Running Tests in CI/CD Pipelines

Running your SHAFT tests in a CI/CD pipeline is straightforward. SHAFT's property system lets you override any configuration from the command line, making it easy to adapt tests for unattended pipeline execution.

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Basic Pipeline Command

The simplest way to run SHAFT tests in any CI/CD system is with Maven:

Pipeline command

mvn -e test \
  -DheadlessExecution=true \
  -Dallure.automaticallyOpen=false \
  -Dallure.generateArchive=true

Property	Why
headlessExecution=true	No display available in CI — run the browser without a GUI
allure.automaticallyOpen=false	Do not try to open a browser to show the report
allure.generateArchive=true	Generate a portable ZIP of the Allure report for artifact publishing

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Recommended CI/CD Properties

Create a custom.properties file with sensible defaults for CI, then override individual values from the CLI as needed:

src/main/resources/properties/custom.properties

# CI/CD defaults
headlessExecution=true
allure.automaticallyOpen=false
allure.generateArchive=true
retryMaximumNumberOfAttempts=2
createAnimatedGif=false
videoParams_recordVideo=false

info

Remember the property priority hierarchy: Code-based > CLI-based > File-based > Defaults. CLI parameters always override file-based values, so your pipeline can fine-tune any property.

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GitHub Actions Example

.github/workflows/tests.yml

name: Run Tests
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up JDK
        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: 'temurin'
          java-version: '21'

      - name: Run tests
        run: |
          mvn -e test \
            -DheadlessExecution=true \
            -Dallure.automaticallyOpen=false \
            -Dallure.generateArchive=true

      - name: Upload Allure report
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: allure-report
          path: allure-report-archive/

---

Jenkins Pipeline Example

Jenkinsfile

pipeline {
    agent any
    tools {
        maven 'Maven-3.9'
        jdk 'JDK-21'
    }
    stages {
        stage('Test') {
            steps {
                sh '''
                    mvn -e test \
                      -DheadlessExecution=true \
                      -Dallure.automaticallyOpen=false \
                      -Dallure.generateArchive=true
                '''
            }
        }
    }
    post {
        always {
            archiveArtifacts artifacts: 'allure-report-archive/**', allowEmptyArchive: true
        }
    }
}

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Running Specific Tests

Use Maven Surefire parameters to control which tests run:

Run a specific test class

mvn test -Dtest=LoginTest

Run a specific method

mvn test -Dtest=LoginTest#testValidLogin

Run all tests in a package

mvn test -Dtest="com.example.tests.**"

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Parameterizing for Multiple Environments

Use CI/CD pipeline variables to switch between environments:

Parameterized execution

mvn test \
  -DbaseURL=${TARGET_URL} \
  -DtargetBrowserName=${BROWSER} \
  -DexecutionAddress=${GRID_URL} \
  -DtargetOperatingSystem=${OS}

This lets you run the same test suite against staging, production, or different browser/OS combinations by changing pipeline variables.

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Best Practices

1. Always use headless mode in pipelines — there is no display server.
2. Disable auto-opening reports — set allure.automaticallyOpen=false.
3. Generate report archives — use allure.generateArchive=true and publish them as pipeline artifacts.
4. Set retry attempts — retryMaximumNumberOfAttempts=2 helps with flaky tests in CI environments.
5. Parameterize everything — use CLI properties so the same test suite works across environments.
6. Archive test artifacts — always upload reports and logs, even on failure (use if: always() in GitHub Actions or post { always { } } in Jenkins).