clawfort/e2e/docs/triage-workflow.md

UI/UX Regression Test Triage Workflow

Overview

This document defines the triage workflow and ownership for UI/UX regression test failures in the ClawFort Playwright test suite.

Test Failure Severity

Critical (Block Release)

• Smoke test failures in PR gate
• Core journey failures (hero/feed loading, modal open/close)
• Accessibility violations (keyboard navigation, focus management)
• Cross-browser compatibility issues

High (Fix Before Release)

• Full regression failures in main/nightly
• Responsive layout issues on supported breakpoints
• Theme-specific rendering problems
• Deep-link functionality failures

Medium (Fix in Next Sprint)

• Minor visual inconsistencies
• Non-critical microinteraction issues
• Performance degradation in test execution

Low (Backlog)

• Cosmetic issues not affecting functionality
• Test flakiness requiring investigation
• Documentation gaps

Ownership

Primary Owner

• UI/UX Team Lead: Overall test suite health and strategy

Component Owners

• Core Journeys: Frontend team
• Accessibility: Accessibility specialist + Frontend team
• Responsive Design: Frontend team + UX designer
• Modal Experience: Frontend team
• Microinteractions: Frontend team

CI/CD Integration

• DevOps Team: CI pipeline configuration and artifact management

Triage Process

Step 1: Detection (Automated)

1. CI pipeline runs tests on PR or main branch
2. Failures are reported in GitHub Actions
3. Artifacts (screenshots, videos, traces) are uploaded
4. Notifications sent to #ui-regression-alerts channel

Step 2: Initial Assessment (Within 2 hours)

1. Check if failure is reproducible locally
2. Review failure artifacts in Playwright report
3. Determine severity based on impact
4. Assign to appropriate component owner

Step 3: Investigation

1. Review test logs and artifacts
2. Check recent commits for related changes
3. Attempt local reproduction
4. Document findings in issue

Step 4: Resolution

1. Critical: Fix immediately, re-run tests
2. High: Fix within 24 hours
3. Medium: Schedule for next sprint
4. Low: Add to backlog with priority

Step 5: Verification

1. Re-run failing tests
2. Verify fix doesn't introduce new issues
3. Update test if it was a false positive
4. Document resolution

Artifact Access

Playwright Report

• Location: GitHub Actions artifacts
• Retention: 14 days (smoke), 30 days (full)
• Access: Download from workflow run page

Viewing Locally

# Download and extract artifact
cd e2e
npx playwright show-report playwright-report/

Key Artifacts

• trace.zip: Full trace with DOM snapshots, network, console
• test-failed-*.png: Screenshot at failure point
• video.webm: Video recording of test execution

Common Failure Patterns

Flaky Tests

• Symptom: Passes on retry
• Action: Increase timeouts, add waits, stabilize selectors
• Owner: Test maintainer

Environment Issues

• Symptom: Tests pass locally but fail in CI
• Action: Check CI environment, browser versions, dependencies
• Owner: DevOps + Test maintainer

Application Regressions

• Symptom: Consistent failures across runs
• Action: Identify breaking change, fix application code
• Owner: Component owner

Test Data Issues

• Symptom: Tests fail due to missing/changed data
• Action: Update test fixtures, ensure deterministic data
• Owner: Test maintainer

Communication

Slack Channels

• #ui-regression-alerts: Automated failure notifications
• #frontend-team: Discussion of UI issues
• #qa-team: Test-related discussions

Issue Labels

• ui-regression: UI/UX test failures
• accessibility: WCAG-related issues
• responsive: Layout/breakpoint issues
• flaky-test: Intermittent failures
• ci-blocker: Blocking CI/CD pipeline

Escalation Path

1. Component Owner investigates and attempts fix
2. UI/UX Team Lead reviews if not resolved in 4 hours
3. Engineering Manager escalates if blocking release
4. CTO involved for critical production issues

Prevention

Pre-merge Checks

• Run smoke tests locally before pushing
• Review visual changes with design team
• Test across themes and breakpoints for UI changes

Monitoring

• Weekly review of test flakiness metrics
• Monthly review of test coverage
• Quarterly review of test strategy

Contact

• UI/UX Test Suite: ui-team@clawfort.ai
• CI/CD Issues: devops@clawfort.ai
• Emergency Escalation: engineering-manager@clawfort.ai