AL TestScribe

Durable, local evidence for failed Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central AL tests.

AL TestScribe observes failed AL tests in VS Code and preserves their complete failure details as files in the current workspace. It does not run tests, upload reports, analyse them with AI, or decide what happens next. You keep the evidence and choose how to use it.

Website: cperezsx.github.io/ALTestScribe · Issues: github.com/cperezsx/ALTestScribe/issues

Why AL TestScribe

Test notifications are useful while they are visible, but a failure needs a durable hand-off when it is time to investigate, document, share, or automate a next step. AL TestScribe turns that short-lived notification into a local report without changing the AL test workflow.

Version 1.0 makes five commitments:

Local by design: report data stays inside the opened workspace. No telemetry or report uploads.
Respectful integration: the original AL test-service method runs before TestScribe records a failure.
No overwritten history: every run receives a user- and timestamp-specific folder.
User-controlled export: select automatic export or wait for a manual export command.
Portable reports: write Markdown, JSON, CSV, or any combination of those formats.

What is captured

Each failed test record contains:

Field	Meaning
Test	Failed AL test method.
Codeunit ID	Owning codeunit when the AL service provides it.
Duration	Reported duration in milliseconds.
Captured at	ISO timestamp for the notification.
Error	Complete error text and call stack received from AL.

Some AL Language versions send an immediate second failure notification without a test name. Equivalent notifications are merged in a short window, so the same failure is retained once instead of becoming an (Unknown test) duplicate. Failures from different named test methods are always kept separately.

Requirements

Visual Studio Code ^1.90.0.
The AL Language extension.
An open AL workspace. In a multi-root workspace, AL TestScribe uses the folder containing app.json when available.

AL TestScribe is intentionally AL-specific. It is not a test runner or a generic reporter for Jest, Playwright, .NET, Python, or other test technologies.

Quick start

Install AL Language and AL TestScribe.
Open an AL workspace containing app.json.
Run AL tests as usual.
When a test fails, AL TestScribe captures it and, by default, exports a report.
Open the Testing sidebar to inspect the captured failures, or run AL TestScribe: Open Latest Export from the Command Palette.

The native AL TestScribe section appears in VS Code's Testing sidebar. It complements the AL test UI; it does not replace it.

Item	What it gives you
Current test run	Start time, active export mode, export state, and captured failure count.
Individual failure	Test name, codeunit, duration, hoverable error text, and a click-through read-only detail document.
Latest saved report	A direct link to the newest saved report, including after a VS Code restart.
View actions	Refresh the data or export the current capture.

The view refreshes when a run starts, a failure is captured, an export completes, a capture is discarded, or an AL TestScribe setting changes.

Export modes

Mode	Behaviour	When to use it
`automatic` (default)	Queues an updated report after every captured failure. VS Code confirms the write in the status bar and Output channel.	You want a report as tests run.
`manual`	Retains failures in memory and writes nothing until AL TestScribe: Export Current Test Failures is invoked.	You want to decide when a capture becomes a file.

The Testing sidebar makes the active choice explicit. Automatic mode says that it exports after each captured failure. Manual mode says Waiting for manual export, and the status bar confirms that no file has been written yet.

A manual capture only exists in the active VS Code session until it is exported. Closing VS Code before exporting discards that in-memory capture.

Report history and formats

Every test run gets its own directory, so a later run cannot replace earlier evidence:

tools/al-test-scribe-results/
  carlos/
    2026-07-28_14-35-42-123/
      al-test-failures.md
      al-test-failures.json
      al-test-failures.csv

Select only the formats you need:

Format	Best for
Markdown	Human review, notes, pull-request context, and sharing.
JSON	Scripts and structured tooling.
CSV	Spreadsheets and tabular review.

Commands

Open the Command Palette with Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P.

Command	Purpose
`AL TestScribe: Export Current Test Failures`	Writes the current in-memory capture in the configured formats.
`AL TestScribe: Open Latest Export`	Opens the latest Markdown report, falling back to JSON or CSV when Markdown was not selected.
`AL TestScribe: Open Export Folder`	Opens the workspace directory containing saved report history.
`AL TestScribe: Discard Current Test Capture`	Clears the current in-memory capture without deleting any saved report.
`AL TestScribe: Open Current Run Details`	Opens all currently captured failures in a read-only document.
`AL TestScribe: Refresh Test Failures View`	Refreshes the AL TestScribe view in the Testing sidebar.

VS Code translates command and setting labels to English or Spanish according to its display language.

Settings

Search for AL TestScribe in VS Code Settings, or add these workspace settings:

{
  "alTestScribe.exportMode": "manual",
  "alTestScribe.formats": ["markdown", "json"],
  "alTestScribe.outputDirectory": "artifacts/al-test-failures",
  "alTestScribe.userIdentifier": "carlos"
}

Setting	Default	Description
`alTestScribe.exportMode`	`automatic`	Writes after every captured failure or waits for an explicit manual export.
`alTestScribe.formats`	`markdown`, `json`, `csv`	One or more formats to create for each exported run.
`alTestScribe.outputDirectory`	`tools/al-test-scribe-results`	Report directory relative to the workspace. Paths outside the workspace are rejected.
`alTestScribe.userIdentifier`	Operating-system user	Folder name used to separate one user's report history from another's.

Privacy and boundaries

AL TestScribe writes selected report formats only to the opened workspace. It does not send source code, errors, credentials, workspace data, or telemetry to a network service.

The extension depends on the test-run service exposed by the installed AL Language extension. If a future AL Language release changes that internal service shape, activation can fail; diagnostic details are written to the AL TestScribe Output channel.

Out of scope for version 1.0:

Running or scheduling tests.
Replacing AL test UI or notification handlers.
Diagnosing, fixing, prioritising, uploading, or deleting reports.
Supporting non-AL test technologies.

Development

npm ci
npm run check

npm run check validates the extension and creates al-test-scribe-1.0.0.vsix. Install the package locally with Extensions: Install from VSIX... in VS Code.

Before a release, use the Marketplace checklist. See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution rules, SUPPORT.md for support guidance, and SECURITY.md for responsible disclosure.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Creators

Created by Carlos Perez (@cperezsx) and Jose Miguel Dura Sirvent (@jmdura).