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description: The Plan → Review → Generate → Heal four-phase pattern — the spine of every AI test generation cycle. tldr: Every AI test generation cycle runs four phases: Plan (Planner agent writes a Markdown spec), Review (human approves), Generate (Generator writes code from the spec), Heal (Healer fixes locators when CI breaks). Never skip Plan or Review; the spec is the only artifact non-developers can review, and editing tests instead of the spec causes silent drift.

The Four-Phase Pattern

When to Use

Use this pattern for every AI test generation cycle. It is the spine — not a shortcut for large tests.

Decision

Skip phase When
Plan Never — even a one-paragraph plan is better than no plan
Review Never — without review, the loop has no spec
Generate Sometimes — for very small additions, hand-write the test from the plan
Heal Sometimes — for major UI rewrites, regenerate from the plan instead

Pattern

Artifacts in version control:

specs/                          # plans — human source of truth
├── contact-form.md
├── search.md
└── user-registration.md

tests/                          # generated code — regenerable from specs/
├── contact-form.spec.ts
├── search.spec.ts
├── user-registration.spec.ts
└── seed.spec.ts                # state bootstrap — handwritten

fixtures/                       # data fixtures referenced by plans + tests
├── users.ts
└── content.ts

Both specs/ and tests/ go to git. The spec is reviewable in PRs; the test is executable. The Healer modifies tests; humans modify specs.

Why Split Into Four Phases

Phase What it protects against
Plan Auto-generated tests no human ever reviewed at the intent level
Review AI-encoded misinterpretations of what "correct" means
Generate Plan-format chaos — Generator only works against plans that follow a schema
Heal Tests that need rewriting on every UI tweak

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Letting the Healer auto-commit → Right: every locator change should be human-approved or the suite drifts away from the plan
  • Wrong: Editing tests, not the plan, when intent changes → Right: the plan is source of truth; next regeneration overwrites edits made to generated code
  • Wrong: No plan stage at all → Right: the most common adoption failure — you lose the only artifact non-developers can review

See Also