Debug Test Case Failures

Investigate a failed test case from the Run Results page. Open the failing step, read its analysis, check its logs, and compare it against an earlier run. Testsigma captures a screenshot, the element details, and the logs for the step.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that:

1. A test plan run or dry run has completed.
2. The run contains at least one failed step.

Open the Failing Step

1. From the left navigation bar, go to Run Results and click the test plan for which you want to check the results.
2. Click the test case you want to investigate.

3. Select the failed step from the step list on the left.

   

   The list is headed by the step count and the number of failed steps. Each step carries an icon showing whether it passed, failed, or was not executed. Drag the divider between the step list and the details pane to resize either side.

   The step header shows the step number, its duration, its status, and the error message. Click Read more to see the full message.

   The details pane on the right carries the Analysis, Locators, Logs, Step Settings, and Metadata tabs.

Read the Analysis

The Analysis tab opens with the error code for the failure, such as #NO_SUCH_ELEMENT. Below it, the Visual Evidence section places the screenshot captured at authoring time next to the one captured in this run.

Below the two panels, the tab lists the element, element name, run type, action, start time, duration, step level timeout, plan level timeout, error code, error message, test data type, and test data for each side. Use the icons on a screenshot to expand it or download it.

At the bottom of the tab, the Page source section holds the captured HTML for each side. Click the file name to open it, or the download icon to save it.

Additional Information: For a root cause explanation and suggested fixes, click Analyze with Agent in the action bar at the bottom of the page. Refer to the documentation on the Analyzer Agent.

Explain the Failure

Testsigma can read the step's error, screenshot, page source, and heal attempts, and explain what broke.

1. On the Analysis tab, find the Root cause card.

2. Click Explain this failure.

   

   The explanation opens with a one-line summary of what failed, such as "Step failed: no Shop Back to School link on Google homepage", followed by the reasoning and a recommended change.

3. Click Read less to collapse the explanation, or Read more to expand it again.

Check the Logs

1. Open the Logs tab.
2. Select Selenium, Console, or Network.
3. Use the scope list to switch between This step and the whole run.
4. Click Jump to error to move to the first error in the log.
5. Click the download icon to save the log.

Additional Information: Network logs are captured only when they are switched on for the test machine, and they arrive once the lab finishes uploading them. Until then, the Network tab reads "No network log was recorded for this run".

Check Whether a Step Was Healed

When auto-healing resolves a locator mid-run, a banner above the step list reports how many steps were healed, and the Analysis tab shows a Healed this step card with Approve as Primary and Ignore.

A healed step reports Passed, because the step completed. For the full workflow, refer to the documentation on auto-healing insights.

Compare Against an Earlier Run

Comparing a failing step against an earlier run shows what changed between them. There are two entry points:

• Click Compare Runs in the page header to compare the whole test case across two runs, step by step.
• Click Compare Steps in the Visual Evidence section to compare the current step alone, using the screenshot and element source comparison modes.

Comparison also spans the steps on either side of the failure, because the step that reports an error is often not the step that caused it.

For both workflows, refer to the documentation on test plan run results.

Check What Else the Element Affects

When an element causes a failure, check which other tests depend on it before you fix it.

1. Click Affected tests in the step header.

   The Affected Instances panel opens, showing the Test Cases, Step Groups, Test Suites, and Test Plans that use the same element, each with a count.

2. Review each tab to see what is at risk of the same failure.

   When no test uses the element, the panel reads "There are no Test Cases associated with the element".

Act on the Failure

Resolve the failure without leaving the results page.

• Click Analyze with Agent in the action bar to get the error type, the root cause, and a set of suggestions you can apply as a step update.
• Click Run using Copilot in the action bar to rerun the test case interactively.
• Use Update element to correct a locator yourself. On the current run side of Visual Evidence, the Element field carries an edit icon for this.
• Use Relearn step to re-capture the step.
• Where auto-healing fired, approve or reject the healed element directly on the first screen.

Common Causes of Failure

Test cases commonly fail for these reasons:

• The element or UI identifier changed in the application.
• The application does not load.
• The local internet connection fails.
• The element is unchanged, but navigation to it changed.
• Add-on code does not perform as expected.
• The application under test contains a defect.
• The result is a false positive or false negative.
• An API is down.
• The element locator is incorrect.