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ATK Installation

When to Use

Use this guide for the initial install of ATK on a Drupal site.

Decision

Step Required Why
automated_testing_kit module + qa_accounts Yes Core module + test user seed
Demo recipe Strongly recommended Ships tests fail without expected content/users
Runner (Cypress or Playwright) Yes ATK doesn't bundle a runner
Copy test catalog to project Yes Tests live in the module; copy or symlink to runner project

Pattern

Install the module

composer require 'drupal/automated_testing_kit:^2.0'
drush en automated_testing_kit qa_accounts

qa_accounts pre-seeds test users so ATK's login tests have predictable accounts.

composer require 'drupal/automated_testing_kit_demo_recipe:^2.0'
drush recipe modules/contrib/automated_testing_kit_demo_recipe
drush cache:rebuild

The recipe creates sample content types, example nodes, QA test accounts in expected roles, and pre-configured permissions. For a fresh site, this makes the shipped tests run green out of the box.

Install the runner

ATK does not bundle the JS test runner. Install separately in a sandboxed sub-tree:

<repo>/
├── composer.json
├── web/
└── tests/playwright/
    ├── package.json
    ├── playwright.config.js
    └── e2e/

cd tests/playwright
npm init -y
npm install -D @playwright/test
npx playwright install --with-deps

For Cypress:

cd tests/cypress
npm install -D cypress

Copy the test catalog

# Tests
cp -R web/modules/contrib/automated_testing_kit/tests/playwright/* tests/playwright/e2e/atk/

# Helpers
cp -R web/modules/contrib/automated_testing_kit/js-helpers/playwright/* tests/playwright/helpers/

Some teams import directly via path aliases instead of copying — either pattern works.

Compatibility

Aspect Value
Drupal core ^11.0 \|\| <12 for ATK 2.x
PHP 8.3+
Drush 12.x+
Node.js 20.x LTS+

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Installing only the module without the runner → Right: the module's tests don't run themselves
  • Wrong: Skipping the demo recipe → Right: shipped tests fail because the site has no users/content matching the test fixtures
  • Wrong: Running tests inside the Drupal container → Right: ATK's pattern is host-side runner targeting container-side site

See Also