RoboTest Studio

Low-code/no-code test automation studio for recording, reviewing, generating, and executing Appian tests. Automation engineers can use RoboAppian component APIs directly; business users record, review, verify, approve and execute in Studio without editing Python. Both paths use the same semantic APIs and runtime. Unsupported controls still need engineer mappings, and business expectations must be supplied explicitly.

Project boundaries

Dependency direction is Studio → Appian → Automation. Appian has no mandatory Studio dependency and contains no recorder modules or CLI implementation. Studio supplies the appian command for recording, review, generation and UI launch. Generated tests import RoboAppian and pytest; they can execute without Studio. Optional execution step telemetry is provided by robo_appian.execution. See migration to update earlier commands and imports.

Setup from this workspace

cd robo-test-studio
python tools/setup.py --browser chromium
poetry run appian ui

For business testing, run setup from the consumer core-recorder folder instead, then launch poetry run appian ui there. This keeps recordings and artifacts in the consumer project.

Distribution / import / executable: robo-test-studio / robo_test_studio / robo-test-studio. python -m robo_test_studio also works.

appian record --url "https://your-appian-host/suite/sites/your-site" --output recordings/request --start-recording
appian review recordings/request/recording.json
appian validate recordings/request/recording.json
appian generate recordings/request/recording.json --output tests/generated/test_request.py

Setup uses Poetry for environments and dependencies and accepts optional --browser chromium|chrome|msedge. A standalone checkout uses compatible released dependencies; workspace setup uses editable siblings when present. The new library's lockfile is generated by poetry lock during setup. The new public execution/input-key modules require current workspace Appian code until compatible artifacts are released. Existing library versions are preserved. No uploads are performed, and Studio is included in the publish-all release list after its dependencies.

Environment setup options

From the library project directory:

python tools/setup.py --help
python tools/setup.py --browser chromium --docs

The Python entry point delegates to tools/setup.py on Windows, Linux and macOS. Python 3.12 is required. Setup selects Poetry 2.5.1, creates or uses this project's .venv, locks and validates dependencies, installs the project, and verifies local library imports. If an Appian sibling checkout exists, Poetry installs Appian editable; otherwise it resolves the released Appian dependency. Appian 0.1.36 or newer supplies Studio's runtime configuration API and brings Automation transitively. Studio does not declare or install an editable Automation checkout directly. Project packages are managed through Poetry; Poetry itself lives in separate shared tooling.

Omit --browser to skip browser installation. The compatibility --docs option installs documentation tools; website source and its normal build environment live in the public docs project. Existing environments are preserved. --help lists every supported option without installing anything. Setup does not publish packages or sites.

After setup, run commands from this project:

poetry run appian ui
poetry run python -c "import sys; print(sys.executable)"

For consumer recordings/tests, use the existing core-recorder/tools/setup.py entry point from that project's folder, then launch Studio there.

Documentation and checks

Maintain documentation in the public robo-test-studio-docs project. From that project, run python tools/setup.py --build or python tools/setup.py --serve. Run library unit and DOM checks from this private library project after setup.

Documentation sites

• RoboTest Studio: recording, review, generation and execution workflows.
• RoboAppian: semantic component APIs and runtime integration.

The sites have separate GitHub Pages workflows. These links are the configured destinations; deployment requires pushing each repository and enabling Pages. See the public documentation repository README for publishing setup and MIGRATION.md for the library separation.

License

Released under the MIT License. Copyright (c) 2026 Dinil Mithra. Third-party dependencies retain their own licenses.

Snapshot defaults

This library project's .env keeps recording, execution and failure snapshots off, including before-and-after capture. Enable capture in your consumer application's .env and launch Studio from that application directory. Consumer configuration and session overrides remain independent of the library's defaults. See Evidence for configuration details.

Compiled distribution (maintainers)

Use python scripts/github/build_compiled_wheel.py --plan to review the protection inventory and python scripts/github/build_compiled_wheel.py to build an audited native wheel. See compiled distributions for requirements, platform builds, readable entry-point exceptions and release instructions.

Documentation

User documentation and homepage assets are maintained in the separate public robo-test-studio-docs repository. This private project contains the library source. The public repository owns its Poetry documentation environment and Pages workflow. No documentation deployment token is required in this private repository.

Documentation site: https://dinilmithra.github.io/robo-test-studio-docs/ .

Internal documentation: technical-documentation.

Repository environment setup

From this repository, run python tools/setup.py --help to see every supported option, then python tools/setup.py with Python 3.12. Setup uses Poetry 2.5.1 and preserves the existing repository-specific installation and validation steps.

Setup security updates

Run python tools/setup.py with Python 3.12 to secure the project environment. Setup verifies pip is at least 26.2.2, upgrading older pip through the official SHA256-pinned wheel before downloading Poetry. Newer stable pip is preserved. Poetry 2.5.1 tooling requires certifi>=2026.10.19. Existing external Poetry tools with an outdated CA bundle are not used or modified; setup creates a secure bootstrap environment where allowed. Appian setup needs --bootstrap-poetry when no secure external Poetry installation is available.

Project dependencies and lockfiles stay under Poetry management. If certifi is already locked below the security minimum, setup updates that lock through Poetry and stops if the project constraints cannot resolve a safe version. A project without certifi in its lockfile does not need to add it solely for the Poetry tool. Downloads or verification failures stop setup before it reports success.

Standalone setup

Environment creation, secure tooling bootstrap and Poetry validation are included in the project setup implementation. Run python tools/setup.py --help; a separate environment helper module is not required. Project setup options and existing environment names are preserved.