Please refer to [the Getting Started section of the main `README.md`](https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/blob/trunk/README.md) for a general-purpose guide on getting started. The rest of this document will assume that you've installed all of the prerequisites and setup described there.
Next, run the following command from the [`woocommerce-blocks` plugin folder](../../../woocommerce-blocks/) to start a `wp-env` instance and install all the testing products, languages, etc.:
> If you want to start/stop the environment without running the whole setup, use the native `wp-env` commands directly, e.g. `npx wp-env start` and `npx wp-env stop`.
Occasionally, you'll need to reset the environment, e.g., when testing products have been updated. To do that, run the following command and go make yourself some coffee:
> If you're using VSCode, we recommend using the [Playwright Test](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-playwright.playwright) extension to run and debug the tests.
Here is a basic set of commands to quickly start running and debugging the tests. For full documentation, see the official Playwright guide on [Running and Debugging Tests](https://playwright.dev/docs/running-tests).
> When a test fails, it leaves a trace info at the bottom. You can quickly jump into debugging mode by running the generated trace view command, for example:
>
> 
Once you download and extract that zip, you'll see dedicated folders for the failed test artifacts. In CI, we retry running a failed test twice before considering it a failure, so there can be up to three folders per failed test. Each of those folders should contain a Playwright trace zip file and a screenshot from the failure moment. On the first retry, we also record the entire test, so the first retry folder should contain a video recording as well. To view a trace, head to the [Playwright Trace Viewer](https://trace.playwright.dev) page and drag and drop the trace zip file there, or run it from the command line:
We're using the [`@wordpress/e2e-test-utils-playwright`](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/tree/HEAD/packages/e2e-test-utils-playwright) package as our framework base, so we generally follow Gutenberg E2E's [best practices](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/blob/trunk/docs/contributors/code/e2e/README.md#best-practices) to reduce the framework entry threshold and necessary maintenance. However, our framework has specific aspects, which you can learn about in this section.
> [!TIP]
> Using the right selectors can be a daunting task, so let Playwright pick the right selector for you. Open the page you're testing against via `npx playwright open localhost:8889/path-to-the-page`. From there, you can use Playwright Inspector to generate the recommended locators:
>
> 
>
> Read more about generating tests with Playwright in the [Generating Tests](https://playwright.dev/docs/codegen-intro) guide.
### Setup and teardown
We isolate our tests from each other by resetting the database to its initial state **for every test**. Since every test starts with a clean slate, and there's no need to manually reset the environment, we only allow the `beforeEach` hook as there's no point in using `beforeAll`, `afterAll`, or `afterEach`. This approach might seem like a limitation at first, but ultimately it makes tests more stable and easier to write. This convention is enforced by an ESLint rule, so you don't need to worry about it.
### Plugins
To use a custom plugin with your tests, first create the plugin PHP file and save it to the [test plugins folder](../../tests/e2e/plugins/). Here's a handy snippet to help you get started:
```php
// plugins/my-fancy-plugin.php
<?php
/**
* Plugin Name: WooCommerce Blocks Test My Fancy Plugin
Once the plugin is saved, it will be automatically picked up by `wp-env` - no need to restart the environment. To activate your plugin, use the `RequestUtils.activatePlugin()` API, for example:
```ts
// tests/my-fancy-plugin.spec.ts
import { test, expect } from '@woocommerce/e2e-utils';
> A plugin's slug is created automatically **from the plugin's name**, not from the `@package` statement as you might think. So, if your plugin is named `WooCommerce Blocks Test Bazzinga`, you'll need to activate it by `woocommerce-blocks-test-bazzinga`.
### Themes
Currently, the default theme is Twenty Twenty Four. Activating other themes is done by the `RequestUtils.activateTheme()` API, for example:
> Unless it's a one-off thing, remember to use the `beforeEach` hook to activate your theme. Each test starts with a clean database, which means the theme will be reset to the default one as well.
#### Adding a new theme
If you've created a custom theme and want to use it in your tests, save it in the [test themes folder](../../tests/e2e/themes/). Check out the themes that are already there for inspiration. The activation part was explained above, so you're good to go!
### Utilities
We have a handful of [custom utilities](../../tests/e2e/utils/) built on top of core's [`@wordpress/e2e-test-utils-playwright`](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/tree/HEAD/packages/e2e-test-utils-playwright), so make sure to familiarize yourself with them.
#### Creating new utilities
Most of the time, it's better to do a little repetition instead of creating a utility, as over-abstracting can make the code too vague, complicated, or confusing. However, if the piece is complex and repeated enough, we recommend abstracting it into a [POM (Page Object Model)](https://playwright.dev/docs/pom), for example:
```ts
import { test as base, expect, Editor } from '@woocommerce/e2e-utils';
If you've come up with a utility that you think should be a part of the Core utilities (`Admin`, `Editor`, `RequestUtils`, etc.), go ahead and make a PR in Gutenberg - it's best to move as much as possible upstream. If you think that the utility still fits under, e.g., `Editor` but is Woo-specific, you'll need to write an extension, for example:
```ts
// utils/editor/index.ts
import { Editor as CoreEditor } from '@wordpress/e2e-test-utils-playwright';
We have created `RequestUtils.createPostFromFile()` and `RequestUtils.createTemplateFromFile()` utilities that enable creating complex content testing scenarios with Handlebars templates. The template files are kept in the [content-templates](../../tests/e2e/content-templates/) folder, so you can head there for some inspiration.
> [!IMPORTANT]
> The Handlebars template filenames must be prefixed with the entity type. For posts, an example filename would be `post_with-filters.handlebars`, and for templates `template_archive-product_with-filters.handlebars`. Notice that the latter contains the slug of the template (`archive-product`) before the name (`with-filters`), separated with an underscore - it's necessary for the template to be properly loaded and created.
When you have the template ready, we recommend creating a [test fixture](https://playwright.dev/docs/test-fixtures) that will be used to compile and create your template with given data, for example:
```ts
// tests/product-collection.spec.ts
import { test as base, expect, TemplateCompiler } from '@woocommerce/e2e-utils';
