Quick Answer:
A proper setup for end-to-end testing is a 3-phase process: first, define 5-10 core user journeys that represent real business value; second, choose a stable, well-supported tool like Playwright or Cypress and containerize it; third, integrate it into your CI/CD pipeline from day one. Done right, you can have a foundational, maintainable suite running in production within two weeks, not months.
You’ve decided you need end-to-end tests. Maybe your team shipped a bug that cost real money, or you’re tired of manual regression cycles eating up your Fridays. The intention is good. But here’s what I’ve seen after 25 years: most teams treat the setup for end-to-end testing like buying a fire extinguisher. They get the shiniest one, mount it on the wall, and never think about it again until the building is already on fire. That initial setup is everything. Get it wrong, and you’ve just created a brittle, flaky monster that your developers will learn to hate and ignore.
Why Most setup for end-to-end testing Efforts Fail
Here is what most people get wrong about setup for end-to-end testing. They think the goal is to test everything. So they start by trying to automate every single button click and form field on their staging site. They pick a tool based on a trending blog post, write two hundred tests in a frenzy, and then pat themselves on the back. The real issue is not coverage. It’s sustainability.
I have seen this pattern play out dozens of times. The suite becomes a burden within months. Tests fail randomly because they depend on specific data that doesn’t exist. They break with every minor UI tweak because they’re tied to brittle CSS selectors. The runtime balloons to hours, so they only run it nightly, which means bugs aren’t caught until the next morning. The team starts calling them “flaky tests” and begins ignoring the failures. The entire investment turns into technical debt. The mistake was focusing on the act of writing tests instead of the system for running them reliably.
I remember a client, a mid-sized SaaS company, who proudly showed me their “comprehensive” E2E suite. It had over 500 tests. “Great,” I said. “How long does it take to run?” Fourteen hours. They ran it once a week on a Saturday, and a developer had to babysit it, restarting failed tests manually. The test code was a spaghetti of implicit waits and hard-coded credentials. When I asked what would happen if their main product database was wiped, they went pale. Their entire test suite depended on the live production data copy. They had built a glass cannon—powerful in theory, utterly useless in practice. We scrapped 80% of those tests and started over.
What Actually Works
Start With Journeys, Not Pages
Your first step is not installing a tool. It’s gathering your team and whiteboarding the 5-10 user journeys that are critical to your business. For an e-commerce site, that’s “search for product, add to cart, checkout as guest.” For a SaaS app, it’s “user signs up, completes onboarding, creates their first project.” These are your test pillars. Write these tests first and make them bulletproof. They are your safety net. Everything else is secondary.
Treat Your Test Environment as a First-Class Citizen
This is the most important technical decision. Your tests need a clean, predictable environment. In 2026, this means containerization. Define your entire application—web server, API, database, cache—in a Docker Compose or similar setup. Your test suite should be able to run docker-compose up, execute all tests against a fresh instance, and tear everything down. No leftover data. No dependencies on external services being up. This isolation is what turns flaky tests into reliable ones.
Integrate Early, Integrate Often
Your setup for end-to-end testing is not done until it’s plugged into your CI/CD pipeline. The goal is to run your core journey tests on every pull request. This forces you to keep them fast and stable. If a test takes three minutes to run, developers will complain and you’ll be pressured to disable it. So you architect for speed: parallel execution, headless browsers, and smart waiting strategies. The feedback loop must be tight.
A successful E2E test suite isn’t measured by how many tests you have, but by how quickly your team trusts a green build. If developers ignore failures, your setup has already failed.
— Abdul Vasi, Digital Strategist
Common Approach vs Better Approach
| Aspect | Common Approach | Better Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Test Scope | Try to automate every UI element and page. Maximize coverage percentage. | Automate only critical user journeys that represent business value. Depth over breadth. |
| Environment | Run tests against a shared staging server with polluted, unpredictable data. | Use containerized, ephemeral environments spun up fresh for each test run. |
| Test Data | Rely on pre-existing data in a database (e.g., “use the admin user”). | Programmatically create all needed data within the test setup via API calls. |
| CI/CD Integration | Run the full suite nightly or weekly, separate from developer workflow. | Run core journey tests on every PR; full suite on main branch merge. |
| Failure Response | Manually re-run flaky tests and mark them as “expected failures.” | A failing test blocks deployment. Fix the test or the application immediately. |
Looking Ahead
By 2026, the setup for end-to-end testing will shift even further towards intelligence and integration. First, AI won’t just write tests; it will maintain them. Tools will suggest selector updates when the UI changes and automatically heal broken flows. Second, the line between E2E and unit tests will blur with “contract testing” for micro-frontends, verifying component integration without the full browser overhead. Third, we’ll see more cloud-native, serverless test runners that scale to zero when not in use, making massive parallel execution the cheap, standard option instead of a complex infrastructure project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should we use Cypress, Playwright, or Selenium in 2026?
For most teams, Playwright is the pragmatic choice. It has multi-browser support out of the box, excellent reliability, and a great API. Cypress is still solid but has a more opinionated architecture. Selenium is the legacy workhorse; only choose it if you have an existing massive investment. The tool matters less than your environment strategy.
How many end-to-end tests should we have?
Fewer than you think. If you have more than 50, you’re probably testing implementation details. Your goal should be around 10-30 tests that cover your core user journeys. Each test should be a complete story. It’s better to have 20 rock-solid journey tests than 200 fragile, partial tests.
How much do you charge compared to agencies?
I charge approximately 1/3 of what traditional agencies charge, with more personalized attention and faster execution. Agencies bill for layers of management and overhead. I work directly with you to build a sustainable system, not just deliver a one-off test suite.
Can we skip unit tests if we have good E2E tests?
Absolutely not. They serve different purposes. E2E tests verify the system works for the user but are slow and broad. Unit tests verify your code logic is correct and are fast and precise. You need both. Think of E2E as your safety net and unit tests as your daily workout.
How do we handle testing third-party payments or logins?
You mock them. Never let your tests depend on live external services. Use sandbox API keys if you must, but better to create a mocked version of the service in your test environment. Test the integration up to the point you call their API, then simulate a successful response.
Look, the goal isn’t to have tests. The goal is to have confidence. A proper setup for end-to-end testing gives you the confidence to deploy on a Tuesday afternoon. It’s the difference between fearing production and owning it. Start small with one critical journey. Build the containerized environment around it. Integrate it. Prove the value. Then, and only then, should you write test number two. That’s how you build something that lasts.
