External LibrariesExternal Test CasesExecution in Flows

Execution in Flows

Learn how QA teams use your external test cases in visual test flows.

Two Node Types

ReAPI provides two nodes for running external test cases:

NodePurposeUse Case
External Test CaseRun a specific testKnown test, specific scenario
External Test Case SelectorRun tests by tagsRun all smoke tests, all auth tests

External Test Case Node

Runs a single, specific test case.

Configuration

Node Type: External Test Case
Settings:
  Library: MyTestLib           # Your external library
  Test Case: auth-login        # Specific test ID
  Timeout: 30000              # Override default timeout

When to Use

  • Running a specific test in a flow
  • Tests that must run in order
  • Setup/teardown tests
  • Critical path tests

Example Flow

┌─────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│  Start  │───▶│ External Case:   │───▶│ External Case:   │
└─────────┘    │ auth-login       │    │ verify-profile   │
               └──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘

External Test Case Selector Node

Runs multiple tests filtered by tags.

Configuration

Node Type: External Test Case Selector
Settings:
  Library: MyTestLib
  Tags: ["smoke", "auth"]      # Filter criteria
  Match Mode: ALL              # ALL = must have all tags
                               # ANY = must have at least one tag
  Parallel Level: 3            # Run 3 tests concurrently

Match Modes

ALL Mode - Test must have ALL specified tags:

// Tags filter: ["smoke", "auth"]
 
// ✅ Included
{ tags: ["smoke", "auth", "critical"] }  // Has both
 
// ❌ Excluded
{ tags: ["smoke"] }         // Missing "auth"
{ tags: ["auth", "regression"] }  // Missing "smoke"

ANY Mode - Test must have at least ONE specified tag:

// Tags filter: ["smoke", "auth"]
 
// ✅ Included
{ tags: ["smoke"] }              // Has "smoke"
{ tags: ["auth", "regression"] } // Has "auth"
{ tags: ["smoke", "auth"] }      // Has both
 
// ❌ Excluded
{ tags: ["regression", "e2e"] }  // Has neither

Example Flow

┌─────────┐    ┌──────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│  Start  │───▶│ Selector:            │───▶│ Visual Node │
└─────────┘    │ Tags: ["smoke"]      │    │ Cleanup API │
               │ Mode: ANY            │    └─────────────┘
               │ Parallel: 5          │
               └──────────────────────┘
                        │
                        ▼
               Runs all tests tagged "smoke"
               5 at a time in parallel

Combining Visual and External Tests

Mix external test cases with visual API nodes:

┌─────────┐
│  Start  │
└────┬────┘
     │
     ▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ Visual API Node    │  ◀── QA-created: Setup test data
│ POST /api/setup    │
└─────────┬──────────┘
          │
          ▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ External Case:     │  ◀── Developer-created: Complex auth flow
│ auth-full-flow     │
└─────────┬──────────┘
          │
          ▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ Selector:          │  ◀── Run all payment tests
│ Tags: ["payments"] │
└─────────┬──────────┘
          │
          ▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ Visual API Node    │  ◀── QA-created: Verify final state
│ GET /api/verify    │
└────────────────────┘

Execution Order

Within a Selector

Tests run based on priority, then alphabetically:

// Priority 1 runs first
{ id: "setup", priority: 1 }
 
// Then priority 2
{ id: "test-a", priority: 2 }
{ id: "test-b", priority: 2 }  // Alphabetical within same priority
 
// Then no priority (defaults to 999)
{ id: "cleanup" }

Parallel Execution

With parallelLevel: 3:

Time ─────────────────────────────────────────▶

     ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
     │ Test 1  │ │ Test 2  │ │ Test 3  │
     └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘ └────┬────┘
          │           │           │
          ▼           ▼           ▼
     ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
     │ Test 4  │ │ Test 5  │ │ Test 6  │
     └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Note: Tests sharing context should use parallelLevel: 1 or be in separate flows.

Viewing Results

Test Report

Each external test case shows:

  • Test name and ID
  • Pass/fail status
  • All assertion results
  • Logs from $log()
  • API calls from $reportApiRequest()
  • Execution time

Assertion Details

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Test: auth-login                            │
│ Status: ✅ Passed                           │
│ Duration: 234ms                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Assertions:                                 │
│  ✅ status: 200 equals 200                  │
│  ✅ hasToken: true equals true              │
│  ✅ schema: valid response schema           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ API Calls:                                  │
│  POST /api/auth/login → 200 (234ms)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Logs:                                       │
│  [info] Test started                        │
│  [debug] Response received                  │
│  [info] Test completed                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Best Practices

Tag Strategy for QA

Help QA find the right tests:

// By feature area
tags: ["auth"]
tags: ["users"]
tags: ["payments"]
 
// By test type
tags: ["smoke"]       // Quick sanity checks
tags: ["regression"]  // Full test suite
tags: ["e2e"]        // End-to-end flows
 
// By environment
tags: ["prod-safe"]   // Safe to run in production
tags: ["staging-only"] // Only for staging

Documentation for QA

Add clear descriptions:

{
  id: "payment-refund-flow",
  name: "Payment Refund Flow",
  description: "Tests the complete refund process: initiate refund, " +
               "verify status transitions, confirm final balance. " +
               "Requires an existing order in context.",
  tags: ["payments", "refunds", "regression"],
}

Priority Guidelines

priority: 1   // Setup tests, must run first
priority: 2   // Core functionality
priority: 3   // Edge cases
priority: 10  // Cleanup tests, run last
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