QCS Playwright Automation Extension

[!IMPORTANT] Internal Tool Notice: Built for Emerson employees. An active connection to the Emerson corporate network and Microsoft Entra ID access to Emerson's Azure DevOps organization are required.

A VS Code extension integrating GitHub Copilot with Azure DevOps and Playwright to automatically generate, maintain, validate, and execute Playwright test suites directly from Azure DevOps Test Cases and Work Items.

🚀 Key Features

• Automated Test Generation: Converts Azure DevOps Test Cases into production-ready Playwright tests (.spec.ts) and Page Objects (.ts) via GitHub Copilot.
• 🧠 5-Tier Memory Architecture: Multi-level context system spanning Enterprise Skills, Global Developer Preferences, Shared Team Memory, Private Local Overrides, and Ephemeral Session Retries.
• ⚡ Enterprise Skills Catalog (skills/): On-demand code patterns for tricky UI workflows (SSO login, AG Grid tables, custom dropdowns, date pickers, iframes, shadow DOM).
• 📦 Framework Scaffolding & Updates: Initializes standard QCS Playwright folders and utilities (TestReporter.ts, HtmlReportHelper.ts) with 1-click update checking.
• 🧭 QCS Explorer Side Panel: Activity Bar panel for 1-click Quick Actions and visual Azure DevOps Test Case search with direct test generation.
• 🛠️ Self-Healing Diagnostics: Executes generated specs locally with automatic retry loops (up to 3 attempts), feeding failure stack traces back to Copilot for instant repair.

📋 Prerequisites

• Network & Account: Active Emerson corporate network connection and a signed-in Microsoft account with Azure DevOps access.
• VS Code: Version ≥ 1.96.0 with GitHub Copilot enabled in a trusted workspace.
• Node.js & npm: Node.js (≥ 20) and npm (≥ 9) installed and on system PATH.

🏁 Quick Start

1. Connect & Authenticate:
   • Open VS Code and click "Connect Azure DevOps" (or run QCS Playwright Automation: Connect Azure DevOps).
   • The status bar at the bottom will display QCS Automation: ready.
2. Scaffold Framework:
   • Run QCS Playwright Automation: Scaffold Playwright Framework to generate standard project folders and install dependencies.
3. Sync Workspace Memory:
   • Run QCS Playwright Automation: Sync Workspace Memory to index your project's Page Objects, base URLs, and selector rules into .qcs/memory/.
4. Generate Tests in Copilot Chat:
   • Open Copilot Chat (Ctrl+Alt+I / Cmd+Alt+I) and ask:

     @qcs-playwright-automation Generate a Playwright test for ADO Test Case #12345

   • Alternatively, search test cases in the QCS Explorer sidebar and click the beaker icon to generate.

🧠 The 4-Tier Memory Architecture

The extension structures AI memory into 4 distinct scopes to ensure maximum token efficiency, team collaboration, and local developer privacy:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. ENTERPRISE MEMORY (Global Skills)                                        │
│    - Path: Central Repo (qcs-playwright-agent/skills/)                      │
│    - Shared Across: ALL Emerson automation projects                         │
│    - Examples: Microsoft Entra SSO, AG Grid tables, shadow DOM, datepickers │
└─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                      │
┌─────────────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2. GLOBAL USER MEMORY (Cross-Project Developer Preferences)                 │
│    - Path: ~/.qcs/global-memory.md                                          │
│    - Shared Across: ALL projects on THIS developer's machine                │
│    - Examples: Personal coding style, JSDoc rules, default browser          │
└─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                      │
┌─────────────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3. WORKSPACE / TEAM MEMORY (Shared Project Knowledge)                       │
│    - Path: <project>/.qcs/memory/*.md (Committed to Git)                    │
│    - Shared Across: All developers on THIS specific project                 │
│    - Examples: Page Objects registry, app base URLs, locator conventions    │
└─────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                      │
┌─────────────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 4. WORKSPACE LOCAL MEMORY (Project-Specific Local Overrides)                │
│    - Path: <project>/.qcs/local-memory.md (Ignored in .gitignore)           │
│    - Shared Across: ONLY this project on THIS machine                       │
│    - Examples: Localhost test URLs, private test accounts, headed browser   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Level 1: Enterprise Skills (skills/)

Universal, reusable automation know-how curated centrally in qcs-playwright-agent/skills/. The agent dynamically queries available skills and fetches them on demand:

Level 2: Global User Memory (~/.qcs/global-memory.md)

Cross-project developer preferences that apply to every repository opened on this machine:

# 👤 Global Developer Profile (~/.qcs/global-memory.md)

- **Developer:** John Doe (QA Automation)
- **Preferred Browser:** Chromium in headed mode (`--headed`)
- **Coding Style:** Always generate TypeScript with strict types and JSDoc comments on Page Object actions.
- **Dynamic Test Accounts:** Prefix test accounts with `johndoe_qa_<timestamp>`.

• Querying: qcs_get_workspace_memory({ topic: "global" }).
• Updating: qcs_update_workspace_memory({ topic: "global", content: "..." }) when the user expresses cross-cutting preferences ("Always...", "By default for all my tests...").

Level 3: Shared Workspace Memory (.qcs/memory/)

Living, project-specific context committed to Git so all team members and Copilot share the same knowledge:

📁 <Project Root>/
└── 📁 .qcs/
    ├── 📁 memory/                     # Shared Team Memory (Committed to Git)
    │   ├── 📄 index.md                # Catalog of available topics & registered Page Objects
    │   ├── 📄 app-profile.md          # Configured base URL, browsers, default timeouts
    │   ├── 📄 auth.md                 # SSO login flows & session storageState (.auth/user.json)
    │   ├── 📄 page-registry.md        # Living register of all Page Objects & components
    │   ├── 📄 locators.md             # Selector hierarchy & widget conventions
    │   ├── 📄 quirks.md               # Loading overlay & timing workarounds
    │   └── 📁 modules/                # Feature-specific sub-domain memories (e.g. billing.md)
    └── 📄 local-memory.md             # Private developer local overrides (.gitignore)

• Automatic Updates: Copilot automatically registers newly created Page Objects into page-registry.md.
• Manual Customization: Edit any file in .qcs/memory/ to teach the agent custom selector rules or application quirks.
• Re-indexing: Run QCS Playwright Automation: Sync Workspace Memory at any time to refresh topic files from your codebase.

Level 4: Workspace Local Memory (.qcs/local-memory.md)

Private developer overrides for this specific project that stay on your local machine and are never committed to Git:

# 🔒 Local Developer Overrides (.qcs/local-memory.md)

- **Local Base URL:** `http://localhost:4200`
- **Preferred Browser Mode:** Headed (`--headed`)
- **Local Test Account:** `qa_tester_john`
- **Notes:** Local Docker Redis container must be running on port 6379 before starting tests.

• Automatic Overlay: When Copilot queries app-profile, the extension automatically overlays your local overrides on top of the team defaults.
• Git Protection: Ignored automatically by .gitignore (.qcs/local-memory.md).

⌨️ Extension Commands & Sidebar Actions

All actions can be accessed via the QCS Automation Activity Bar side panel or the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P):

⚙️ Settings

Configure preferences in VS Code Settings (Ctrl+, $\rightarrow$ search QCS Playwright):

🆘 Troubleshooting & Support

• Status indicates setup required or degraded: Run QCS Playwright Automation: Run Setup Check to identify missing prerequisites.
• Authentication Expired: Run QCS Playwright Automation: Connect Azure DevOps.
• Playwright Test Execution Issues: Refer to docs/troubleshooting.md in your project for common locator, timeout, and overlay solutions.
• Logs: Run QCS Playwright Automation: Show Logs to inspect real-time traces.
• Support Contact: Reach out to DLQCSLeads@Emerson.com.