Psynth — QA Engineer Take-Home Assessment

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in the QA Engineer role at Psynth! This take-home assessment is designed to evaluate your hands-on skills in E2E test automation, CI/CD integration, test planning, and bug reporting.

Estimated time: 2–3 hours Deadline: Please submit within 5 calendar days of receiving this assignment.

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Target Application

You will write tests against SauceDemo, an open demo e-commerce app by Sauce Labs:

🔗 https://www.saucedemo.com

Available Credentials

Username	Description
standard_user	Normal user — all features work
locked_out_user	Locked out — login should fail
problem_user	Broken images and form behavior
performance_glitch_user	Simulated slow responses
error_user	Triggers various application errors
visual_user	Visual/layout inconsistencies

Password for all users: secret_sauce

Take a few minutes to explore the app manually before you start writing tests.

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Assessment Structure

This assessment has 4 parts. All parts are required unless marked as bonus.

Part 1 — Test Plan (document)

Create a file called TEST_PLAN.md in the root of this repo. It must include:

1. Scope: Which user journeys and pages you chose to cover, and why.
2. Test cases: A prioritized list of test cases (at least 10) covering:
   • Happy-path flows (login → browse → cart → checkout)
   • Negative/edge cases (invalid login, empty cart, missing form fields)
   • At least one cross-user scenario (e.g., problem_user vs. standard_user)
3. Out of scope: What you intentionally excluded and why (given the 2–3 hr constraint).
4. Risk assessment: Which areas of the app are most likely to break and why.

Part 2 — E2E Test Automation (code)

Implement automated tests for at least 6 of the test cases from your test plan.

Requirements

• Framework: Use Cypress or Playwright (your choice).
• Language: JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Structure: Tests must be organized in the tests/ directory (or framework default like cypress/e2e/). Use page objects or a similar abstraction pattern — do not put all selectors inline.
• Test independence: Each test must be runnable independently (no reliance on test execution order).
• Assertions: Use meaningful assertions — not just "page loaded" checks.
• Data cleanup: Tests should handle their own setup/teardown where needed.

What we look for

• Clean, readable, and maintainable test code.
• Proper use of selectors (prefer data-test attributes where available over brittle CSS/XPath).
• Sensible waits and retry strategies (no hard-coded sleep / wait calls).
• Clear test naming that describes the behavior being verified.

Part 3 — CI/CD Integration (GitHub Actions)

Set up a GitHub Actions workflow so that your tests run automatically.

Requirements

• Create or complete the workflow file at .github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml.
• The workflow must:
  • Trigger on push to main and on pull requests.
  • Install dependencies and run the full test suite.
  • Upload test results/reports as artifacts (screenshots on failure, HTML report, or video — whatever your framework supports).
• A starter workflow file is provided as a reference — you may modify or replace it entirely.

What we look for

• A working pipeline that passes when tests pass and fails when tests fail.
• Proper caching of dependencies for faster runs.
• Artifact uploads so we can review test results without cloning the repo.

Part 4 — Bug Report

While exploring the app (especially with problem_user or error_user), you will encounter bugs.

Create a file called BUG_REPORT.md with at least 2 bug reports. Each report must follow this format:

## Bug Title

**Severity:** Critical / High / Medium / Low
**User(s) affected:** (which test user)
**Environment:** Browser, OS

### Steps to Reproduce
1. Step one
2. Step two
3. ...

### Expected Result
What should happen.

### Actual Result
What actually happens.

### Evidence
Screenshot or test output (paste inline or link to a file in the repo).

### Notes
Any additional context, root cause hypothesis, or recommended fix.

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Repo Setup

Getting Started

1. Clone or download this repository.

2. Initialize your framework of choice:

   Cypress:

   npm init -y
   npm install -D cypress
   npx cypress open   # to scaffold folders

   Playwright:

   npm init -y
   npm install -D @playwright/test
   npx playwright install

3. Write your tests in the tests/ folder (Playwright) or cypress/e2e/ folder (Cypress).

4. Push your work to a personal GitHub repository and invite sbpsynth as a collaborator.

Provided Files

File	Purpose
README.md	This file — your instructions
.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml	Starter CI workflow (modify as needed)
tests/.gitkeep	Placeholder for your test files
.gitignore	Standard ignores for node_modules, reports

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Submission Checklist

Before submitting, make sure you have:

• TEST_PLAN.md with at least 10 prioritized test cases
• At least 6 automated E2E tests that pass against SauceDemo
• Page object or similar abstraction pattern used
• Tests are independent and use no hard-coded waits
• .github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml runs tests on push/PR
• CI artifacts uploaded (screenshots, reports, or videos)
• BUG_REPORT.md with at least 2 detailed bug reports
• All code is clean, commented, and well-organized
• README or notes explaining how to run tests locally

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Evaluation Criteria

Area	Weight
Test plan quality	20%
Automation code	35%
CI/CD integration	20%
Bug reports	15%
Code style & docs	10%

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Important Notes

• You are free to use any npm packages, plugins, or utilities you find helpful.
• If you run into issues with the demo app being down, document it and test what you can.
• We value quality over quantity — 6 solid tests beat 20 flaky ones.
• If anything is unclear, reply to the email that sent you this assignment.

Good luck! We look forward to reviewing your work. 🚀