Anatomy of a flow

If Automation AI generated a flow for you and you want to understand what it produced, this page explains each part. If your team has written Playwright or Appium tests before, QA Wolf flows will look familiar. The selectors, interactions, and assertions work the same way. What’s different is the wrapper around them. Every flow is wrapped in flow() from the @qawolf/flows package — it tells the runner what to run, where to run it, and which runtime objects to inject into the callback.

The import statement

Every flow file starts with an import. Which package you import from depends on what you’re testing.

import { flow, expect } from "@qawolf/flows/web";

import { flow, expect } from "@qawolf/flows/ios";

import { flow, expect } from "@qawolf/flows/android";

import { flow } from "@qawolf/flows/cli";

Package	Use when
`@qawolf/flows/web`	Testing a website, web app, or Electron desktop app
`@qawolf/flows/ios`	Testing a native iOS app
`@qawolf/flows/android`	Testing a native Android app
`@qawolf/flows/cli`	Running setup, teardown, tasks that don’t need browsers/devices

For web flows, always import expect from @qawolf/flows/web — not from @playwright/test. Importing from @playwright/test will cause assertions to bypass QA Wolf’s reporting.

For iOS, Android, and CLI flows, expect is wired to the QA Wolf runner automatically and is not connected to Playwright.

The flow wrapper

flow() takes three arguments: a name, a configuration, and an async callback containing the test logic.

export default flow(
  "Name shown in QA Wolf",
  { target: "Web - Chrome", launch: true },
  async ({ page }) => {
    // test steps go here
  },
);

Name — what this flow is called in your results, bug reports, and QA Wolf dashboard. Make it descriptive enough that a failing flow name tells you where to look. Configuration — specifies where the flow runs and how it starts. Pass a plain target string to name the browser, device, or environment, or pass an object with target and launch to configure startup simultaneously. The target string must exactly match one of the supported values, or your flow will fail to initialize — see Target Literals for the current list. Callback — the async function containing your test logic. What it receives depends on the launch style and platform (see below).

Launch styles

Style	When to use
`launch: true`	Most flows — default startup, no configuration needed
Options object	Startup options are known up front — e.g., persistent browser context
Explicit `launch()`	Startup depends on runtime logic — e.g., branching on an environment variable

Declarative launch — recommended

Pass launch: true to use the default startup, or pass an options object to customize it. Either way, QA Wolf starts the browser or app before your callback runs, and the callback receives the platform object ready to use.

If you’ve used Playwright directly, this is the equivalent of calling await browser.launch() — QA Wolf handles that setup for you, so your callback starts with a ready-to-use page.

export default flow(
  "Sign in",
  { target: "Web - Chrome", launch: true },
  async ({ page, test }) => {
    await test("navigate to sign in", async () => {
      await page.goto(process.env.BASE_URL);
    });
  },
);

export default flow(
  "Sign in",
  { target: "iOS - iPhone 15 (iOS 26)", launch: true },
  async ({ driver, test }) => {
    await test("launch app", async () => {
      // driver is ready to use
    });
  },
);

export default flow(
  "Sign in",
  { target: "Android - Pixel 9", launch: true },
  async ({ driver, test }) => {
    await test("launch app", async () => {
      // driver is ready to use
    });
  },
);

Pass an options object instead of true when you need to customize startup, such as reusing a browser profile. See the Web API Reference for the full list of options.

export default flow(
  "Sign in with saved profile",
  {
    target: "Web - Chrome",
    launch: {
      browserContext: "persistent",
      userDataDir: "/tmp/qawolf-profile",
    },
  },
  async ({ page, test }) => {
    await test("navigate to sign in", async () => {
      await page.goto(process.env.BASE_URL);
    });
  },
);

The callback receives a different object depending on the platform:

Platform	Callback receives
Web browser	`page`, `context`, optional `browser`
Web (Electron)	`page`
iOS	`driver` — the Appium/WebdriverIO session for the device
Android	`driver` — the Appium/WebdriverIO session for the device
CLI	nothing additional — only `inputs`, `setOutput`, and `test`

Explicit launch — advanced flows only

For advanced cases where the startup depends on runtime logic, you can call launch() explicitly inside the callback. See the Web API Reference for details. For Electron desktop app testing, see Testing Electron apps.

Callback parameters

Every flow callback receives three parameters regardless of platform: inputs — values passed into the flow from outside. Use this to read data published by another flow in the same run. Keys are uppercase by convention, e.g. inputs["EMAIL"]. setOutput(...) — publishes one or more key-value pairs that a later flow in the same run can read via its inputs. Keys are uppercase by convention. You can publish multiple values in a single call:

setOutput("USER_ID", userId, "EMAIL", email);

A consumer flow will not run until its producer has called setOutput. See Passing data between flows for how producers and consumers work together.

test(...) — wraps a named sub-step, grouping actions and assertions under a label that appears in your results. When a step fails, the label tells you exactly where in the flow the failure happened.

export default flow(
  "Create account",
  { target: "Web - Chrome", launch: true },
  async ({ page, inputs, setOutput, test }) => {
    await test("fill registration form", async () => {
      await page.goto(process.env.BASE_URL);
      await page.getByLabel("Email").fill(inputs["EMAIL"]);
      await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Sign up" }).click();
    });

    await test("confirm account created", async () => {
      const userId = await page.getByTestId("user-id").textContent();
      setOutput("USER_ID", userId);
    });
  },
);

Launch-enabled flows also receive the platform object (page, context, browser, or driver) as shown in the launch styles section above. For the full callback context shape, see the API Reference for Web, Android, and iOS.

launch(), device, and platform.target are stubs in the package code, and they are replaced by the runner at execution time. They only work while a flow is running inside the QA Wolf runner — keep them inside the flow callback, not at the module level.

Module-level code should be limited to imports, constants, and pure helper functions.

Environment variables

Reference environment variables with process.env.VAR_NAME. They are typically used in the Arrange section before any interactions begin.

await page.goto(process.env.BASE_URL);

To set environment variables for your flows, see Environment setup.

The AAA framework

QA Wolf flows follow the Arrange, Act, Assert (AAA) format. Arrange sets up state before the interaction.
Act performs the interaction being tested.
Assert verifies the expected outcome.

export default flow(
  "Complete checkout",
  { target: "Web - Chrome", launch: true },
  async ({ page, test }) => {
    await test("arrange", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Arrange:
      //--------------------------------
      await page.goto(process.env.BASE_URL);
    });

    await test("act", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Act:
      //--------------------------------
      await page.fill("[data-testid='email']", "test@example.com");
      await page.click("[data-testid='submit']");
    });

    await test("assert", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Assert:
      //--------------------------------
      await expect(page).toHaveURL(`${process.env.BASE_URL}/confirmation`);
    });
  },
);

export default flow(
  "Complete checkout",
  { target: "iOS - iPhone 15 (iOS 26)", launch: true },
  async ({ driver, test }) => {
    await test("arrange", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Arrange:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`-ios predicate string:name == 'Email' AND type == 'XCUIElementTypeTextField'`).waitForDisplayed();
    });

    await test("act", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Act:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`-ios predicate string:name == 'Email' AND type == 'XCUIElementTypeTextField'`).setValue("test@example.com");
      await driver.$(`-ios predicate string:name == 'Sign in' AND type == 'XCUIElementTypeButton'`).click();
    });

    await test("assert", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Assert:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`-ios predicate string:name == 'Welcome' AND type == 'XCUIElementTypeStaticText'`).waitForDisplayed({ timeout: 5000 });
    });
  },
);

export default flow(
  "Complete checkout",
  { target: "Android - Pixel 9", launch: true },
  async ({ driver, test }) => {
    await test("arrange", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Arrange:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`~Email`).waitForDisplayed();
    });

    await test("act", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Act:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`~Email`).setValue("test@example.com");
      await driver.$(`~Sign in`).click();
    });

    await test("assert", async () => {
      //--------------------------------
      // Assert:
      //--------------------------------
      await driver.$(`~Welcome`).waitForDisplayed({ timeout: 5000 });
    });
  },
);

Map

Automate

Runs

Bugs

Mobile

Setup

The import statement

The flow wrapper

Launch styles

Declarative launch — recommended

Explicit launch — advanced flows only

Callback parameters

Environment variables

The AAA framework

​The import statement

​The flow wrapper

​Launch styles

​Declarative launch — recommended

​Explicit launch — advanced flows only

​Callback parameters

​Environment variables

​The AAA framework

The import statement

The flow wrapper

Launch styles

Declarative launch — recommended

Explicit launch — advanced flows only

Callback parameters

Environment variables

The AAA framework