Browser Journey Test

Purpose / When to Activate

Activate after implementation to validate real user experience — not just code logic.

Use when:

• Stories describe user-facing flows
• Acceptance criteria can only be verified through UI interaction
• Regression testing requires end-to-end validation

Complements (does not replace) qa-review.

Process

CRITICAL — Anti-Collision Guard (MUST execute before writing any output file): Before writing contexts/artefacts/test-evidence/{story_id}/journey-test-report.md, check if the target file already exists on disk:

• If it does NOT exist → proceed normally.
• If it DOES exist → read the existing file first. Then decide:
  • If the existing content is from a different entity (different story ID, different epic) → STOP immediately, surface the ID collision to the human, do not proceed.
  • If the existing content is from the same entity and an update is warranted (e.g., re-run after a fix) → proceed, but preserve any prior evidence or notes that remain relevant. Treat this as an update, not a replacement.
  • If the existing content is identical or still valid → skip writing, report "no changes needed". This guard prevents the silent data loss incident of 2026-03-17 where concurrent sessions overwrote story files.

For each Story:

1. Read the Story's acceptance criteria. For each AC, extract the user action (verb + object) and the expected outcome. Produce a numbered action sequence.

2. Execute each action in the sequence using the browser automation capability available in the current environment (e.g., Playwright, Puppeteer, or the agent's built-in browser tool). Navigate to deployed_application_url before starting.

3. After each action, capture: (a) a screenshot saved to contexts/artefacts/test-evidence/{story_id}/step-{N}.png, (b) the HTTP status code, (c) any console errors, (d) whether the expected outcome from Step 1 is visually and functionally confirmed.

4. For each step, classify the result: PASS (outcome confirmed), FUNCTIONAL_FAILURE (expected outcome not met — blocks delivery), UX_FRICTION (outcome met but interaction is degraded — e.g., slow load, confusing layout, accessibility issue — does not block delivery).

5. Produce the test report using the output format below.

Output Format

# Browser Journey Test — {Story ID}

> **Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD}
> **URL:** {deployed_application_url}
> **Overall verdict:** PASS | FAIL

## Step Results

| # | Action | Expected Outcome | Result | Evidence |
|---|--------|-----------------|--------|----------|
| 1 | {action} | {outcome} | PASS/FUNCTIONAL_FAILURE/UX_FRICTION | step-1.png |

## Functional Failures (blocking)
{list or "None"}

## UX Friction Points (non-blocking)
{list or "None"}

Outputs

• contexts/artefacts/test-evidence/{story_id}/journey-test-report.md
• contexts/artefacts/test-evidence/{story_id}/step-{N}.png — one screenshot per action step

Quality Checks

• Every acceptance criterion has a corresponding browser test
• Every step result has a screenshot as evidence
• Failures include reproduction steps
• Evidence is captured for audit trail
• FUNCTIONAL_FAILURE vs UX_FRICTION classification follows the rule: outcome not met = failure, outcome met but degraded = friction

Non-Goals

This skill must NOT:

• Replace unit or integration tests
• Make product decisions about UX issues
• Run tests against non-deployed code

Validates real user experience. Prevents regressions in production-like conditions.