NEWS.md

In shinytest2: Testing for Shiny Applications

shinytest2 0.5.1

New features

• local_app_support(), with_app_support(), and load_app_support() documentation has been expanded to clarify when each function is needed. The use-package vignette now includes detailed examples and a decision tree to help users choose the right approach (#438).

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• All vignette images now include alt text for improved accessibility (#435).

• record_test() no longer prints a debug message when recording tests in a package directory (#437).

• record_test(app=) now properly handles function apps. Previously, passing a function would error with "object of type 'closure' is not subsettable" when determining the test file name (#439).

shinytest2 0.5.0

Lifecycle changes

• load_app_env() has been superseded by load_app_support(). This new function aligns its name with local_app_support() and with_app_support(), and similarly, it requires an app_dir parameter (#328).

• test_app(check_setup=) is now deprecated. Checking is no longer required as default behavior, as load_app_env() has been superseded by with_app_support() and local_app_support(), which provide a more robust and flexible way to scope app support files such as global.R, app.R, server.R, and ui.R (#328).

New features

• AppDriver$new(app_dir=) now supports local package development for the background Shiny app process. In the background test R process, any library(<pkg>) or require(<pkg>) call automatically executes pkgload::load_all() to load the local R package's source code. Installing the package before testing is no longer required (#402).

• AppDriver$new(app_dir=) now supports function execution. You must run the app (or document) yourself or return a Shiny app object. Similar to {mirai}, all packages must be loaded with library() or require() again as the function runs in the background R process (#402).

• Added local_app_support(), with_app_support(), and load_app_support(). local_app_support() and with_app_support() provide package authors a flexible way to scope app support files such as global.R, app.R, server.R, and ui.R within tests. Non-package authors should still use load_app_support() within their setup-shinytest2.R file. See ?local_app_support for more details (#328).

• record_test() gained a record_in_package parameter. If TRUE (default) and the current working directory is within a package, the test file is saved to the package's tests/testthat/ directory. If FALSE, the test file is saved to the app's tests/testthat/ directory (#328).

• Package authors should now test Shiny applications within their own {testthat} tests instead of using test_app(). This collects snapshots in a single location using the package's existing {testthat} infrastructure. Use with_app_support() or local_app_support() to load app support files as needed. See the use-package vignette for more details (#328).

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• AppDriver$expect_values() now works correctly with {testthat} v3.3.0, which changed expectation behavior for screenshot snapshots (#418).

• record_test() now only saves the setup file for local app testing and not within package app testing. When recording a test for an app inside a package, local_app_support() is added to the top of the testing code. If the current working directory is within a package and record_in_package = TRUE (default), the test file is saved to the package's tests/testthat/ directory. If record_in_package = FALSE, the test file is saved relative to the app's tests/testthat/ directory (#328).

• Migrated from {httr} to {httr2} for all HTTP requests made by {shinytest2} (#420, #428).

shinytest2 0.4.1

Bug

• Fixed a bug where AppDriver$expect_values(transform=) default value caused error to be thrown. (#413)

shinytest2 0.4.0

Breaking changes

• {shinytest2} will skip and test on CRAN where an AppDriver is initialized. From a request from CRAN, using {chromote} during CRAN package testing should be avoided as it can create failing tests over time due to application changes within the testing machine, not changes in package code. Since AppDriver directly depends on {chromote} to test Shiny applications, creating an AppDriver should always skip the current test during CRAN package testing. This decision was made to achieve consistent testing behavior over time (rather than silently skipping tests that are expected to run due to a Chrome update). To escape this behavior, you can set the system environment variable SHINYTEST2_APP_DRIVER_TEST_ON_CRAN=1. Following {chromote}'s recommendation, you should test your R package in a CI environment, ideally on a weekly or monthly schedule to test your Shiny app with the latest R package versions. (#407)

Bug / Improvements

• Add support for $click()ing {bslib}'s input_task_button() (#389).

• Improved the error message when an app takes too long to start up (@LouisLeNezet, #394).

• The threshold and kernel_size default values of the AppDriver$expect_screenshot() method are now configurable via two new global options: shinytest2.compare_screenshot.threshold and shinytest2.compare_screenshot.kernel_size (#401)

• {shinytest2} now imports {cli} and no longer imports {crayon} (@olivroy, #399).

• Added {testthat}'s snapshot file transform= parameter support to AppDriver$expect_download() and AppDriver$expect_values(). This allows for text transformations of the snapshot files before they are compared. (#403)

shinytest2 0.3.2

Bug / Improvements

• {shinytest2} now uses {rlang} and longer depends on {ellipsis} (@olivroy, #382).

• {shinytest2} now warns rather than erroring when a potentially non-existent global variable is found in the server function, such as when column names are passed to dplyr::select() (thanks @matt-sd-watson @MichalLauer, #385).

shinytest2 0.3.1

Breaking changes

• AppDriver$get_screenshot()/AppDriver$expect_screenshot() now default an underlying deviceScaleFactor option to 0 instead of 1. This ensures that image sizes are more consistent across devices. To revert to prior behavior, provide screenshot_args = list(scale = 1) to get_screenshot()/expect_screenshot() (#350).

Bug / Improvements

• shinytest2 no longer checks if the computer running the tests is connected to the internet when determining if shinytest2 can connect to the server hosting the Shiny app being tested. (@Riraro #364)

shinytest2 0.3.0

Breaking changes

• AppDriver$get_screenshot(selector=), AppDriver$expect_screenshot(selector=)'s default selector value changed from the HTML DOM selector "html" to "scrollable_area". "scrollable_area" is a custom {shinytest2} selector that will take a screenshot of the entire scrollable area. While a breaking change, this new default value is more intuitive and robust to non-standard CSS height and width values that fail with "html". (#325)

New features

• AppDriver$get_screenshot(selector=), AppDriver$expect_screenshot(selector=), and their corresponding selector values inside screenshot_args=, gained two custom {shinytest2} values: "scrollable_area" and "viewport". "scrollable_area" is the new default value and it takes a screenshot of the entire scrollable area. This is more intuitive than the previous value of the HTML DOM selector "html" which may result in a surprising height and width. "viewport" will take a screenshot of the current browser viewport. This means it will take a screenshot of whatever $view() is currently looking at. (#325)

• GitHub Action rstudio/shinytest2/actions/test-app added support for multiple directories in app-dir. These can be supplied using multiline string yaml syntax. See use-ci vignette for more details. (#332)

• GitHub Action rstudio/shinytest2/actions/test-app changed the default value of upload-snapshots from false to true. This is in preparation for automated snapshot handling. (#332)

Bug / Improvements

• Set the directory to the Shiny App directory before starting the background R process. This allows for local .Rprofile and .Renviron files to be found naturally. (#275)

shinytest2 0.2.1

• Fixed request from CRAN to correct C++11 problems in web checks (#326)

• Fixed bug where compare_screenshot_threshold() did not safe guard against errors thrown by screenshot_max_difference() (#276)

• Fixed bug where preview overflow did not have length of 1 (@cpsievert #291)

• Better support for saving global variables for a Shiny server function (#307)

• Better error message when both app.R and server.R are found (#284)

• Force JS code to be a character for {glue} support (#288)

shinytest2 0.2.0

Breaking changes

Shiny log levels

• AppDriver$get_logs() has changed the level values when location equals "shiny". The levels of "error" and "info" have been renamed to "stderr" and "stdout". (#265)

Download snapshot files

• All downloaded snapshots will contain a counter prefix (e.g. 003- in 003-my_custom_name.txt) to avoid having two files point to the same snapshot file location. Sharing the same snapshot file is dangerous as the last file written is stored as truth, overwriting any knowledge of the original file. (#261)
• If a content-disposition header is provided and AppDriver$expect_download(name = NULL) (default), the snapshot file will try to be saved using the content-disposition header value. When paired with compare = NULL (default), {testthat} will choose the proper compare method between compare_file_text() and compare_file_binary(). See ?testthat::expect_snapshot_file for more details. (#261)
• AppDriver$expect_download() will now download snapshot files using a sanitized file name, e.g. AppDriver$expect_download(name = "my/custom/name.txt") will be stored in the file tests/testthat/_snaps/003-my_custom_name.txt. (#261)

Timeout values

The default timeout values for many AppDriver methods have been altered and are shown in the table below. (#263)

Method | Previous value (ms) | New value (ms) ---|---:|---: AppDriver$new(load_timeout=) | 10 * 1000 | 15 * 1000 AppDriver$set_inputs(timeout_=) | 3 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$upload_file(timeout_=) | 3 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$expect_js(timeout=) | 15 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$get_js(timeout=) | 15 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$run_js(timeout=) | 15 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$wait_for_idle(timeout=) | 30 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$wait_for_value(timeout=) | 15 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$wait_for_js(timeout=) | 30 * 1000 | 4 * 1000 AppDriver$stop(signal_timeout=) | 250 | 500

AppDriver$new(load_timeout=) is initialized using the first numeric value found: 1. Supplied directly: AppDriver$new(load_timeout=) 2. Locally defined option: options(shinytest2.load_timeout=) 3. System environment variable: SHINYTEST2_LOAD_TIMEOUT 4. 15 * 1000 (15s)

AppDriver$new(timeout=) is initialized using the first numeric value found: 1. Supplied directly: AppDriver$new(timeout=) 2. Locally defined option: options(shinytest2.timeout=) 3. System environment variable: SHINYTEST2_TIMEOUT 4. 4 * 1000 (4s)

AppDriver$stop(signal_timeout=) is initialized using the first numeric value found: 1. Supplied directly: AppDriver$stop(signal_timeout=) 2. Locally defined option: options(shinytest2.signal_timeout=) 3. System environment variable: SHINYTEST2_SIGNAL_TIMEOUT 4. If the system environment variable R_COVR=true: 20 * 1000 (20s) 5. 500 (0.5s)

All remaining AppDriver methods will default their timeout and timeout_ parameters to the initialized AppDriver$new(timeout=) value. For example, if app <- AppDriver$new(timeout = 500) then app$get_js(timeout=) will default to 500 milliseconds.

New Features

• compare_screenshot_threshold() is a new method to compare screenshots and allow small differences between two screenshots. This method checks every subset matrix of the pixel differences between the two images. If any total difference is larger than the threshold value, the two images are considered to be different. The subset matrix size can be increased by setting kernel_size. (#231)

• Support for supplying your own compare method to AppDriver$expect_screenshot(compare=) has been added. By default, AppDriver$expect_screenshot(compare=) is set to compare_screenshot_threshold(threshold = NULL) which is equivalent to testthat::compare_file_binary(). No default screenshot expectation behavior has changed. (#231)

• test_app() now inherits the existing test reporter when testing multiple apps within a package test file. This allows for a seamless, single reporter output instead of nested reporters being displayed. (#192)

• The recording browser window is now closed when either the "Save test and exit" or "Exit" buttons are clicked. (@daattali, #202)

• When testing and {chromote} can not be started, the test will be skipped. When testing on windows in CI, {chromote} will get an extra attempt to be started (#225)

• Make {globals} an Imports package, instead of a Suggests package (#223)

• Add support for not recording the screen size when recording a test (#223)

Bug / Improvements

• Fix set of bugs found by @daattali including test files should be opened in the IDE after recording and test and replace missing images in the website (#199)

• Provide example workflows on how to use rstudio/shinytest2/actions/test-app GHA action (#217)

• When setting a date time slider value, it can now handle array inputs properly. When recording a date time slider value, numeric values will not be recorded as milliseconds instead of seconds since epoch. (#223)

• When creating a test setup file for {shinytest2}, use the file path tests/testthat/setup-shinytest2.R instead of tests/testthat/setup.R to provide some quick context within the file name (#224)

• Remove trailing comma causing render bug in recorder app (@mehrnoushmalek, #239)

• Update {lintr} lints to v3 (#240)

• Fixed GHA links for rstudio/shinytest2/actions/test-app@v1 (#249)

• Fix documentation on on AppDriver's delay parameter being in seconds, not milliseconds (#255)

• Escape JS text supplied to AppDriver$wait_for_js(script=) (#258)

• Added support for AppDriver$stop(signal_timeout=). The default timeout when sending SIGINT, SIGTERM, and SIGKILL signals to the {shiny} process is now 500ms. However, if {covr} is running, the default timeout is 20,000 ms to allow time for the report to generate. (#259, #263)

• Add example and FAQ entry on how to test bookmarking (#262)

• Added a DOI badge to README.md (#267)

shinytest2 0.1.1

• Update docs for CRAN (#253)

shinytest2 0.1.0

• Initial release of package

shinytest2 documentation built on Feb. 26, 2026, 1:06 a.m.