Cucumber Scenario Runner

A Visual Studio Code extension that allows you to run Cucumber scenarios directly from the editor with a single click. This extension integrates with the official Cucumber extension and uses its configuration.

Features

• ▶ Run Icons: Click the play button next to any Scenario or Scenario Outline to run it
• Run Feature: Click the play button next to Feature to run all scenarios in the file
• 🐛 Debug: Debug scenarios with breakpoints support
• Context Menu: Right-click on a scenario to run or debug it
• Uses Official Cucumber Configuration: Automatically reads cucumber.glue and other settings from the official Cucumber extension

Prerequisites

This extension requires the official Cucumber extension to be installed:

• Cucumber (Official)

The extension will automatically prompt you to install it if not present.

Usage

1. Open a .feature file
2. You'll see ▶ Run and 🐛 Debug buttons above each scenario
3. Click ▶ Run to execute the scenario
4. Click 🐛 Debug to debug the scenario with breakpoints

Running from Title Bar

When viewing a .feature file, you can click the play button in the editor title bar to run the entire feature file.

Running from Context Menu

Right-click anywhere within a scenario to access:

• Run Cucumber Scenario: Execute the current scenario
• Debug Cucumber Scenario: Debug the current scenario

Configuration

This extension uses the configuration from the official Cucumber extension:

Additional Settings

Monorepo / Subdirectory Setup

If your Cucumber project is in a subdirectory (common in monorepos), set the cucumberRunner.cwd setting:

{
  "cucumberRunner.cwd": "cucumber"
}

This tells the extension to:

1. Run commands from the cucumber subdirectory
2. Use the node_modules from that subdirectory
3. Calculate feature file paths relative to that directory

Example: If your project structure is:

my-project/
├── backend/
├── frontend/
└── cucumber/           ← Cucumber tests here
    ├── package.json
    ├── node_modules/
    └── features/
        └── account.feature

Add to .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "cucumberRunner.cwd": "cucumber",
  "cucumber.glue": [
    "features/step_definitions/**/*.js",
    "features/support/**/*.js"
  ]
}

Custom Command Template

For advanced use cases, you can specify a custom command template:

{
  "cucumberRunner.commandTemplate": "npm run test -- {featurePath}:{line}"
}

Use {featurePath} for the feature file path and {line} for the line number.

Example Cucumber Configuration

In your VS Code settings or .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "cucumber.features": ["features/**/*.feature"],
  "cucumber.glue": [
    "features/step_definitions/**/*.js",
    "features/support/**/*.js"
  ]
}

Requirements

• VS Code 1.74.0 or higher
• Cucumber (Official) extension
• A Cucumber implementation installed in your project (cucumber-js)

Installation

From VSIX

1. Download the .vsix file
2. Open VS Code
3. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
4. Click the three dots menu (...)
5. Select "Install from VSIX..."
6. Choose the downloaded file

From Source

git clone <repository-url>
cd cucumber-scenario-runner
npm install
npm run compile
npm run package

Then install the generated .vsix file.

Commands

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can add custom keyboard shortcuts in VS Code:

{
  "key": "ctrl+shift+r",
  "command": "cucumber-runner.runScenario",
  "when": "resourceExtname == .feature"
}

Supported Gherkin Keywords

• Feature:
• Scenario:
• Scenario Outline:

How It Works

1. The extension reads your cucumber.glue configuration from the official Cucumber extension
2. When you click Run, it constructs the appropriate npx cucumber-js command
3. The command is executed in the integrated terminal with the correct --require paths

Known Issues

• Debug configuration is optimized for Node.js-based Cucumber (cucumber-js)
• For other Cucumber implementations, you may need to customize the run command

⚠️ Important: Cucumber Config File Warning

If your cucumber.js (or cucumber.cjs) config file has a default profile with paths defined, it will run ALL matching scenarios instead of just the one you clicked on:

// cucumber.js - This will cause issues!
module.exports = {
  default: {
    paths: ["features/**/*.feature"],  // ⚠️ This overrides the specific scenario
    require: ["features/step_definitions/**/*.js"],
    format: ["progress-bar", "html:reports/report.html"]
  }
}

Solution: Remove the paths property from your default profile:

// cucumber.js - Fixed version
module.exports = {
  default: {
    require: ["features/step_definitions/**/*.js"],
    format: ["progress-bar", "html:reports/report.html"]
    // No 'paths' here - let the CLI argument specify which feature to run
  }
}

Alternatively, create a separate profile for running all tests:

// cucumber.js - With separate profiles
module.exports = {
  default: {
    // Used by extension - no paths, uses CLI argument
    require: ["features/step_definitions/**/*.js"],
    format: ["progress-bar"]
  },
  all: {
    // Used for running all tests: npx cucumber-js --profile all
    paths: ["features/**/*.feature"],
    require: ["features/step_definitions/**/*.js"],
    format: ["progress-bar", "html:reports/report.html"]
  }
}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

ISC

Release Notes

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Run and debug scenarios with CodeLens buttons
• Integration with official Cucumber extension configuration
• Support for cucumber.glue setting for step definitions