e2e

name	e2e
description	Run E2E smoke tests (basic) or full acceptance + regression suite (extended).

E2E SKILL

Config loading

Read .claude/maestro.json to resolve project-specific values:

• {TEMP_ROOT} = .ai.temp_root
• {REPO} = .ai.repo
• {SLUG} = .ai.slug
• {E2E_URL} = .ai.e2e.local_url
• {E2E_BOOT} = .ai.e2e.boot_cmd
• {E2E_SETTINGS} = .ai.e2e.settings_path
• {E2E_CI} = .ai.e2e.ci_integration

This skill provides end-to-end test execution at two tiers. The tooling is the same (Playwright MCP + curl + WP-CLI); the difference is scope and depth.

The local WordPress environment is at {E2E_URL} (admin / password). Boot or restart it with {E2E_BOOT}.

---

Tier 1 — Basic

Purpose: behavioral verification and smoke tests. Fast enough to fit inside a planning agent's execution window.

Invokers:

• grooming-agent — verify behavioral assumptions about the current system before writing the spec. Use to confirm: does the current feature behave as described in the issue? What does the current API or AJAX endpoint return for the scenario being changed?

Anti-rationalization table

You'll be tempted to say	Why you can't
"The environment probably isn't up, I'll skip"	Run {E2E_BOOT}. It's idempotent. If it fails, log SKIP with the reason — do not silently omit the step.
"The change is backend-only, no need to smoke it"	The primary happy path must be verified. A backend change with no observable behavior change still needs a confirming assertion.
"I already read the code, I know it works"	"Seems right" never closes a task. Run the scenario.
"One scenario is too slow for this stage"	Basic tier is exactly one primary scenario. The cost is acceptable.

Basic tier process

1. Boot the environment (idempotent — safe to run if already up):

   {E2E_BOOT}
   

   If the script exits non-zero, set status: "SKIP", note the reason, and do not block the pipeline.

2. Run the primary happy path scenario from the spec or grooming plan.

   Backend / AJAX / REST:

   # Public REST or AJAX
   curl -s -X POST {E2E_URL}/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php \
     -H "Cookie: $(cat .wp-session-cookie 2>/dev/null)" \
     -d 'action=<action>&nonce=...'
   
   # Cache headers
   curl -sI {E2E_URL}/ | grep -E '(x-cache|cf-cache)'
   
   # WP-CLI inside the dev environment
   bin/wp <command>
   

   Browser (settings page, dashboard notices, interactive UI): Use the Playwright MCP directly for basic-tier smoke. Do not delegate to e2e-qa-tester at this tier (that is the extended tier path):

   mcp__playwright__navigate({ url: "{E2E_URL}/wp-login.php" })
   # login
   mcp__playwright__fill({ selector: "#user_login", value: "admin" })
   mcp__playwright__fill({ selector: "#user_pass", value: "password" })
   mcp__playwright__click({ selector: "#wp-submit" })
   # primary scenario
   mcp__playwright__navigate({ url: "{E2E_SETTINGS}" })
   mcp__playwright__snapshot({})
   # Inspect snapshot output to confirm expected element/text is present
   

   Take at most 1–2 screenshots if helpful, but do not publish them at this tier.

3. Report:

   {
     "status": "PASS|FAIL|SKIP",
     "scenarios_tested": ["Settings page loads without errors after enabling X option"],
     "details": "Logged in as admin, navigated to {E2E_SETTINGS}, confirmed no JS console errors and X toggle present"
   }
   

   SKIP: {E2E_BOOT} failed or environment unreachable. Record reason. Do not block the pipeline.

Basic tier boundaries

• ✅ Do: verify the one primary scenario from the spec or grooming plan
• ✅ Do: probe current-system behavior (grooming-agent only) when an assumption needs verification
• 🚫 Do not: cover all acceptance criteria (that is extended tier)
• 🚫 Do not: write or commit Playwright specs (that is extended tier via e2e-qa-tester)
• 🚫 Do not: publish screenshots (that is extended tier)

---

Tier 2 — Extended

Purpose: full acceptance criteria coverage, regression testing, edge cases, visual comparison, and Playwright spec authoring with screenshot evidence.

Invoker: qa-engineer only.

Execution: the qa-engineer agent delegates browser flows to the e2e-qa-tester sub-agent, which handles Playwright MCP driving, temporary spec authoring under .e2e-temp/, screenshot publishing via the commit-SHA method, and clean-up.

The qa-engineer agent itself handles:

• Strategy A (API / functional validation via curl and WP-CLI)
• Strategy C (test-suite-only fallback when the environment is unreachable)

For details, read:

• .claude/agents/qa-engineer.md — strategy selection and report format
• .claude/agents/e2e-qa-tester.md — browser flow execution, spec authoring, screenshot publishing

The extended tier writes Playwright specs to .e2e-temp/ (gitignored, never committed when {E2E_CI} is false) and screenshots to .e2e-screenshots/. Screenshots are published to a public GitHub Gist (gh gist create --public) to get permanent, publicly accessible raw URLs — no commits to the PR branch. Gist raw URLs never 404 in PR comments, unlike commit-SHA-based URLs.

---

When to use which tier

Invoker	Tier	Purpose
grooming-agent	Basic	Verify a behavioral assumption before writing the spec
qa-engineer	Extended	Full acceptance criteria + regression + screenshots

---

Project-specific notes

• The boot script {E2E_BOOT} is idempotent. Always run it before testing — don't pre-check whether the environment is up.
• Admin credentials: admin / password.
• Settings page URL: {E2E_SETTINGS}.
• Plugin activation check (no login needed):

  curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" {E2E_SETTINGS}
  

• For cache-header tests, send a request to a front-end URL and inspect the project's cache response headers.
• The basic tier never writes Playwright spec files and is invoked by grooming-agent only. Implementation agents (backend-agent, frontend-agent) do not invoke the e2e skill — full E2E validation belongs to the qa-engineer + e2e-qa-tester tier.
• If {E2E_CI} is true, the project maintains a permanent E2E suite — e2e-qa-tester will commit spec files rather than delete them.