Shortest

AI-powered natural language end-to-end testing framework.

Features

• Natural language E2E testing framework
• AI-powered test execution using Anthropic Claude API
• Built on Playwright
• GitHub integration with 2FA support
• Email validation with Mailosaur

Using Shortest in your project

If helpful, here's a short video!

Installation

Use the shortest init command to streamline the setup process in a new or existing project.

The shortest init command will:

npx @antiwork/shortest init

This will:

• Automatically install the @antiwork/shortest package as a dev dependency if it is not already installed
• Create a default shortest.config.ts file with boilerplate configuration
• Generate a .env.local file (unless present) with placeholders for required environment variables, such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• Add .env.local and .shortest/ to .gitignore

Quick start

1. Determine your test entry and add your Anthropic API key in config file: shortest.config.ts

import type { ShortestConfig } from "@antiwork/shortest";

export default {
  headless: false,
  baseUrl: "http://localhost:3000",
  testPattern: "**/*.test.ts",
  ai: {
    provider: "anthropic",
  },
} satisfies ShortestConfig;

Anthropic API key will default to SHORTEST_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variables. Can be overwritten via ai.config.apiKey.

2. Create test files using the pattern specified in the config: app/login.test.ts

import { shortest } from "@antiwork/shortest";

shortest("Login to the app using email and password", {
  username: process.env.GITHUB_USERNAME,
  password: process.env.GITHUB_PASSWORD,
});

Using callback functions

You can also use callback functions to add additional assertions and other logic. AI will execute the callback function after the test execution in browser is completed.

import { shortest } from "@antiwork/shortest";
import { db } from "@/lib/db/drizzle";
import { users } from "@/lib/db/schema";
import { eq } from "drizzle-orm";

shortest("Login to the app using username and password", {
  username: process.env.USERNAME,
  password: process.env.PASSWORD,
}).after(async ({ page }) => {
  // Get current user's clerk ID from the page
  const clerkId = await page.evaluate(() => {
    return window.localStorage.getItem("clerk-user");
  });

  if (!clerkId) {
    throw new Error("User not found in database");
  }

  // Query the database
  const [user] = await db
    .select()
    .from(users)
    .where(eq(users.clerkId, clerkId))
    .limit(1);

  expect(user).toBeDefined();
});

Lifecycle hooks

You can use lifecycle hooks to run code before and after the test.

import { shortest } from "@antiwork/shortest";

shortest.beforeAll(async ({ page }) => {
  await clerkSetup({
    frontendApiUrl:
      process.env.PLAYWRIGHT_TEST_BASE_URL ?? "http://localhost:3000",
  });
});

shortest.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => {
  await clerk.signIn({
    page,
    signInParams: {
      strategy: "email_code",
      identifier: "[email protected]",
    },
  });
});

shortest.afterEach(async ({ page }) => {
  await page.close();
});

shortest.afterAll(async ({ page }) => {
  await clerk.signOut({ page });
});

Chaining tests

Shortest supports flexible test chaining patterns:

// Sequential test chain
shortest([
  "user can login with email and password",
  "user can modify their account-level refund policy",
]);

// Reusable test flows
const loginAsLawyer = "login as lawyer with valid credentials";
const loginAsContractor = "login as contractor with valid credentials";
const allAppActions = ["send invoice to company", "view invoices"];

// Combine flows with spread operator
shortest([loginAsLawyer, ...allAppActions]);
shortest([loginAsContractor, ...allAppActions]);

API testing

Test API endpoints using natural language

const req = new APIRequest({
  baseURL: API_BASE_URI,
});

shortest(
  "Ensure the response contains only active users",
  req.fetch({
    url: "/users",
    method: "GET",
    params: new URLSearchParams({
      active: true,
    }),
  }),
);

Or simply:

shortest(`
  Test the API GET endpoint ${API_BASE_URI}/users with query parameter { "active": true }
  Expect the response to contain only active users
`);

Running tests

pnpm shortest                              # Run all tests
pnpm shortest __tests__/login.test.ts      # Run specific test
pnpm shortest --headless                   # Run in headless mode using CLI

You can find example tests in the examples directory.

CI setup

You can run Shortest in your CI/CD pipeline by running tests in headless mode. Make sure to add your Anthropic API key to your CI/CD pipeline secrets.

See example here

GitHub 2FA login setup

Shortest supports login using GitHub 2FA. For GitHub authentication tests:

1. Go to your repository settings
2. Navigate to "Password and Authentication"
3. Click on "Authenticator App"
4. Select "Use your authenticator app"
5. Click "Setup key" to obtain the OTP secret
6. Add the OTP secret to your .env.local file or use the Shortest CLI to add it
7. Enter the 2FA code displayed in your terminal into Github's Authenticator setup page to complete the process

shortest --github-code --secret=<OTP_SECRET>

Environment setup

Required in .env.local:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key
GITHUB_TOTP_SECRET=your_secret  # Only for GitHub auth tests

Shortest CLI development

The NPM package is located in packages/shortest/. See CONTRIBUTING guide.

Web app development

This guide will help you set up the Shortest web app for local development.

Prerequisites

• React >=19.0.0 (if using with Next.js 14+ or Server Actions)
• Next.js >=14.0.0 (if using Server Components/Actions)

[!WARNING] Using this package with React 18 in Next.js 14+ projects may cause type conflicts with Server Actions and useFormStatus

If you encounter type errors with form actions or React hooks, ensure you're using React 19

Getting started

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/anti-work/shortest.git
cd shortest

2. Install dependencies:

npm install -g pnpm
pnpm install

Environment setup

For Anti-Work team members

Pull Vercel env vars:

pnpm i -g vercel
vercel link
vercel env pull

For other contributors

1. Run pnpm run setup to configure the environment variables.
2. The setup wizard will ask you for information. Refer to "Services Configuration" section below for more details.

Set up the database

pnpm drizzle-kit generate
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm db:seed # creates stripe products, currently unused

Services configuration

You'll need to set up the following services for local development. If you're not a Anti-Work Vercel team member, you'll need to either run the setup wizard pnpm run setup or manually configure each of these services and add the corresponding environment variables to your .env.local file:

Clerk

1. Go to clerk.com and create a new app.
2. Name it whatever you like and disable all login methods except GitHub.
3. Once created, copy the environment variables to your .env.local file.
4. In the Clerk dashboard, disable the "Require the same device and browser" setting to ensure tests with Mailosaur work properly.

Vercel Postgres

1. Go to your dashboard at vercel.com.
2. Navigate to the Storage tab and click the Create Database button.
3. Choose Postgres from the Browse Storage menu.
4. Copy your environment variables from the Quickstart .env.local tab.

Anthropic

1. Go to your dashboard at anthropic.com and grab your API Key.
   • Note: If you've never done this before, you will need to answer some questions and likely load your account with a balance. Not much is needed to test the app.

Stripe

1. Go to your Developers dashboard at stripe.com.
2. Turn on Test mode.
3. Go to the API Keys tab and copy your Secret key.
4. Go to the terminal of your project and type pnpm run stripe:webhooks. It will prompt you to login with a code then give you your STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET.

GitHub OAuth

1. Create a GitHub OAuth App:

   • Go to your GitHub account settings.
   • Navigate to Developer settings > OAuth Apps > New OAuth App.
   • Fill in the application details:
     • Application name: Choose any name for your app
     • Homepage URL: Set to http://localhost:3000 for local development
     • Authorization callback URL: Use the Clerk-provided callback URL (found in below image)

2. Configure Clerk with GitHub OAuth:

   • Go to your Clerk dashboard.
   • Navigate to Configure > SSO Connections > GitHub.
   • Select Use custom credentials
   • Enter your Client ID and Client Secret from the GitHub OAuth app you just created.
   • Add repo to the Scopes

Mailosaur

1. Sign up for an account with Mailosaur.
2. Create a new Inbox/Server.
3. Go to API Keys and create a standard key.
4. Update the environment variables:
   • MAILOSAUR_API_KEY: Your API key
   • MAILOSAUR_SERVER_ID: Your server ID

The email used to test the login flow will have the format shortest@<MAILOSAUR_SERVER_ID>.mailosaur.net, where MAILOSAUR_SERVER_ID is your server ID. Make sure to add the email as a new user under the Clerk app.

Running locally

Run the development server:

pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser to see the app in action.