Markdown
An intelligent, interactive CLI tool that helps developers and QA engineers choose the perfect test automation framework for their project.
This isn't just a simple survey; it's an expert system that asks about your technical needs, team workflow, and scalability goals to provide a tailored recommendation from a curated list of high-quality boilerplate repositories.
Here's a simulation of the recommender in action, guiding a user to the perfect web automation framework:
$ npx expert-automation-recommender
🚀 Welcome to the Expert Test Automation Framework Recommender!
As of: Thursday, 9 October 2025
--- Step 1: Core Requirements ---
? First, what is your primary testing target? › Desktop or Mobile Web
? And which programming language will you be using? › JavaScript
✔ Okay, a JavaScript solution for Web testing. Let's dive deeper.
--- Step 2: Web Testing Style & Workflow ---
? What style of testing best fits your team's needs? › Modern All-in-One
? Besides E2E tests, do you also need to test individual UI components? › Yes
? How important is an interactive visual debugger with time-travel? › It's a top priority.
✔ Understood. A e2e_modern approach for web.
Analyzing your requirements to find the perfect match...
✅ Analysis Complete!
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ✅ Recommendation Complete! │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ Based on your answers, we recommend: Playwright
│
│ 💡 Why it's a great fit for you:
│ * It delivers the top-tier visual debugging experience that is a priority for your team.
│ * It includes support for the component testing you require, in addition to end-to-end tests.
│ * A modern framework from Microsoft, known for its speed, reliability, and excellent cross-browser/platform capabilities.
│
│ 🤔 Potential Limitations to Consider:
│ * Its auto-waiting mechanism can sometimes be less intuitive than Cypress's for complex, dynamic applications. The community plugin ecosystem is still growing compared to older frameworks.
│
│ 🚀 To get started, clone the repository:
│ git clone [https://github.com/BrowserStackCE/browserstack-examples-playwright](https://github.com/BrowserStackCE/browserstack-examples-playwright)
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
🌟 Key Features
Interactive Wizard: A step-by-step conversational interface that guides you to the right solution.
Covers All Targets: Provides expert recommendations for Desktop Web, Mobile Web, and Native Mobile App (iOS & Android) testing.
Deeply Nuanced Logic: Goes beyond language choice, asking about:
Native vs. Cross-Platform mobile strategies.
BDD vs. Traditional coding styles.
Scenario-level vs. File-level parallel execution needs.
Component testing requirements.
The importance of visual debugging tools.
Curated Boilerplates: All recommendations link to high-quality, ready-to-use boilerplate repositories from BrowserStack's examples.
Personalized Analysis: The final recommendation includes a dynamic summary of why the framework is a good fit for you and a balanced look at its potential limitations.
Polished UI: A clean, colorful, and intuitive command-line experience.
✅ Prerequisites
Node.js (v16.x or higher recommended)
npm or npx
🛠️ Installation & Usage
There are three ways to use the recommender:
1. Quick Run (Recommended)
You can run the tool directly without a permanent installation using npx. This ensures you're always using the latest version.
Bash
npx expert-automation-recommender
(Note: The package name expert-automation-recommender is a placeholder for when this tool is published to npm.)
2. Global Installation
If you want to install the tool globally on your machine:
Bash
npm install -g expert-automation-recommender
Then, you can run it with the command:
Bash
expert-automation-recommender
3. Running from Source
To run the tool from a local clone:
Bash
# 1. Clone the repository
git clone <repository_url>
# 2. Navigate into the directory
cd expert-automation-recommender
# 3. Install dependencies
npm install
# 4. Run the tool
node index.js
🧠 The Recommendation Engine
The tool currently recommends from a curated list of frameworks covering a wide range of needs.
Web Frameworks
JavaScript: Playwright, Cypress, WebdriverIO (with and without Cucumber)
Java: TestNG, JUnit 5, Cucumber (with TestNG or JUnit 5)
Mobile App Frameworks
Native iOS: XCUITest (Swift)
Native Android: Espresso (Kotlin/Java)
Cross-Platform (Appium):
JavaScript: WebdriverIO (with and without Cucumber)
Java: TestNG, JUnit 5, Cucumber with TestNG
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to help improve the tool, please feel free to:
Report a bug by opening an issue.
Suggest a new framework or boilerplate to add.
Submit a pull request with improvements to the logic or user interface.