Installation

Requirements

Before installing Pest Plugin Bridge, ensure you have:

Requirement	Version
PHP	8.3+
Pest	4.0+
Composer	2.0+
Node.js	18+

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Install the plugin via Composer:

composer require testflowlabs/pest-plugin-bridge --dev

This will also install the required pestphp/pest-plugin-browser dependency.

Step 2: Install Playwright

The browser testing functionality uses Playwright under the hood. Install it via npm:

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

Installing All Browsers

If you want to test across multiple browsers, install them all:

npx playwright install

This installs Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit.

Step 3: Configure the External URL

Configure in your tests/Pest.php file:

<?php

use TestFlowLabs\PestPluginBridge\Bridge;

Bridge::setDefault('http://localhost:5173');

Step 4: Verify Installation

Create a simple test to verify everything works:

// tests/Browser/ExampleTest.php
<?php

test('can visit external frontend', function () {
    $this->bridge('/')
        ->assertSee('Welcome');
});

Run it:

./vendor/bin/pest tests/Browser/ExampleTest.php

Automatic Server Management

With ->serve() configuration, the frontend starts automatically when tests run. No need to manually start servers!

// tests/Pest.php
Bridge::setDefault('http://localhost:3000')
    ->serve('npm run dev', cwd: '../frontend')
    ->readyWhen('ready|localhost');

Project Structure

After installation, your project should look like this:

your-project/
├── tests/
│   ├── Pest.php              # Plugin configuration
│   ├── Browser/
│   │   └── ExampleTest.php   # Browser tests
│   ├── Feature/
│   └── Unit/
├── composer.json
└── package.json              # Playwright dependency

Troubleshooting

Playwright Not Found

If you get "Playwright is not installed" error:

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

Browser Launch Fails

On Linux servers, you may need additional dependencies:

npx playwright install-deps chromium

Connection Refused

Ensure your frontend is running and accessible:

curl http://localhost:5173