Like an airplane’s preflight inspection before passengers board, smoke testing can ensure the new software build is ready to fly. It can be performed manually or through automated tools and typically takes no more than five minutes to complete. Smoke tests in software testing should focus on critical functions and quickly identify significant defects, saving time for more extensive tests in the future.
What is smoke testing?
Smoke testing is a quick, high-level evaluation of new software builds to detect showstopper defects and other significant issues that will obstruct further testing or production deployment. Usually conducted via automated procedures that check basic functionality without diving too deeply into complex edge cases or scenarios, smoke testing provides valuable feedback to development teams so that defects may be addressed before their impacts become more significant.
Integrating smoke tests into your continuous integration/delivery pipeline enables them to run automatically after each build. This provides developers with immediate feedback on stability and ensures that only stable builds advance to more rigorous testing phases. Smoke testing should be performed before merging code changes into your main app and beginning more extensive regression, user acceptance testing (UAT), or performance tests.
Smoke testing is invaluable, yet certain limitations should be considered when conducting it. These include limited test coverage: as smoke testing focuses on core functionalities only, some less essential areas may go untouched, and unnoticed bugs could remain undetected; time constraints could also lead to rushed execution and missed errors.
Advantages of smoke testing
Smoke testing is an efficient, low-cost way to verify the functionality of essential functions. It identifies potential show-stopper issues before more extensive test suites are run and provides teams with confidence moving forward—a beneficial strategy in agile development environments.
But it’s essential to remember that smoke tests aren’t intended to identify every bug in a build but serve to verify the basic functionality of new releases. Smoke tests should run in an environment without extraneous files; otherwise, tests might fail due to a mismatch between their coverage and complete regression test suites.
Failing smoke tests is easy if they’re not triaged correctly, making it essential for teams to establish a transparent process for reporting results and investigating why a test failed. Rainforest QA makes this easier with video replays and detailed logs about how each test ran; triaging results should be communicated to developers through continuous integration and deployment processes to reduce broken builds while guaranteeing all tests run in an uninterrupted and stable environment.
How to select or write smoke tests
Smoke tests are an initial evaluation that ensures the software starts and runs as intended. They check for significant problems that might hinder further testing, like programs crashing upon launch or corrupting data. Smoke tests typically last five minutes and check whether the software starts, opens, clicks buttons, and does not cause a major disaster. Once this basic check passes successfully, QA teams move onto a more detailed evaluation.
QA teams can conduct smoke testing either manually or using automated tools. Either method identifies critical app functionality and prioritizes tests to validate its functioning as intended. At the same time, they identify any issues found during their tests and relay this information back to development teams.
Smoke tests must be executed regularly to identify and catch significant defects, daily or after every build. Aligning testing cycles with development processes is key for detecting changes before they have a widespread impact on the system. Setting clear pass/fail criteria helps testers focus on critical aspects of an application and streamline testing using tools like Selenium and JUnit, which can accelerate and facilitate this process.
Process for smoke testing
Smoke testing is an affordable, time-efficient process designed to test an application’s most vital functions. It can be run manually or automatically as an initial check before more comprehensive processes like regression or acceptance testing are conducted.
Successful smoke testing relies on having an organized and prioritized set of test cases that cover key functionality and user needs. Effectively identifying such critical functionalities requires in-depth knowledge of an application’s architecture, user interfaces, and workflow processes, as well as engaging stakeholders and developers for feedback regarding areas for coverage.
Practical smoking tests require collaboration between development and testing teams. Engaging developers in creating and running smoke tests promotes buy-in from all stakeholders while decreasing testers’ reliance on manual testing. Encouraging developers to smoke tests locally before committing code also helps prevent broken builds, while adding them to a continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipeline accelerates test execution time.
User-friendly dashboards make it simple and accurate to triage test results quickly and accurately, especially when conducting multiple smoke tests daily. By showing which components of an app require further testing or bug fixing quickly and providing video replays of test runs so users can see exactly what was tested and why,
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is a smoke test in software?
A smoke test in software is a quick check to ensure basic functionality works after a new build. A smoke test in software helps verify that the core features—like login, navigation, or data entry—are working before deeper testing begins. If the smoke test in software fails, further testing is paused until the major issues are fixed. A smoke test in software saves time, avoids wasted effort, and gives confidence in the build’s stability. It is an essential practice in agile and DevOps pipelines where frequent builds need rapid validation before full regression or functional testing.
2. What is the meaning of smoke testing?
A smoke test in software is a quick check to ensure basic functionality works after a new build. A smoke test in software acts as a first filter to verify if the application can be tested further. By conducting a smoke test in software, teams can detect major flaws early and avoid wasting time. A smoke test in software ensures that essential features work before deeper testing begins. It is often automated and focuses on stability, helping teams confirm the build’s readiness. Smoke testing helps speed up the QA cycle and improve confidence in the release.
3. What is the definition of smoke testing in software testing?
A smoke test in software is defined as a shallow set of tests that verify if the most essential functions of an application work correctly. A smoke test in software is conducted after every new build to determine if the build is stable for further testing. QA teams rely on the smoke test in software to confirm critical areas like login, dashboard loading, and core workflows. By performing a smoke test in software, teams ensure early feedback and minimize wasted testing effort. It’s an essential part of continuous integration practices in agile and DevOps environments.
4. What is an example of smoke testing?
A smoke test in software might include verifying that a login screen accepts credentials, the dashboard loads, and essential navigation works. For example, in an e-commerce app, a smoke test in software would check if the user can browse items, add to cart, and begin checkout. A smoke test in software does not cover edge cases but ensures primary paths function. If the smoke test in software fails—say, the cart doesn’t load—further testing is halted. This example shows how smoke tests catch big issues early, saving time and ensuring only stable builds go through detailed testing.
5. What is the difference between regression testing vs smoke testing?
A smoke test in software is a high-level test to confirm major features work before deeper testing. Regression testing, in contrast, checks that new changes haven’t broken existing functionality. A smoke test in software is performed early after each build, while regression testing happens later and is more thorough. A smoke test in software is quick, focusing on build stability, whereas regression is time-consuming and comprehensive. If a smoke test in software fails, regression testing won’t proceed. Think of smoke testing as a gatekeeper, while regression ensures long-term reliability after changes and enhancements.
6. What is smoke testing and sanity testing with example?
A smoke test in software checks overall stability after a build, while sanity testing verifies a specific fix or feature works as intended. For example, a smoke test in software would confirm that the login, homepage load, and checkout work. Sanity testing would check if a password reset bug fix resolves the issue. A smoke test in software is broader, touching multiple areas quickly. Sanity is focused and done after minor updates. Both help reduce QA effort. If a smoke test in software fails, sanity testing isn’t even attempted—because the system isn’t ready for detailed verification.
7. What is the difference between sanity and smoke testing?
A smoke test in software is performed to check if the core application features work after a build. Sanity testing is more focused—it checks if a specific feature or bug fix works. A smoke test in software is usually broad and automated, ensuring stability. Sanity tests are manual and limited to a single module or function. A smoke test in software covers overall readiness, while sanity testing validates minor updates. If a smoke test in software fails, the build is rejected. Sanity testing comes later and is only done if the build has passed initial smoke tests.
8. What are the benefits of smoke testing?
A smoke test in software provides quick feedback about the stability of a new build. It saves time by catching critical bugs early, avoiding wasted effort in deep testing. A smoke test in software improves efficiency in CI/CD pipelines by ensuring only stable builds move forward. Teams using a smoke test in software reduce regression risks and improve release confidence. Because it’s often automated, a smoke test in software also accelerates feedback loops. This minimizes risk and improves software quality with minimal effort. It’s a simple yet powerful method to validate functionality and prevent costly defects downstream.
9. Why do we do smoke testing?
We perform a smoke test in software to quickly check if a build is stable enough for further testing. A smoke test in software helps avoid wasting time on builds that fail basic functionality. By doing a smoke test in software, teams catch critical issues early and prevent bugs from reaching users. It also improves efficiency by reducing test cycles and provides fast feedback to developers. A smoke test in software is instrumental in agile environments with frequent builds. It ensures that only stable versions of the application go through full regression or functional testing.
10. What tools are used for smoke testing in software?
A smoke test in software can be executed using various tools, depending on the type of application. Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright are popular tools for automating a smoke test in software for web applications. For mobile apps, tools like Appium are standard. In API testing, Postman or REST Assured can perform a smoke test in software to verify endpoint responses. CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI often run smoke tests automatically after each build. A smoke test in software should be fast, reliable, and easy to integrate, making tool selection very important.
