Automation Testing
The use of repeatable software-controlled tests to verify that applications, integrations or workflows behave as expected.
Automated tests let teams change applications, integrations and workflows more often with less risk, because regressions are caught in minutes in the pipeline instead of by customers or in month-end reports.
A team adds 400 unit tests, 60 API tests and 12 Playwright end-to-end checks to its CI pipeline, so every pull request runs the suite in under ten minutes and merges are blocked when a checkout test fails.
Passing tests only prove what was tested. Brittle UI tests and flaky results erode trust, test suites need maintenance as products change, and automation does not replace exploratory testing for usability or unexpected behavior.
Tests are written as code and run by a framework that sets up data, executes steps and checks assertions. They are usually layered as a test pyramid: many fast unit tests, fewer integration or API tests and a small number of end-to-end UI tests. A CI system runs them on each change, reports failures and can block deployment.
Systems Architecture
Martin Fowler — The Practical Test Pyramid — https://martinfowler.com/articles/practical-test-pyramid.html; Selenium — Overview of Test Automation — https://www.selenium.dev/documentation/test_practices/overview/