Cypress Testing: Complete Beginner's Guide

Section 1: Getting Started with Cypress 1. Installing and Setting Up Cypress Prerequisites Before installing Cypress, ensure you have Node.js installed on your machine. Cypress requires Node.js 18.x or 20.x and above. You should also have an existing React project or create a new one. Check your Node.js version by running this command in your terminal: node --version # Should output v18.x.x or higher Creating a React Project (Optional) If you don't have an existing React project, create one using Vite which is the recommended approach for new React projects: npm create vite@latest my-react-app -- --template react cd my-react-app npm install Installing Cypress Navigate to your React project directory and install Cypress as a development dependency. Cypress is a fairly large package, so the installation might take a minute or two: npm install cypress --save-dev # Or using yarn yarn add cypress --dev Opening Cypress for the First Time After installation, open Cypress for the first time. This will create the initial folder structure and configuration files: npx cypress open When Cypress opens for the first time, you'll see a welcome screen where you can choose between E2E Testing and Component Testing. Select E2E Testing to get started with end-to-end tests. Cypress will then prompt you to choose a browser. You can select Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Electron. Choose your preferred browser and click Start E2E Testing in [Browser] . Adding NPM Scripts Add convenient scripts to your package.json for running Cypress tests: { "scripts" : { "dev" : "vite" , "build" : "vite build" , "cy:open" : "cypress open" , "cy:run" : "cypress run" , "test:e2e" : "start-server-and-test dev http://localhost:5173 cy:run" } } Tip: Use npm run cy:open for interactive development with the Cypress Test Runner. Use npm run cy:run for headless execution in CI/CD pipelines. 2. Understanding Cypress Project Structure Project Directory Overview After initializing Cypress, you'll notice several new fold