Smoke Suite Debugging

Quick checklist

1. Ensure Playwright browsers exist

• npm run playwright:install

2. Ensure build artifacts are fresh

• Full build + smoke: npm run smoke
• Quick smoke (assumes you already built): npm run test:smoke:quick

3. Run one smoke test first

• By name:
  • npm run test:smoke:quick -- -t "<substring>"
• By file:
  • npm run test:smoke:quick -- smoke/tests/<suite>.smoke.spec.ts

Common failure modes

• “Binary not found”

  • Smoke resolves the binary from target/release/lotar by default.
  • Fix: run npm run build, or set LOTAR_BINARY_PATH (or LOTAR_BIN) to a custom path.

• “Port already in use”

  • The harness normally auto-picks a free port; failures may indicate a stuck server.
  • Re-run with a single test in-band (--runInBand) so it’s easier to spot lifecycle issues.

• “SSE readiness / flaky waits”

  • Smoke uses LOTAR_SSE_READY hooks and server heartbeats; see docs/help/serve.md for the testing aids.

Useful env vars

• LOTAR_BINARY_PATH / LOTAR_BIN: override the binary used by smoke.
• LOTAR_TASKS_DIR, LOTAR_HOME: smoke sets these per-test (see smoke/helpers/workspace.ts).
• RUST_LOG=debug or LOTAR_DEBUG=1: can help when diagnosing server/CLI behavior (keep logs free of secrets/PII).

Debugging approach

• Prefer npx vitest watch --config smoke/vitest.config.ts --runInBand for a tight loop.
• If needed, temporarily enable inherited stdio in the smoke helpers while debugging (but keep changes scoped and revert before finalizing).

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