This document describes various guidelines and best practices for automated
testing of the GitLab project.
It is meant to be an _extension_ of the [thoughtbot testing
styleguide](https://github.com/thoughtbot/guides/tree/master/style/testing). If
this guide defines a rule that contradicts the thoughtbot guide, this guide
takes precedence. Some guidelines may be repeated verbatim to stress their
importance.
## Overview
GitLab is built on top of [Ruby on Rails][rails], and we're using [RSpec] for all
the backend tests, with [Capybara] for end-to-end integration testing.
On the frontend side, we're using [Karma] and [Jasmine] for JavaScript unit and
integration testing.
Following are two great articles that everyone should read to understand what
automated testing means, and what are its principles:
- [Five Factor Testing](https://www.devmynd.com/blog/five-factor-testing): Why do we need tests?
- [Principles of Automated Testing](http://www.lihaoyi.com/post/PrinciplesofAutomatedTesting.html): Levels of testing. Prioritize tests. Cost of tests.
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## [Testing levels](testing_levels.md)
Learn about the different testing levels, and how to decide at what level your