Best Practices

End-to-end testing has a reputation problem. Tests are flaky, slow, and expensive to maintain. Teams start with enthusiasm, writing comprehensive test suites—only to watch them become brittle, unreliable, and eventually ignored.

Playwright changes this equation. Microsoft’s modern testing framework addresses the core pain points that plagued previous generations of browser automation tools. With its architectural improvements, developer-friendly API, and built-in best practices, Playwright makes it possible to build automated test suites that are fast, reliable, and actually maintainable.

Automated testing is often viewed as a “nice to have” in Drupal development—something teams plan to implement “when there’s time.” But treating testing as optional is a costly mistake. The reality is that automated testing is fundamental to building maintainable Drupal applications, reducing bugs, and enabling teams to refactor and upgrade with confidence.

This guide will walk you through the essentials of automated testing in Drupal, from basic concepts to practical implementation, helping you build a testing practice that actually fits into your development workflow.