Test what you built

Test Agent generates test coverage for code created by Build Agent, executes tests, and performs root cause analysis (RCA) on failures. Prompt Test Agent to complete build-to-test workflows in a single development session without manual test authoring or failure investigation.

Test Agent extends Build Agent by making every build safe before release. After Build Agent produces code changes in a development instance, Test Agent consumes the same prompt and code context. It uses those to author functional Automated Test Framework (ATF) tests, execute those tests, and triage any failures automatically.

• For details on configuring tests in Build Agent, see Configure auto test prompting and UI tests.
• For more information ATF test generation, see ATF test generation in Build Agent.
• For complete documentation on using Test Agent, see Test Agent.

If a test fails, Test Agent performs an RCA. Then it either auto-applies safe fixes or surfaces actionable guidance in the chat panel so you can resolve the issue without leaving ServiceNow Studio or the ServiceNow IDE.

Customer outcomes

Test Agent delivers the following measurable outcomes:

• Build and test in one session: You no longer need to context-switch between authoring code and writing tests. Both happen sequentially within the same Build Agent session.
• Faster failure triage: Automated RCA and proposed fixes reduce the time you spend looking through logs after a test run.
• More release confidence: Measurable quality gates enforced by automated test execution give you verifiable evidence of code health before promotion to production instances.
• Generated ATF tests are stored in the sys_atf_tests [sys_atf_tests] table under the app scope for which they were created. You can schedule regression test runs using the generated tests.

Test generation prompting

After each development action in Build Agent, Test Agent asks whether to generate ATF tests for what you just built. You can accept or decline the prompt at each step. When you accept the prompt, Test Agent generates tests before returning control to you in the chat panel.

Figure 1. Automatic test prompting

Automatic prompting for tests reduces the chance of skipping test coverage during rapid development by keeping test generation as part of the standard development loop.

To manually prompt for tests, ask Build Agent to Generate ATF tests for all the feature permutations on the app we built. Then, you can tell Build Agent to Execute all ATF tests.

Test Agent workflow

The end-to-end workflow is:

1. Create or edit an app in a development instance using Build Agent in ServiceNow Studio or the ServiceNow IDE, driven by your prompt.
2. Test Agent consumes the prompt and the resulting code changes to generate contextually relevant functional and UI ATF tests.
3. Respond to Build Agent asking whether you want to run the tests.
4. Failures are automatically triaged. Test Agent produces an RCA and either applies safe fixes autonomously or proposes them to you through the Build Agent chat panel.
5. Build Agent ingests the RCA from Test Agent and re-executes tests until a passing status is achieved, completing the auto-heal loop. Stale tests are automatically updated to reflect the newest functionality.

Key developer experiences

Autonomous test authoring

When you use Build Agent to implement a story, you can prompt it to create functional and UI tests automatically.

UI testing

Generate comprehensive UI tests for applications you build with Build Agent. UI testing extends the existing functional test capability to cover browser-level interactions, such as multi-step page navigation flows. Request a UI test by prompting Build Agent to generate a UI test for the application or flow you want to validate. For more information, see UI Test Script in Automated Test Framework (ATF).

Figure 2. UI tests

Assisted troubleshooting

Test Agent automatically troubleshoots failed tests, generates RCAs, and proposes targeted fixes, eliminating manual log investigation.

Auto-healing

Build Agent consumes the RCA produced by Test Agent and applies fixes to code or tests, then re-executes the test suite until all tests reach a passing status. This removes the need for developers to manually patch and maintain tests during a session.

Automatically updated tests

Test Agent automatically identifies outdated ATF tests as your application changes, and updates or removes them to keep your test suite aligned with your current code. Tests that no longer map to application artifacts are removed. Tests that partially match updated artifacts are revised to reflect the current implementation. Automatic test maintenance reduces the overhead of keeping ATF tests synchronized with ongoing development and removes the need to manually audit and update tests after each code change.

Scope and availability

Test Agent is available in the following environments and scopes:

Table 1. Test Agent scope and availability

Dimension	Supported values
Authoring environment	ServiceNow Studio, the ServiceNow IDE, and the ServiceNow SDK (execution tool only)
Application scope	Global, custom, store
Test types	ATF functional and UI tests
Execution target	Cloud Runner lanes

Note:

Test execution requires the ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner app to be installed and a cloud user set up. For more information, see ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner.