# Execution Overview

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**Who is this for?** Testers, SDETs, and QA managers who need to run tests reliably across environments, scale execution with parallelism, and review detailed evidence for every run.
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ContextQA's execution engine handles everything from a single ad-hoc test run to scheduled parallel suites across multiple browsers and environments. Every execution captures video recordings, screenshots, HAR logs, and Playwright traces so you always have the evidence you need to diagnose failures and prove coverage.

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## How execution works

1. **Select what to run** — Pick an individual test case, a test suite, or an entire test plan.
2. **Choose the environment** — Select a preconfigured environment that defines the base URL, variables, and browser settings.
3. **Execute** — Run immediately, schedule for later, or trigger from a CI/CD pipeline or MCP tool.
4. **Monitor in real time** — Watch execution progress on the Execution Dashboard as results stream in.
5. **Review evidence** — Every run produces video, screenshots, network logs, and trace files for step-level debugging.

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## Key capabilities

* **Parallel execution** — Run multiple test cases simultaneously across browsers and environments to cut total execution time.
* **Environment management** — Define named environments with base URLs, global variables, and execution parameters so the same tests work against dev, staging, and production.
* **Scheduling** — Set up recurring runs on hourly, daily, or weekly intervals without any external scheduler.
* **Execution evidence** — Video recordings, step-level screenshots, HAR network logs, and downloadable Playwright traces are captured automatically for every run.
* **CI/CD and MCP integration** — Trigger runs from GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, or directly from an AI coding agent through the ContextQA MCP Server.

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## In this section

| Page                                                                                  | What it covers                                                                                     |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Running Tests](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/running-tests)               | Run individual test cases, suites, or plans manually or via MCP tools                              |
| [Parallel Execution](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/parallel-execution)     | Execute tests in parallel across browsers and environments for faster results                      |
| [Environments](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/environments)                 | Configure test environments with base URLs, variables, and execution parameters                    |
| [Scheduling](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/scheduling)                     | Schedule test runs on recurring intervals (hourly, daily, weekly)                                  |
| [Video & Screenshots](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/video-and-screenshots) | Review execution evidence including video recordings, screenshots, HAR logs, and Playwright traces |
| [Interactive Demo](https://learning.contextqa.com/execution/demo)                     | Interactive demo of execution features                                                             |

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## Related sections

* [Creating Test Cases](https://learning.contextqa.com/web-testing/creating-test-cases) — build the test cases that the execution engine runs
* [Reporting](https://learning.contextqa.com/reporting/reporting) — analyze pass rates, failure trends, and execution history after runs complete
* [Integrations](https://learning.contextqa.com/integrations/integrations) — trigger executions from CI/CD pipelines and push results to Jira or Azure DevOps

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**Cut execution time with parallel cross-browser runs** [**Book a Demo →**](https://contextqa.com/book-a-demo/)
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