Dusk

Name: Dusk (Browser Testing) Description: End-to-end browser testing with Laravel Dusk. Used exclusively for full user flows requiring a real Chrome browser — JavaScript interactions, multi-step forms, and visual assertions. Compatible Agents: general-purpose, testing Tags: tests/Browser/**/*.php, laravel, php, testing, dusk, browser, e2e, end-to-end

Rules

• Browser tests live in tests/Browser/
• Use Dusk only where a real browser interaction is required (JavaScript, multi-step flows)
• Never use RefreshDatabase in Dusk tests — use DatabaseTruncation (preferred) or DatabaseMigrations
• Always call assertNoJavaScriptErrors() after every visit()
• Always use dusk="" HTML attributes as selectors — never CSS classes or IDs
• Never use pause() — use waitFor(), waitForText(), or waitUntilMissing() instead
• Use loginAs() to authenticate without going through the login form
• Extract repeated navigation into Page Objects
• Extract repeated interactive UI elements into Dusk Components
• Create a dedicated .env.dusk.local file to use a separate test database

Examples

uses(DatabaseTruncation::class);

it('user can submit an invoice', function () {
    // Arrange
    $user = User::factory()->create();

    // Act + Assert
    $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) use ($user) {
        $browser->loginAs($user)
                ->visit('/invoices/create')
                ->assertNoJavaScriptErrors()
                ->type('@amount-input', '100')
                ->press('@submit-button')
                ->waitForText('Invoice created')
                ->assertSee('Invoice created');
    });
});

<!-- Blade/HTML — use dusk attributes, not CSS classes -->
<button dusk="submit-invoice">Submit</button>
<input dusk="amount-input" type="number" name="amount">

// Page Object
class InvoicePage extends Page
{
    public function __construct(private readonly int $invoiceId) {}

    public function url(): string { return "/invoices/{$this->invoiceId}"; }

    public function assert(Browser $browser): void
    {
        $browser->assertPathIs($this->url());
    }

    public function elements(): array
    {
        return [
            '@mark-paid-button' => '[dusk="mark-paid-button"]',
        ];
    }

    public function markAsPaid(Browser $browser): void
    {
        $browser->click('@mark-paid-button')
                ->waitForText('Invoice marked as paid');
    }
}

// Waiting — never use pause()
$browser->waitFor('@invoice-table');          // ❌ pause(3000)
$browser->waitForText('Invoice created');     // ❌ pause(2000)
$browser->waitUntilMissing('@loading-spinner'); // ❌ pause(5000)

Anti-Patterns

• Using RefreshDatabase in Dusk tests (transactions invisible across HTTP processes)
• Using pause(3000) — arbitrary sleeps make tests slow and brittle
• Using CSS classes or IDs as selectors instead of dusk="" attributes
• Testing pure business logic or JSON API responses with Dusk (use feature tests instead)
• Not calling assertNoJavaScriptErrors() after visit()
• Repeating navigation and selector logic across test files instead of using Page Objects

References

• Laravel Dusk
• Related: PestTesting/SKILL.md — Pest syntax used for Dusk tests
• Related: PHPUnit/SKILL.md — feature tests for non-browser scenarios