# Introduction to ContextQA

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**Who is this for?** Engineers, QA managers, and non-technical stakeholders who want to understand what ContextQA is, what problems it solves, and how it fits into a modern engineering team.
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ContextQA is an AI-powered test automation platform designed to make software testing faster, more reliable, and accessible to every member of an engineering team. Instead of writing brittle Selenium scripts or complex Playwright code, you describe what to test in plain English and ContextQA's AI engine handles the rest — generating steps, executing them against real browsers, capturing evidence, and self-healing tests when the UI changes.

The platform is built around a multi-stage AI pipeline. Each agent handles a distinct concern: navigating the application, discovering interactive elements, executing steps, capturing screenshots, monitoring network calls, verifying assertions, and repairing broken locators. Together they produce a fully autonomous testing loop that requires minimal maintenance even as your application evolves.

## Why ContextQA

Modern software teams face two compounding pressures: applications change faster than tests can be updated, and test suites grow complex enough to require dedicated automation engineers. ContextQA addresses both:

* **Natural language test creation** — Write test instructions in plain English ("Login as admin, navigate to the reports page, verify a chart is visible"). No XPath, no CSS selectors, no code required.
* **Self-healing AI** — When a button is renamed or a class changes, the AI automatically locates the correct element and repairs the step instead of throwing a failure.
* **End-to-end evidence** — Every step captures a screenshot, the network HAR log, and browser console entries. A full video recording and Playwright trace are produced per execution.
* **Universal test targets** — Web, mobile (iOS and Android), REST APIs, Salesforce, and SAP are all supported from a single workspace.
* **AI agent integration via MCP** — ContextQA exposes 67 tools through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, letting AI coding assistants such as Claude, Cursor, and GPT create and run tests on your behalf.
* **Broad test generation sources** — Generate test cases from Jira tickets, Figma designs, Excel spreadsheets, Swagger/OpenAPI specs, screen recordings, and n8n workflow definitions.
* **Deep integrations** — Connect to Jira for defect tracking, Slack for notifications, and GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipeline execution.

## Platform Highlights

| Capability                   | Details                                                    |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| AI execution pipeline        | Fully automated, end-to-end                                |
| Specialized AI agents        | 13+ agents                                                 |
| Supported test targets       | Web, Mobile (iOS/Android), REST API, Salesforce, SAP       |
| MCP tools exposed            | 67 tools                                                   |
| Evidence per step            | Screenshot, network log, console log                       |
| Evidence per execution       | Video recording, Playwright trace, root cause analysis     |
| Self-healing                 | Automatic repair with high confidence                      |
| Test generation sources      | Jira, Figma, Excel, Swagger, video, n8n, requirements text |
| CI/CD integrations           | GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, CircleCI            |
| Notification integrations    | Slack, email                                               |
| Defect tracking integrations | Jira                                                       |

## Key Concepts Glossary

Understanding these terms will help you navigate the platform efficiently.

| Term                  | Definition                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Workspace**         | An isolated project environment corresponding to one application under test. A workspace contains all test cases, suites, plans, environments, and settings for that application. You might have separate workspaces for your web app, your mobile app, and your internal API. |
| **Test Case**         | The atomic unit of testing. A test case specifies a starting URL, a sequence of steps (authored in natural language or recorded), optional tags, and optional prerequisite test cases.                                                                                         |
| **Step**              | A single instruction within a test case: "Click the Submit button", "Verify the confirmation email was displayed", "Call POST /api/login". Steps can be AI Agent steps, navigation steps, REST API calls, conditionals, loops, or verifications.                               |
| **Step Group**        | A reusable collection of steps saved as a named library — similar to a function or subroutine. For example, `SG_Login` could contain the three steps needed to authenticate, and be inserted into dozens of test cases without duplication.                                    |
| **Test Suite**        | A logical grouping of test cases. Suites can be nested like folders. Typical examples: "Smoke Tests", "Regression Pack", "Checkout Flow".                                                                                                                                      |
| **Test Plan**         | An execution configuration that specifies which suites to run, which browsers or devices to target, which environment to use, whether to run in parallel or sequentially, and any recurring schedule.                                                                          |
| **Environment**       | A named configuration that stores a base URL and a set of key-value parameters (e.g., API keys, database hostnames). Switching environments lets the same test suite run against staging, QA, and production without modification.                                             |
| **Test Data Profile** | A parameterized data set attached to a test case. Each row in the profile represents one complete test run with its own input values, enabling data-driven testing without duplicating test cases.                                                                             |
| **Execution**         | One run of a test case, suite, or plan. An execution produces a unique `result_id` and generates video, screenshots, logs, and a root cause analysis report.                                                                                                                   |
| **Self-Healing**      | The AI capability that automatically detects when a UI element has changed and repairs the test step to reference the correct new element, provided the AI confidence score exceeds 90%.                                                                                       |
| **Knowledge Base**    | A set of AI-readable instructions stored in the workspace that tell the test agent how to handle specific situations — closing cookie consent banners, bypassing CAPTCHA prompts in testing environments, handling multi-factor authentication flows.                          |
| **Custom Agent**      | An AI persona with a custom system prompt. Custom agents allow domain-specific testing behavior, for example an agent calibrated for Salesforce object navigation or an agent that follows your company's specific accessibility standards.                                    |
| **MCP Server**        | The Model Context Protocol server that ContextQA runs, exposing platform capabilities as callable tools to external AI assistants. This allows Claude, Cursor, GPT, or any MCP-compatible client to create tests, run them, and retrieve results programmatically.             |

## How the Platform Fits Together

A typical workflow on ContextQA follows this path:

1. **Create a Workspace** for your application.
2. **Configure an Environment** with the base URL and any credentials or API keys your tests need.
3. **Create Test Cases** — using AI assistance, recording, or importing from external sources.
4. **Organize into Test Suites** — group related tests so they can be run together.
5. **Build a Test Plan** — configure which suites, which browsers, and which environment.
6. **Execute** — manually for immediate feedback, or on a schedule for continuous monitoring.
7. **Review Results** — inspect screenshots, video, network logs, and AI-generated root cause analysis for any failure.
8. **Iterate** — the self-healing AI handles most minor UI changes automatically; you address genuine functional failures.

## Supported Platforms

**Web Browsers:** Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge

**Mobile:** iOS (physical devices and simulators), Android (physical devices and emulators)

**API:** REST (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) with variable chaining between steps

**Enterprise Applications:** Salesforce (Lightning and Classic), SAP

## Next Steps

* Follow the [Quick Start guide](https://learning.contextqa.com/getting-started/quickstart) to run your first test in 5 minutes.
* Read [Core Concepts](https://learning.contextqa.com/getting-started/core-concepts) for a deeper explanation of each platform building block.
* Explore [Platform Architecture](https://learning.contextqa.com/getting-started/architecture-overview) to understand the AI pipeline in detail.
* Check the [Glossary](https://learning.contextqa.com/reference/glossary) for definitions of key terms.

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**Create your first test in 5 minutes — no code required.** [**Start Free Trial →**](https://app.contextqa.com/register) — Or [**Book a Demo →**](https://contextqa.com/book-a-demo/) to see ContextQA with your application.
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