Building browser tests with GenAI

Creating and maintaining reliable browser tests can take up a lot of time. With the mabl Test Creation Agent, you can streamline this process by describing what you want the test to accomplish in natural language. The agent then takes on the work of generating test steps, basing its decisions on contextual information from your workspace, so that you can focus on more strategic work.

This article explains how to use the Test Creation Agent for browser tests:

• Create a new browser test with the agent
• Manage agent execution
• Generate steps in existing tests

Create a new browser test with the agent

To create a new browser test with GenAI, go to New test > Browser test in the app and provide your test prompt details. If you aren’t sure what information to provide, see our article on writing an effective test prompt.

Optionally, you may also specify up to three tests for the Test Creation Agent to reference for screenshots of the relevant user flow.

When you submit a prompt, the agent searches your mabl workspace for related tests, flows, and snippets. Using this context, the agent builds a test outline. If the outline doesn’t look correct, send followup messages to refine it until it aligns with your goals.

Test references

When planning the new test, the agent pulls screenshots from your relevant test runs to serve as context. You can either:

• Provide test references when you submit your initial prompt, OR
• Let the agent automatically search your workspace and identify up to 3 relevant test references for you.

To review and manage test references, expand the test references icon. If needed, you can manually remove or add test references to ensure the outline aligns with your objectives.

Test information

The agent generates high-level details for your test and displays them in the Test information section, including:

• Test name
• Test case
• Test description
• Application
• Environment
• URL
• Credentials

If any of the information is incorrect, send a followup message with your corrections. For example, "In test information, change the Application to 'Customer Portal' and update the credentials to 'Sample customer'."

Test outline

In the Test outline section, the agent generates a detailed approach to implementing the test, including:

• Implementation notes - the general idea of the test
• Tasks - each task includes a suggested validation for the end of the task
• Suggested flows and snippets - each flow/snippet includes a reasoning for why it was suggested and a confidence level: “preferred” indicates the agent is more likely to use the flow/snippet, “secondary” indicates the agent is saving the flow/snippet as an alternative option.
• Screenshots - if there are test references, the agent uses screenshots from their test runs as context when generating the outline.

To refine the test outline, send followup messages with your specific corrections. For example, "In the test outline, remove the flow 'Admin Login Flow' from the first task." If the screenshots don’t look correct, double check the test references and manually update them as needed.

Launch the Trainer

When you are happy with the outline, click on Next and add in any missing details on the test creation form, such as credentials or DataTables. Then click on Create test to launch the Trainer.

Manage agent execution

After the Trainer launches, the agent starts generating steps using the following context:

• A screenshot of the app
• The task plan
• Any existing test steps located before the cursor

Agent generating test steps

View agent activity

When the agent is generating steps, it adjusts the plan as it learns more about your application. To review all of the agent’s decisions and actions, click on the clock icon to view agent activity.

Manual intervention

To prevent the agent from getting into an unexpected state, avoid interacting with the browser window while the agent is generating tasks and steps.

In ambiguous situations, the agent may get off track if it doesn’t know enough about your app to make good decisions. If this happens, pause the agent. You can either edit the task plan, generate new tasks and steps, or switch to manual mode to add in tasks and steps manually.

The Trainer in manual mode

The Test Creation Agent supports most common UI interactions, including filling out forms, selecting from date pickers and dropdowns, and clicking on elements. If the task plan includes unsupported interactions, the agent may prompt you to take over training.

Restarting the agent

When you restart the agent, it updates the plan based on the edited prompt and any existing steps located before the cursor. It has no awareness of steps located after the cursor.

Generate steps in existing tests

If you need to add or retrain a set of steps, you can use the Generate button to build out steps based on a natural language prompt. This functionality is available in both new and existing browser tests:

Before you generate new steps in the Trainer, make sure your app is in the correct state. The Trainer cursor must be located in the position where you want to add in new steps. If you are regenerating steps for an existing task, make sure the cursor is located just below the task description step.

Click on the Generate button to access the prompt modal. Then describe what your test needs and click on Generate steps. The mabl agent will use this prompt to generate one or more steps.