.
Data-Driven Testing
Running the same test logic repeatedly with different sets of input data to broaden coverage efficiently.
DOM Snapshot
A captured copy of a page's document structure at a moment in time, used for comparison, debugging, or healing.
Dry Run
Executing a test or pipeline without applying real effects, to validate the setup before a full run.
End-to-End Testing
Testing a complete user journey through the whole application stack to confirm all the pieces work together.
Exploratory Testing
Unscripted, investigative testing where the tester simultaneously learns the product, designs tests, and executes them.
Emulator
Software that mimics a mobile device or environment on a computer, allowing apps to be tested without physical hardware.
Edge Case
An unusual or extreme scenario at the boundary of normal operation, where defects frequently lurk.
Element Locator
A rule or query that identifies a specific element on a page so a test can interact with it.
Equivalence Partitioning
A test design technique that groups inputs into classes expected to behave the same, testing one representative from each.
Error Injection
Deliberately introducing faults—network failures, bad responses, timeouts—to verify the application handles them gracefully.
Execution Report
A structured summary of a test run showing which tests passed, failed, or were skipped, along with diagnostic artifacts.
Environment Parity
Keeping test, staging, and production environments as similar as possible so tests reflect real-world behavior.
Flaky Test
A test that passes and fails intermittently on the same code, undermining trust in the whole suite.
Fixture
A known, reusable piece of setup—data, state, or context—that establishes the preconditions a test needs before it runs.
Functional Testing
Verifying that each feature of an application behaves according to its specified requirements.
Figma-to-Test
Generating draft test cases or automated tests directly from a Figma design before the feature is even built.
Failure Analysis
Investigating why a test failed to determine whether it found a real defect or broke for an unrelated reason.
False Positive
A test failure that does not reflect a real defect, caused by test fragility or environment issues rather than a product bug.
Full Playwright Export
Exporting recorded tests as standard, self-contained Playwright code with no proprietary runtime or vendor lock-in.
Given-When-Then
A structured format for describing a test scenario in terms of an initial context, an action, and an expected outcome.
Golden Fixture
A trusted reference input-and-output pair used to validate that a system still produces the expected result.
Gherkin
A plain-language syntax for writing executable specifications using keywords like Given, When, and Then.
GUI Testing
Testing an application through its graphical user interface to confirm that visual elements and interactions work correctly.
Gray-Box Testing
A hybrid approach combining black-box behavior testing with partial knowledge of the application's internals.
Gating Check
A required pass/fail condition in a pipeline that must succeed before code is allowed to progress.
Headless Browser
A browser that runs without a visible interface, used to execute tests quickly in automated environments.
Healing Engine
A system that automatically repairs a broken test locator when the UI changes, keeping tests passing without manual edits.
Happy Path
The default scenario in which a user completes a flow successfully with valid inputs and no errors.
Test Hooks
Special functions that run automatically before or after tests to handle setup and teardown.
Hard Assertion
An assertion that immediately halts the current test when it fails, rather than continuing to check further conditions.
Heuristic Testing
Using experience-based rules of thumb to guide testing toward the areas most likely to contain defects.
Hybrid App Testing
Testing applications that combine web and native components, such as Flutter or web-view-based mobile apps.
Hotfix Verification
Focused testing that confirms an urgent production fix works and has not broken anything around it.
Integration Testing
Testing how multiple components or services work together, focusing on the interfaces between them.
iOS Testing
Testing applications on Apple's iOS platform, across simulators and real devices, to ensure correct behavior.
Idempotent Test
A test that can run any number of times and always leave the system in a consistent, repeatable state.
Test Isolation
Designing tests so each runs independently, without relying on or interfering with any other test.
Implicit Wait
An automation strategy where the tool waits automatically for elements to appear, rather than pausing for a fixed time.
Incident Reproduction
Recreating the exact conditions of a production issue so it can be reliably observed, diagnosed, and fixed.
Jira-to-Test
Generating test cases or automated tests directly from Jira issues, stories, and acceptance criteria.
JUnit
A widely used testing framework and the JUnit XML report format commonly consumed by CI systems.
JSON Reporter
A test reporter that outputs results in JSON, enabling programmatic processing, dashboards, and custom analysis.
Journey Test
An end-to-end test that follows a complete, realistic user journey across multiple pages and steps.
Just-in-Time Healing
Repairing a broken locator at the moment a test runs, so a shifted UI element is relocated without a manual fix.
Keyword-Driven Testing
A test design approach where actions are represented by reusable keywords, separating test logic from implementation.
Known-Good State
A verified baseline condition of the application confirmed to be working correctly, used as a reference point.
Keyboard Navigation Testing
Verifying that an application is fully operable using only the keyboard, a core requirement of accessibility.
Key Quality Indicator (KQI)
A measurable metric that tracks the health and effectiveness of testing and overall software quality over time.
Known Defect
A documented bug that the team is aware of but has chosen not to fix immediately, tracked for transparency.
Kickoff Suite
A minimal, fast set of tests run first to confirm the build is healthy before the full suite executes.
Keep-Green Policy
A team discipline of keeping the main branch's test suite always passing, treating any failure as an immediate priority.
Locator
An object or expression that identifies and represents a specific element on a page for a test to interact with.
Load Testing
Testing how an application performs under expected and peak levels of concurrent usage to find bottlenecks.
No Lock-in
The principle that tests remain fully portable and owned by you, with no dependency on a proprietary runtime to run them.
Log Assertion
A check that verifies specific messages or the absence of errors in an application's console or server logs.
Latency Testing
Measuring the response times of an application under various conditions to ensure acceptable performance.
Lifecycle Hook
A callback that runs at a defined point in a test's lifecycle, such as before or after execution, for setup and cleanup.
Mobile Testing
Testing applications on mobile platforms across devices, screen sizes, and operating systems.
Mock
A stand-in object or service that simulates the behavior of a real dependency to test a component in isolation.
Maintenance Burden
The ongoing effort required to keep an automated test suite passing as the application changes over time.
Manual Testing
Testing performed by a person interacting with the application directly, without automation scripts.
Monkey Testing
Feeding random or unexpected inputs and interactions into an application to uncover crashes and instability.
Multi-Browser Run
Executing the same test suite across several browsers in one run to validate consistent behavior everywhere.
Milestone Gate
A quality checkpoint tied to a project milestone that must be satisfied before work advances to the next stage.
Non-Deterministic Test
A test whose outcome can vary between runs on unchanged code, typically due to timing, ordering, or shared state.
Nightly Run
A scheduled execution of the full test suite that runs overnight to catch regressions on a regular cadence.
Negative Testing
Testing how an application responds to invalid input, misuse, and error conditions, expecting graceful handling.
Network Stubbing
Intercepting and replacing network requests with controlled responses so tests run against predictable data.
No AI-Tax Run
Executing tests deterministically without any per-run AI cost or dependency, since the AI only assists in authoring and healing.
Native App Testing
Testing applications built specifically for a platform using its native components and controls.
Non-Functional Testing
Testing qualities like performance, security, usability, and reliability rather than specific feature behavior.
Test Oracle
The source of truth a test uses to decide whether the observed behavior is correct.
Orchestration
Coordinating the execution of many tests across machines, browsers, and environments to run efficiently at scale.
Object Locator
The strategy used to find a specific UI object on screen so an automated test can act on it.
Output Validation
Verifying that the application produces the correct results, data, or rendering in response to a given action.
Overlay Interception
The problem of hidden overlays, modals, or banners blocking a click, and the handling that ensures tests interact correctly.
On-Demand Run
Triggering a test execution manually whenever it's needed, rather than waiting for a scheduled or event-driven run.
Playwright
A modern open-source browser automation framework that drives Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API.
Pen-Testing
Penetration testing: simulating real attacks against an application to find exploitable security vulnerabilities.
Page Object Model
A design pattern that encapsulates each page's elements and actions in a class, keeping tests readable and maintainable.
PRD-to-Test
Generating test cases and automated tests directly from a product requirements document.
Parallel Execution
Running multiple tests simultaneously across workers or machines to cut total suite runtime dramatically.
Playback
Replaying a previously recorded flow to reproduce the same sequence of actions as an automated test.
Positive Testing
Testing with valid inputs and expected usage to confirm the application works correctly under normal conditions.
Quality Assurance (QA)
The discipline of preventing defects and ensuring software meets quality standards throughout development.
Regression Testing
Re-running tests after changes to confirm that existing functionality still works and nothing broke.
Recorder
A tool that captures a user's interactions with an application and turns them into an automated test.
Retry
Automatically re-running a failed test or action a limited number of times to absorb transient, non-deterministic failures.
Root Cause Analysis
The systematic investigation that traces a failure back to its underlying cause rather than just its symptom.
Self-Healing Test
A test that automatically repairs its locators when the UI changes, so it keeps passing without manual maintenance.
Selector
An expression that identifies elements on a page, such as a CSS selector, XPath, or role-and-text query.
SDET
Software Development Engineer in Test: an engineer who builds test automation, tooling, and quality infrastructure.
Strix Pen-Testing
QI's bundled penetration-testing layer that runs security assessments against your application alongside functional tests.
Test Case Generation
Automatically producing test cases from requirements, designs, or existing flows to accelerate coverage.
Test Suite
A collection of tests grouped together to be run and reported on as a unit.
Test Flakiness
The tendency of tests to produce inconsistent pass/fail results on unchanged code, eroding trust in the suite.
Timeout
A maximum wait time after which a test action or assertion is abandoned and treated as failed.
UI Testing
Testing the user interface layer to confirm elements render correctly and respond properly to interaction.
Unit Testing
Testing individual units of code in isolation to verify each behaves correctly on its own.
User Flow Recording
Capturing the real sequence of steps a user takes through an application and turning it into a test.
Visual Regression Testing
Comparing screenshots of the UI against approved baselines to catch unintended visual changes.
Validation
Confirming that the software meets user needs and behaves as intended in real-world scenarios.
Viewport Testing
Testing an application across different screen sizes and resolutions to ensure responsive behavior.
Web Recording
Capturing interactions in a web application to automatically generate a browser-based automated test.
Wait Strategy
The approach a test uses to pause for the application to be ready before acting, ideally without fixed sleeps.
Web-Flutter Recording
Recording interactions in Flutter web applications to generate automated tests for Flutter-rendered UIs.
XPath
A query language for selecting nodes in an XML or HTML document, often used to locate elements in UI tests.
XCUITest
Apple's native UI testing framework for automating and testing iOS applications.
YAML Config
A human-readable configuration format widely used to define CI pipelines and test execution settings.
Yellow Build
A build that completes but with warnings or unstable tests, signaling caution rather than a clean pass or hard failure.
Zero-Flake Run
A test execution in which every result is deterministic, with no intermittent, non-reproducible pass or fail.
Zero AI-Tax
The principle that running your tests costs no per-run AI fees, because AI assists authoring and healing, never execution.