Load Testing with Cypress using the Step UI

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to reuse existing Cypress tests to quickly set up and run a browser-based load test using the Step UI.

Get Step SaaS for free to follow this tutorial
Illustration for Load Testing with Cypress
Note: If you prefer doing the same as code without using the Step UI, you can follow the tutorial Load Testing with Cypress.

Prerequisites

  • Step: for this tutorial you’ll need access to a Step cluster. You can follow the quick setup guide to set up a SaaS cluster for free or set up your own on-premise cluster. For on-premise installation, consult the specific setup requirements for Cypress
  • Maven (optional): to optionally build and execute the load test locally

Test scenario

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll simulate 10 parallel users visiting our demo online store. The typical visit that we’ll simulate consists of the following actions: navigate to the online store, search for a product, add it to the shopping cart, and complete the order.

For this simulation we have an existing Cypress test: Cypress sample project

The tutorial involves the following steps:

  1. Setting up the Cypress project
  2. Configuring the load test in Step
  3. Running and analyzing the test

The main advantage of Step is the ability to reuse automation artifacts, so if you have already followed our Synthetic Monitoring with Cypress or RPA with Cypress tutorials, you can go straight to using the wizard.

Note: Step’s Cypress load test wizard simplifies the process, making it easier than the example in the advanced use case tutorial.

Set up the Cypress project

Clone the Cypress sample project from GitHub:

  git clone https://github.com/exense/step-samples
  

Optionally, run the Cypress test locally:

  cd step-samples/keywords/cypress/opencart
npm install
npx cypress run --headed
  

Zip the Cypress project that will be uploaded to Step:

  cd ..
zip -r opencart.zip opencart/
  
Note: For more information about the project structure, click here.

Use the Step wizard

Log in to the Step portal, or sign up for free and create a Step Cluster with ten agents, following this Quick setup guide.

To launch the Step wizard, from the Step platform:

  1. Go to home.
  2. Click on Start wizard.
Image showing how to start cypress wizard

Step 1: Set up Cypress project

On the Cypress Load Test dialog, fill in the information for these sections step-by-step: Cypress project, Load Test Configuration, Result.

  1. Enter the ZIP file name of your Cypress project: opencart.zip
  2. Enter the Spec file name: opencart.cy.js
  3. Click on Next
Image showing how to set up cypress project in step
Note: To learn about the Cypress plugin for Step, check out our documentation.

Step 2: Load test configuration

  1. Enter the Number of parallel users: 10
  2. Enter the Load test duration: 1 hour. Test will terminate after the specified time.
  3. Click Next
Image showing how to configure cypress load using step wizard

Step 3: Run and view the result

Execute your load test plan by clicking the Execute button.

Image showing how execute cypress load test using step wizard

Once the execution has started, you will be redirected to the execution page.

Image showing the execute page of cypress load test using step wizard

Analyze the result

In the Performance tab, you can explore detailed performance metrics:

Image showing performance charts
Performance charts for a more complex load test

There you’ll find all metrics relative to the transactions of your Cypress scripts:

  • The execution time of our custom command “Opencart_PlaceOrder”
  • The series related to the different Cypress commands called within our custom command (e.g. “visit”, “contains”)
  • The total execution time of our Keyword: “Place an order in Opencart”
Note: The total execution time contains the time spent in the script plus the time spent starting the Cypress runner. This is useful for diagnosis purposes. For application performance measurements, use the custom command measurements.

Review the transaction statistics

At the bottom of the Performance view, you’ll find an aggregation of performance metrics for the selected time frame:

Image showing performance metrics
Performance metrics for a more complex load test

Incase you are just getting sarted with Step, this tutorial is one of our basic use cases of using Cypress script in Step. Step lets you reuse automation artifacts across the whole DevOps cycle, and load testing is just one aspect of it. For more use case of performance tests, synthetic monitoring, and robotics can be found on our tutorials page and resource library.

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