Q&A
What is your systematic approach when a test passes locally but fails in CI?
Ajitesh MohantaAmbassador
4w ago 2,143 0
This is the most frustrating debugging scenario I encounter regularly. Test passes 100% locally, fails 30–80% in CI.
My current process:
1. Check timing — add `--timeout` logging to see if CI is just slow
2. Check environment — compare env vars, browser version, OS
3. Check test isolation — does the test depend on previous test state?
4. Add verbose logging and re-run CI
5. Give up and add a retry (bad)
Is there a better systematic approach? Especially for Playwright tests where the failure is often a subtle timing difference between local Chrome and CI Chromium.