CI

Use this guide to run the visual tests in a CI job and keep the baselines that the job needs. Platforms and CI explains why baselines differ by operating system.

How the plugin detects CI

The plugin uses is-ci to choose the folder, as Platforms and CI describes.

__vis__/
  local/            # your machine, not committed
  linux/            # CI on Linux, committed
    __baselines__/

Commit the __baselines__ folder of each CI platform. Ignore local, __results__ and __diffs__, as Configuration shows.

Run the tests

A job needs the browser that the provider drives. For Playwright, install it before the tests:

.github/workflows/test.yml

name: test
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
          cache: pnpm
      - run: pnpm install
      - run: pnpm exec playwright install --with-deps chromium
      - run: pnpm exec vitest run

See Playwright on CI for the options of the install command.

Create the baselines for CI

A snapshot with no baseline fails, on CI too. Create the baselines on the platform that checks them, with vitest run -u or createMissingBaseline: true. Updating baselines explains both and the review before you merge.

Read a failure from CI

__results__ and __diffs__ are ignored by git, so a failing job leaves them on the runner. Upload __vis__/**/__diffs__ as an artifact to read the review image, as Reviewing failures describes.

      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: failure()
        with:
          name: snapshot-diffs
          path: '**/__vis__/**/__diffs__'

Options that matter

Option	Page
snapshotRootDir, to change the folder or the CI naming	vis config
shortenLongSnapshotPaths, for long Windows paths	vis config
timeout, for a slow runner	Troubleshooting