Field notes on testing and quality engineering by Tim Stacey.https://tim.sillysamoyed.com/https://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/internet-runs-on-remote-workhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/internet-runs-on-remote-workThe largest engineering projects in history are distributed by design, yet executives keep insisting distributed work fails. What the RTO research, the real estate money trail, and one Australian policy contradiction actually show.Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTRemoteWorkRegionalAustraliaOpenSourceTestAutomationFutureOfWorkhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/slack-agentic-e2e-testing-stackhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/slack-agentic-e2e-testing-stackSlack ran more than 200 end-to-end workflows through AI agents to map where intent-driven tests beat brittle scripts and where the price per run keeps scripts in charge.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTTestAutomationPlaywrightAgenticTestingE2ETestingAIhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/cucumber-test-script-costumehttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/cucumber-test-script-costumeThe value in BDD lives in the conversation before the code, not the .feature file; a Cucumber suite that skips that conversation becomes a brittle test script wearing plain English.Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTTestAutomationBDDCucumberSDETQualityEngineeringhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-closed-vs-open-load-modelshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-closed-vs-open-load-modelsA closed-model k6 test eases off the moment the server slows; an open-model test holds the request rate and shows you the tail your users will hit.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTk6PerformanceTestingLoadTestingGrafanaCoordinatedOmissionhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/ci-ai-agent-standing-credentialhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/ci-ai-agent-standing-credentialRunning Copilot CLI in GitHub Actions used to need a stored personal access token; the CLI now reads the run built-in GITHUB_TOKEN, a credential that expires with the job.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsDevSecOpsCICDCopilotDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/flake-rate-metric-quarantine-listhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/flake-rate-metric-quarantine-listA hand-kept flaky-test list goes stale the day you save it. Score each test flake rate in Prometheus and a query keeps the quarantine list current for you.Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTFlakyTestsTestAutomationCICDPrometheusTestObservabilityhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-2-1-feature-flagshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-2-1-feature-flagsk6 2.1 adds a feature-flag system: opt into experimental behavior with --features, list what exists with k6 features, and switch trend metrics to native Prometheus histograms.Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTk6PerformanceTestingLoadTestingGrafanaObservabilityhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-1-61-passkey-testinghttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-1-61-passkey-testingPlaywright 1.61 ships a virtual authenticator that registers passkeys in-test, so the passkey login button gets E2E coverage without a security key.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTPlaywrightTestAutomationWebAuthnPasskeysQAhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/checkout-v7-refuses-pwn-requesthttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/checkout-v7-refuses-pwn-requestactions/checkout v7 refuses to fetch fork pull request code under pull_request_target, closing the most copied half of the pwn request attack.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDDevSecOpsSupplyChainSecurityDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/pr-title-ran-shell-commandshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/pr-title-ran-shell-commandsA PR title carried shell commands, a run step echoed it, and the runner obeyed. Bind untrusted input to an env var and quote it.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDDevSecOpsSupplyChainSecurityDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/drop-postman-http-fileshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/drop-postman-http-filesA private Postman collection does two jobs badly. Send the quick check to cURL and a .http file, the endpoint tests to Playwright, and let git hold both.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAPITestingPlaywrightDeveloperExperiencecURLSoftwareDevelopmenthttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/stop-seeding-from-the-login-formhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/stop-seeding-from-the-login-formDrive the login form to seed every test and one selector change reddens the whole suite. Authenticate through the API and keep one test on the form.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTPlaywrightTestAutomationAPITestingCICDQAhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/coverage-gate-rewards-empty-testshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/coverage-gate-rewards-empty-testsLine coverage counts execution, not checking. A test that runs your code and asserts nothing still passes an 85 percent gate.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTestAutomationCodeCoverageMutationTestingSoftwareTestingCICDhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-merge-queue-five-stepshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-merge-queue-five-stepsA merge queue tests each PR against the ones ahead of it before it lands. Five setup steps keep it moving instead of stalling the day you turn it on.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDMergeQueueDevOpsDeveloperExperiencehttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/gitlab-native-secrets-managerhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/gitlab-native-secrets-managerGitLab 19.0 bundles OpenBao as a native secrets store, so you stop running a standalone Vault just to feed your pipelines.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitLabCICDDevSecOpsSecretsManagementDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/test-health-ci-logs-vs-observabilityhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/test-health-ci-logs-vs-observabilityYour suite emits pass rate and flake count every run, then buries them in a CI log nobody scrolls; export them over OTLP and a dashboard catches the rot.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTestAutomationOpenTelemetryTestObservabilityCICDDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/retries-hide-real-bugshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/retries-hide-real-bugsA bug that fails one run in four passes CI 99.6 percent of the time under three retries. Quarantine the test instead and keep the signal.Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTestAutomationFlakyTestsCICDSoftwareTestingDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-actions-cache-strategyhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-actions-cache-strategyA cached ~/.npm drops a cold Node install from four minutes to thirty seconds, and two more cache changes take the rest of the pipeline down with it.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDDevOpsSoftwareDevelopmentTestAutomationhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/resume-site-behind-460-testshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/resume-site-behind-460-testsI set the direction and Claude Code wrote the code and the tests; 247 unit tests and 213 browser tests are how I trust a site I never hand-wrote.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAstroStaticSitePlaywrightContinuousIntegrationTestAutomationhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-actions-parallel-stepshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-actions-parallel-stepsThree matrix jobs for lint, type-check, and unit tests pay three runner boots and an artifact handoff for concurrency that parallel steps fold back into one job.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDDevOpsTestAutomationSoftwareDevelopmenthttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/contract-testing-vs-e2ehttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/contract-testing-vs-e2eA contract test catches a renamed field in seconds; a 20-minute E2E suite catches it after booting six services. Put each test where it earns its minutes.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTContractTestingMicroservicesAPITestingTestAutomationCICDhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-script-authoring-live-telemetryhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-script-authoring-live-telemetryGrafana Assistant reads your telemetry, finds endpoints by real RPS and p95, and generates a k6 script that inherits that profile.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPerformanceTestingk6GrafanaTestAutomationDevOpshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-ai-test-explosionhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-ai-test-explosionAI-generated Playwright tests flake under 1.5%. The new problem is test explosion, and coverage intent is still yours to define.Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPlaywrightTestAutomationSoftwareTestingAICICDhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-copilot-fixes-failing-cihttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/github-copilot-fixes-failing-ciFix with Copilot puts a cloud agent on the failure: it investigates, pushes a fix, reruns CI, and tags you for review.Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGitHubActionsCICDTestAutomationDevOpsSoftwareDevelopmentPlaywrighthttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/ai-cicd-adoption-gaphttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/ai-cicd-adoption-gapJetBrains data: daily AI in the editor, almost none in CI/CD. The trust gap closes when AI reduces noise instead of adding it.Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTCICDDevOpsTestAutomationSoftwareDevelopmentAITestinghttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/bitbucket-agentic-pipelineshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/bitbucket-agentic-pipelinesDefine an agent block in bitbucket-pipelines.yml, scope it, tie it to an event. It drafts the docs and the coverage gaps; you review.Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTBitbucketDevOpsCICDTestAutomationSoftwareDevelopmentPlaywrighthttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-1-59-healer-agent-cihttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-1-59-healer-agent-ciThe 1.59 agents plus screencast and browser.bind shift your job from chasing selectors to reviewing what the Healer did.Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPlaywrightTestAutomationAITestingQACIhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-2-ai-performance-testinghttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/k6-2-ai-performance-testingGrafana previewed k6 2.0 at GrafanaCON 2026: AI authoring in the CLI, an MCP server, and a Playwright-to-k6 converter.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPerformanceTestingTestAutomationk6GrafanaAIhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-mcp-locator-taxhttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-mcp-locator-taxBroken-test triage is a staffing decision disguised as a process one. Here is the cost, and where AI self-healing pays it back.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTEngineeringLeadershipSoftwareEngineeringTestAutomationDevProductivityQualityAssurancehttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-ai-agentshttps://tim.sillysamoyed.com/blog/playwright-ai-agentsPlaywright v1.56 put a Planner, Generator, and Healer in the test runner. The interesting part is what it asks of the engineers who own the suite.Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTPlaywrightSoftwareTestingAITestAutomationQualityAssurance