Approval Testing - CI/CD Glossary Definition

Approval testing records real output and asks a person to approve it as the expected baseline.

Approval testing captures the actual output of code and requires a human to approve it as correct, storing the approved version for future comparison. It suits output too complex to assert by hand.

Rather than writing detailed assertions, the tester reviews the produced output once and approves it. Subsequent runs compare against the approved file.

Workflow

On a difference, the framework shows received versus approved. The developer approves intended changes, converting them into the new baseline.

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