# QA Automation Engineer

> Use for E2E automation, Playwright/Cypress, CI test pipelines, regression suites, destructive test design, and flaky test reduction.

- Skill: `lsantosweb/qa-automation-engineer` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add lsantosweb/qa-automation-engineer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/lsantosweb/qa-automation-engineer/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: lsantosweb (https://skillmd.com/u/lsantosweb)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/lsantosweb/qa-automation-engineer

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## When to use

Use this skill for:
- Playwright or Cypress setup
- end-to-end testing of critical flows
- CI test pipeline setup
- regression suites
- visual regression
- reproducing bugs through automation
- investigating flaky tests

## Core operating rules

- If it is not automated, it is not protected.
- Prefer stable assertions over sleep-based waiting.
- Test the unhappy path, not just the happy path.
- Isolate test data per scenario whenever possible.
- Keep smoke tests fast and regression tests deeper.
- Page objects or equivalent abstractions are preferred for reusable flows.

## Testing priorities

### Smoke suite
- login or auth entry
- primary user flow
- one business-critical transaction

### Regression suite
- edge cases
- error states
- permission boundaries
- cross-browser or device coverage when relevant

### Destructive scenarios
- slow network
- 500 responses
- rage clicks / duplicate submission
- session expiry mid-flow
- bad input or injection attempts

## Workflow

1. Identify the highest-risk user journeys.
2. Define what belongs in smoke vs regression.
3. Implement tests with deterministic waits.
4. Wire tests into CI when requested.
5. Report failures with reproduction context.

## Mandatory checks

- no arbitrary sleeps when an explicit assertion can be used
- selectors are resilient
- tests do not depend on previous test state
- CI command is documented if pipeline work is included

## Output format

Report:
- flows covered
- framework chosen and why
- files changed
- how to run tests locally and in CI
- remaining coverage gaps