mcpbeat

Run E2e Tests

microsoft/run-e2e-tests

Run E2E tests to verify complete user workflows like environment discovery, creation, and selection. Use this before releases or after major changes.

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on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python-environments --skill run-e2e-tests

The instruction itself

11 sections, as written by the author

Run E2E (end-to-end) tests to verify complete user workflows work correctly.

When to Use This Skill

  • Before submitting a PR with significant changes
  • After modifying environment discovery, creation, or selection logic
  • Before a release to validate full workflows
  • When user reports a workflow is broken

Note: Run smoke tests first. If smoke tests fail, E2E tests will also fail.

Quick Reference

| Action | Command |

| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |

| Run all E2E tests | npm run compile && npm run compile-tests && npm run e2e-test |

| Run specific test | npm run e2e-test -- --grep "discovers" |

| Debug in VS Code | Debug panel → "E2E Tests" → F5 |

How E2E Tests Work

Unlike unit tests (mocked) and smoke tests (quick checks), E2E tests:

  • Launch a real VS Code instance with the extension
  • Exercise complete user workflows via the real API
  • Verify end-to-end behavior (discovery → selection → execution)

They take longer (1-3 minutes) but catch integration issues.

Workflow

Step 1: Compile and Run

npm run compile && npm run compile-tests && npm run e2e-test

Step 2: Interpret Results

Pass:

  E2E: Environment Discovery
    ✓ Can trigger environment refresh
    ✓ Discovers at least one environment
    ✓ Environments have required properties
    ✓ Can get global environments

  4 passing (45s)

Fail: Check error message and see Debugging section.

Debugging Failures

| Error | Cause | Fix |

| ---------------------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |

| No environments discovered | Python not installed | Install Python, verify it's on PATH |

| Extension not found | Build failed | Run npm run compile |

| API not available | Activation error | Debug with F5, check Debug Console |

| Timeout exceeded | Slow operation or hang | Increase timeout or check for blocking code |

For detailed debugging: Debug panel → "E2E Tests" → F5

Prerequisites

E2E tests have system requirements:

  • Python installed - At least one Python interpreter must be discoverable
  • Extension builds - Run npm run compile before tests
  • CI needs webpack build - Run npm run compile (webpack) before tests, not just npm run compile-tests (tsc)

Adding New E2E Tests

Create files in src/test/e2e/ with pattern *.e2e.test.ts:

import * as assert from 'assert';
import * as vscode from 'vscode';
import { waitForCondition } from '../testUtils';
import { ENVS_EXTENSION_ID } from '../constants';

suite('E2E: [Workflow Name]', function () {
    this.timeout(120_000); // 2 minutes

    let api: ExtensionApi;

    suiteSetup(async function () {
        const extension = vscode.extensions.getExtension(ENVS_EXTENSION_ID);
        assert.ok(extension, 'Extension not found');
        if (!extension.isActive) await extension.activate();
        api = extension.exports;
    });

    test('[Test description]', async function () {
        // Use real API (flat structure, not nested!)
        // api.getEnvironments(), not api.environments.getEnvironments()
        await waitForCondition(
            async () => (await api.getEnvironments('all')).length > 0,
            60_000,
            'No environments found',
        );
    });
});

Test Files

| File | Purpose |

| ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |

| src/test/e2e/environmentDiscovery.e2e.test.ts | Discovery workflow tests |

| src/test/e2e/index.ts | Test runner entry point |

| src/test/testUtils.ts | Utilities (waitForCondition, etc.) |

Notes

  • E2E tests are slower than smoke tests (expect 1-3 minutes)
  • They may create/modify files - cleanup happens in suiteTeardown
  • First run downloads VS Code (~100MB, cached in .vscode-test/)
  • For more details on E2E tests and how they compare to other test types, refer to the project's testing documentation.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take microsoft/run-e2e-tests from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

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