Quickstart Guide

A step-by-step guide to signing in, creating a test case with AI assistance, running it, and reviewing the results in under five minutes.

Who is this for? Anyone new to ContextQA — developers, QA engineers, and product managers who want to run their first automated test without writing any code.

This guide takes you from a blank slate to a passing automated test in five minutes. You sign in to ContextQA, create a test case using the AI assistant, execute it against a live URL, and review the step-by-step results including screenshots and video. No code is required at any point.

Prerequisites

A ContextQA account (sign up at accounts.contextqa.com/onboard)
The URL of a web application you want to test
A clear idea of one user flow to automate (e.g., login, search, form submission)

Navigate to accounts.contextqa.com/onboard in your browser.

Enter your email address and password, then click Sign In. If your organization uses single sign-on, click the SSO button and authenticate through your identity provider.

After signing in you land on the ContextQA dashboard. The left sidebar contains the main navigation icons for all platform areas.

Step 2: Navigate to Test Cases

In the left sidebar, select Test Cases. This opens the test authoring area where all test cases, suites, and data profiles live.

If you have recently created your account you see an empty workspace. If your team has existing tests they are listed here.

Step 3: Create a Test Case

Click the + button in the top-right area of the Test Cases panel. A menu appears with creation options.

Select Start with AI Assistance.

A dialog opens where you configure the AI-generated test.

Step 4: Enter the URL and Task Description

Fill in two fields:

Application URL Enter the full URL of the page where the test should begin. For example:

https://yourapp.com/login

Task Description Write a plain-English description of the user flow you want to test. Be specific — name the fields, the expected outcomes, and any values to use. For example:

Login with username test@example.com and password secret123,
verify the dashboard loads and the welcome message is displayed

Tips for writing effective task descriptions:

Include exact field labels or button names as they appear in the UI ("Click the Sign In button", not "Click login")
Always include at least one verification step ("verify", "confirm", "check that")
Mention exact test data values (email addresses, passwords, search terms)
Keep each task focused on a single user flow — separate flows into separate test cases

Click Generate. The AI analyzes your description and creates a structured sequence of steps. Step generation typically takes 5–15 seconds.

Step 5: Run the Test

Once the steps are generated, the test case editor opens showing the full step list. Review the steps to confirm they match your intent.

Click the Run (▶) button in the top toolbar to execute the test immediately.

ContextQA queues the execution and opens the live execution viewer. You see:

Left panel — the list of steps with real-time pass/fail status indicators
Right panel — a live screenshot of the current browser state as each step runs
Bottom panel — network requests captured in real time

The test runs sequentially, step by step. A green checkmark appears as each step passes. If a step fails, a red indicator appears and the AI immediately begins root cause analysis.

Execution time depends on the number of steps and network speed of the application under test. A typical 5–10 step test completes in under 60 seconds.

Step 6: View the Results

When execution completes, click View Report (or View Detailed Report) in the execution summary banner.

The results page shows:

Execution summary — overall pass/fail status, duration, browser used, environment
Step-by-step breakdown — each step with its pass/fail status and the screenshot captured at that exact moment
Video recording — full playback of the browser session
Network log — every HTTP request and response captured during the run
Console log — browser console entries (errors, warnings, info messages)
Root cause analysis — if any step failed, the AI explains what went wrong and suggests a fix

What happens next

You have created and run your first automated test. From here you can:

Create more test cases to build out your test suite
Organize test cases into a Test Suite for grouped execution
Create a Test Plan to configure browser targets, environments, and schedules
Enable self-healing so minor UI changes don't break your tests
Set up a CI/CD integration to run tests automatically on every pull request

Ready to go deeper? Try one of these hands-on tutorials:

Data-Driven Testing — run the same test with multiple input sets
Step Groups — create reusable test building blocks
Your First API Test — validate API endpoints alongside your UI tests
Your First Mobile Test — test native apps on real devices

Or review Core Concepts to understand how all the platform pieces fit together.

Tips and best practices

Start with a happy path — automate the most critical user flow first (login, core feature, checkout). Expand to edge cases once the happy path is stable.
One flow per test case — keep each test case focused on a single scenario. Short tests are easier to debug when they fail.
Always include verifications — a test that only clicks through screens without asserting outcomes will pass even when the application is broken. Add at least one "verify" step per test case.
Use meaningful names — name test cases after the user action and expected outcome, e.g., "Login with valid credentials — dashboard visible" rather than "Test 1".
Use the step editor to refine — after AI generation, review each step. You can edit, reorder, or delete steps in the step editor before running.

Troubleshooting

The AI did not generate steps / generation timed out Check that the URL is publicly accessible from ContextQA's execution servers. If your application is behind a VPN or firewall, you may need to allowlist ContextQA's IP ranges (see Administration → Network Configuration).

The test failed on step 1 (navigation) Confirm the URL is correct and the application is online. Try opening the URL in a private browser window to rule out authentication or cookie issues.

Steps were generated but they don't match my application Edit the task description to be more specific. Name the exact buttons, headings, and form fields as they appear in your application. Then click Regenerate.

The execution is stuck in "Queued" status Your workspace may have reached its concurrent execution limit. Wait for other running tests to finish, or contact support to increase your concurrency allocation.

Interactive Demo — see ContextQA in action with guided walkthroughs
Browse by Role — find the documentation path for your role
Core Concepts
Creating Test Cases
Test Steps Editor
Running Tests
Platform Architecture

Execution evidence

The following recordings are from live ContextQA executions of the login and test creation flows:

Create your first test in 5 minutes — no code required. Start Free Trial → — Or Book a Demo → to see ContextQA with your application.

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