Actions Reference

Complete reference for all 17 test step actions available in QA Studio, including their configuration fields, usage examples, and Playwright equivalents.

All Actions Overview

Every test step has an action type that determines what the step does. The following table lists all 17 actions available in QA Studio:

Action	Internal Name	Description	Key Fields
Navigate	`goto`	Navigate the browser to a URL	`url`
Click	`click`	Click an element on the page	`selector`, `selectorMode`
Fill	`fill`	Type text into an input field	`selector`, `selectorMode`, `value`
Select	`select`	Choose an option from a dropdown	`selector`, `selectorMode`, `value`
Check	`check`	Check a checkbox	`selector`, `selectorMode`
Uncheck	`uncheck`	Uncheck a checkbox	`selector`, `selectorMode`
Hover	`hover`	Hover the mouse over an element	`selector`, `selectorMode`
Press Key	`press`	Press a keyboard key or combination	`key`
Wait	`wait`	Wait for a condition before proceeding	`waitType`, `value` or `selector`
Screenshot	`screenshot`	Capture a screenshot of the page	`name`, `fullPage`
Assert	`assert`	Verify page state against expected values	`assertType`, `condition`, `value`
Use Flow	`use-flow`	Execute a reusable flow from the project	`flowId`
If	`if`	Start a conditional block	`conditionType`, condition fields
Else	`else`	Alternate branch of an if block	(none)
End If	`end-if`	Close a conditional block	(none)
Loop	`loop`	Start a loop block	`conditionType`, `maxIterations`, condition fields
End Loop	`end-loop`	Close a loop block	(none)

Navigate (goto)

The Navigate action directs the browser to a specific URL. It is typically the first step in any test.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	Yes	The URL to navigate to. Must include the protocol (http:// or https://).

The URL field supports environment variable substitution, so you can use dynamic URLs:

Example

{
  "action": "goto",
  "url": "{{BASE_URL}}/login"
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.goto(url)

Click

The Click action clicks an element located by the specified selector. Playwright automatically waits for the element to be visible and enabled before clicking.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`selector`	string	Yes	The selector value used to locate the element.
`selectorMode`	string	No	The selector strategy. Defaults to `css`. See Selector Modes.

Example

{
  "action": "click",
  "selector": "submit-btn",
  "selectorMode": "testid"
}

Fill

The Fill action clears an input field and types the specified value. It targets text inputs, textareas, and contenteditable elements.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`selector`	string	Yes	The selector value to locate the input element.
`selectorMode`	string	No	Selector strategy. Defaults to `css`.
`value`	string	Yes	The text to type into the field. Supports `{{variables}}`.

Example

{
  "action": "fill",
  "selector": "Email Address",
  "selectorMode": "label",
  "value": "{{TEST_EMAIL}}"
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.getByLabel('Email Address').fill(value)

Select

The Select action chooses an option from a <select> dropdown by the option's value attribute.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`selector`	string	Yes	The selector to locate the `<select>` element.
`selectorMode`	string	No	Selector strategy. Defaults to `css`.
`value`	string	Yes	The option `value` attribute to select.

Example

{
  "action": "select",
  "selector": "#country",
  "selectorMode": "css",
  "value": "us"
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.locator('#country').selectOption('us')

Wait

The Wait action pauses test execution until a condition is met. There are three wait types, each with different required fields:

Wait Type	Required Field	Description
time	`value` (milliseconds)	Wait for a fixed duration. For example, `2000` waits for 2 seconds.
selector	`selector`, `selectorMode`	Wait until an element matching the selector appears on the page and becomes visible.
url	`value` (URL or pattern)	Wait until the browser URL matches or contains the specified value.

Wait for Time

{
  "action": "wait",
  "waitType": "time",
  "value": "3000"
}

Wait for Selector

{
  "action": "wait",
  "waitType": "selector",
  "selector": ".loading-complete",
  "selectorMode": "css"
}

Wait for URL

{
  "action": "wait",
  "waitType": "url",
  "value": "/dashboard"
}

Screenshot

The Screenshot action captures a screenshot of the current page state. Screenshots are used for visual regression testing and are stored with the test run results.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	Yes	A descriptive name for the screenshot (e.g., "homepage", "after-login"). Used as the baseline identifier for visual regression.
`fullPage`	boolean	No	If `true`, captures the entire scrollable page. If `false` (default), captures only the visible viewport.

Example

{
  "action": "screenshot",
  "name": "checkout-page",
  "fullPage": true
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.screenshot({ path: '...', fullPage: true })

Info

When a screenshot name matches an existing baseline, QA Studio uses pixelmatch to perform a pixel-level comparison. If differences are detected, a diff image is generated and the step result includes the mismatch percentage. See Visual Regression for the full approval workflow.

Assert

The Assert action verifies that the current page state matches an expected condition. If the assertion fails, the step fails and the test stops.

Assert Types

Assert Type	Description	Required Fields
visible	Assert that an element matching the selector is visible on the page.	`selector`, `selectorMode`
hidden	Assert that an element matching the selector is not visible (hidden or absent).	`selector`, `selectorMode`
text	Assert that an element's text content matches the expected value using the specified condition.	`selector`, `selectorMode`, `condition`, `value`
url	Assert that the current page URL matches the expected value using the specified condition.	`condition`, `value`
title	Assert that the page title matches the expected value using the specified condition.	`condition`, `value`
value	Assert that an input element's current value matches the expected value using the specified condition.	`selector`, `selectorMode`, `condition`, `value`

Assert Conditions

When an assert type requires a condition, you can use one of these three comparison modes:

Condition	Description	Example
equals	Exact string match. The actual value must be identical to the expected value.	URL equals `https://example.com/dashboard`
contains	Substring match. The actual value must contain the expected value somewhere within it.	Title contains `Dashboard`
matches	Regular expression match. The actual value is tested against the expected value as a regex pattern.	URL matches `/users/\d+/profile`

Assert Visible Example

{
  "action": "assert",
  "assertType": "visible",
  "selector": "Welcome back!",
  "selectorMode": "text"
}

Assert URL Contains Example

{
  "action": "assert",
  "assertType": "url",
  "condition": "contains",
  "value": "/dashboard"
}

Assert Text Matches Regex

{
  "action": "assert",
  "assertType": "text",
  "selector": ".order-number",
  "selectorMode": "css",
  "condition": "matches",
  "value": "^ORD-\\d{6}$"
}

Use Flow

The Use Flow action executes a reusable flow from your project. Flows are shared step sequences that can be referenced across multiple tests, reducing duplication.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`flowId`	string	Yes	The ID of the flow to execute. Selected from a dropdown of flows available in the current project.

When the test runner encounters a Use Flow step, it resolves the flow's steps and executes them inline. Flows can reference other flows, up to a maximum nesting depth of 10 to prevent infinite recursion.

Example

{
  "action": "use-flow",
  "flowId": "flow_abc123"
}

Info

The flow dropdown in the step editor only shows flows from the same project. If the referenced flow is deleted, the Use Flow step will fail at runtime with an error indicating the flow could not be found.

Press Key

The Press Key action simulates pressing a keyboard key or key combination.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`key`	string	Yes	The key to press. Uses Playwright key names: `Enter`, `Tab`, `Escape`, `Backspace`, `ArrowDown`, `Control+a`, etc.

Example

{
  "action": "press",
  "key": "Enter"
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.keyboard.press('Enter')

Check & Uncheck

The Check action checks a checkbox element, and Uncheck unchecks it. Both require a selector to locate the checkbox.

Check Example

{
  "action": "check",
  "selector": "I agree to the terms",
  "selectorMode": "label"
}

Uncheck Example

{
  "action": "uncheck",
  "selector": "subscribe-newsletter",
  "selectorMode": "testid"
}

Hover

The Hover action moves the mouse pointer over an element, triggering any hover-related effects (CSS :hover, tooltip display, dropdown menus, etc.).

Example

{
  "action": "hover",
  "selector": "nav-menu",
  "selectorMode": "testid"
}

Playwright equivalent: await page.getByTestId('nav-menu').hover()

Selector Modes

Actions that target page elements (Click, Fill, Select, Check, Uncheck, Hover, and some Assert/Wait types) support a selectorMode field that determines how the selector string is interpreted:

Mode	Selector Input	Playwright Equivalent	Best For
css	`.btn-primary`	`page.locator('.btn-primary')`	Complex CSS selectors, ID targeting, class-based selection
text	`Sign In`	`page.getByText('Sign In')`	Buttons and links with unique visible text
role	`button:Submit`	`page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Submit' })`	Accessible elements with ARIA roles. Format: `role:name`
placeholder	`Enter email`	`page.getByPlaceholder('Enter email')`	Input fields with distinctive placeholder text
label	`Email Address`	`page.getByLabel('Email Address')`	Form fields with associated `<label>` elements
testid	`submit-btn`	`page.getByTestId('submit-btn')`	Elements with `data-testid` attributes. Most stable and recommended.

Tip: Choosing a Selector Mode

For the most resilient tests, prefer testid (requires data-testid attributes in your app), then role or label for form elements, then text for buttons/links, and use css as a last resort. The recorder automatically picks the best available mode using the 7-tier priority system.

Control Flow Actions

The If, Else, End If, Loop, and End Loop actions provide conditional execution and looping capabilities. These are covered in detail on the Control Flow page.

Environment Variables in Actions

All text-based fields (url, value, selector) support environment variable substitution using the {{variableName}} syntax. Variables are resolved at runtime from the project's environment variables. This allows you to parameterize tests for different environments:

Variable Substitution

{
  "steps": [
    { "action": "goto", "url": "{{BASE_URL}}/login" },
    { "action": "fill", "selector": "#email", "value": "{{TEST_USER}}" },
    { "action": "fill", "selector": "#password", "value": "{{TEST_PASS}}" },
    { "action": "click", "selector": "Sign In", "selectorMode": "text" }
  ]
}

See Environment Variables for details on creating and managing variables.

Previous ← Recording Next Control Flow →