Reporting from CI with Cypress

The Cypress app sends your Cypress test results to Probara from any CI pipeline, with the Probara reporter for Cypress. Each Cypress run becomes an automated test run with its results, the test cases it names and their attachments.

The reporter signs in with an app token: a token that belongs to the organization, not to a person. It uses no seat, and it keeps working when the person who created it leaves. This guide covers the card in Probara and the setup; the reporter’s documentation covers every reporter option and test helper.

Before you start

Set it up

1. In Workspace › Integrations, select the Cypress card. The dialog lists what the app can do and links to this guide.

2. Open the Access tokens tab and select Create an app token.

3. Enter a Token name and select Create token. Name it after what uses it — the repository or the pipeline — so you know which one to revoke later.

4. Select Copy token in Copy your new token. This is the only time Probara shows it: store it in your CI as a secret named PROBARA_API_TOKEN before you select Done.

5. Install the reporter in your Cypress project:

   npm install --save-dev @probara/cypress-reporter

6. Add it to cypress.config.js as the e2e reporter and give it the setupNodeEvents helper, replacing <PROJECT_CODE> with your project’s Project ID, such as SHOP:

   const { defineConfig } = require('cypress');
   const { probaraNodeEvents } = require('@probara/cypress-reporter/setup');
   
   module.exports = defineConfig({
     e2e: {
       reporter: '@probara/cypress-reporter',
       reporterOptions: { projectId: '<PROJECT_CODE>' },
       setupNodeEvents(on, config) {
         return probaraNodeEvents(on, config);
       },
     },
   });

7. Import the reporter’s support file once, at the top of cypress/support/e2e.js, so every spec can use its test helpers:

   import '@probara/cypress-reporter/support';

8. Pass the secret to your tests as the PROBARA_API_TOKEN environment variable and run them. For example, in GitHub Actions:

   - name: Run Cypress tests
     run: npx cypress run
     env:
       PROBARA_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PROBARA_API_TOKEN }}

The token never goes in cypress.config.js: the reporter reads it from the environment. The card on the Integrations page shows how many active tokens the app has.

What the reporter sends

A field or option Probara does not know, or one deleted while the report runs, is skipped and answered as a warning, never a failure: the report still records every result. A field with an empty value is skipped without a warning. An email in assignFailedTo that matches no member who can work in the project is skipped too, with a warning that says only how many were skipped. The helpers are available inside a cypress spec:

it('adds an item to the cart', () => {
  probara.step('open the product page', () => {
    cy.visit('/products/boots');
  });
  probara.attach({ name: 'cart', path: 'reports/cart.json' });
  probara.link('https://shop.example.com/cart', 'Cart page');
});

Same cases as a JUnit import

If you already send Cypress results with probara import junit on the report of cypress-junit, the reporter finds the same test cases: for the same suite, its automation keys equal the keys of that import — the spec’s path relative to the project root plus the test’s full title. Switching to the reporter therefore keeps each test linked to its case and its history. One difference is worth knowing: the reporter sends every attempt, while the import keeps only the last one.

Run only the tests of a run

To run only the tests of a run created in Probara, add the reporter option runCasesOnly to the reporterOptions of cypress.config.js:

const { defineConfig } = require('cypress');
const { probaraNodeEvents } = require('@probara/cypress-reporter/setup');

module.exports = defineConfig({
  e2e: {
    reporter: '@probara/cypress-reporter',
    reporterOptions: { projectId: '<PROJECT_CODE>', runCasesOnly: true },
    setupNodeEvents(on, config) {
      return probaraNodeEvents(on, config);
    },
  },
});

Then, only in the job that runs that run’s tests, set PROBARA_RUN_ULID to the run’s ULID. For example, in a GitHub Actions workflow you start by hand with a run_ulid input:

- name: Run the tests of a Probara run
  run: npx cypress run
  env:
    PROBARA_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PROBARA_API_TOKEN }}
    PROBARA_RUN_ULID: ${{ inputs.run_ulid }}

The reporter sends the results into that run and leaves it open.

To get the ULID, open the run, select Run actions (the menu in the run’s header), and choose Copy run ULID; the same item is in each run’s menu in the runs list. The option turns the same selection on for every spec run: while it reports, each job without a ULID then warns and runs and reports every test.

Before the specs run, the reporter reads the run’s cases. A test belongs to the run when its automation key is the key of one of the run’s cases, or when its title or one of its describe blocks names one of the run’s cases, such as SHOP-12. A probara.id() call does not count: it runs with the test, after the selection. Reading the case keys is the one read an app token can make.

A test the run does not include is skipped: it does not run, and it is not reported. Its spec file is still loaded, so the file’s top-level code runs. When the support file is missing from cypress/support/e2e.js, the reporter cannot skip tests: every test runs and is reported, with one warning. The run selection reference covers the matching rules and every fallback.

To report several jobs into one run, create it first with probara run create, pass its ULID to every job in PROBARA_RUN_ULID, and close it at the end with probara run close. In GitHub Actions the jobs of one workflow run already share a run: the parallel jobs set PROBARA_CLOSE_RUN: false, and a final job runs probara run close (parallel jobs). The CLI can also send back the results a reporter kept when a report could not be sent, with probara import results.

Manage tokens

Under App tokens, the Access tokens tab lists each active token with who created it (or Created by a removed user), when, and when it was last used (Never until its first report).

Revoke a token, and confirm, when it may have leaked or when someone who could read it leaves your team: pipelines that use it stop reporting at once, and it cannot be undone. Create a new token for them first. Because an app token outlives the person who created it, rotating it is your call: Probara never revokes it on its own.

What an app token can do

Only what the reporter does: create automated runs, send reports (which can create the test cases and suites they name), add attachments to their results, close runs, and read the case keys of a run. It cannot read anything else, cannot remove attachments, and cannot be used with Probara MCP or for any other API call. For scripts and other API clients, use a personal API token.

Runs, activity entries and attachments that an app token created show the app’s logo and name beside the token name — for example Cypress · smoke-ci — in the runs list, the run and milestone summaries, Workspace activity and the attachments list.

When the plan changes

If your organization moves to the Free plan, its app tokens are kept but Probara refuses them, so pipelines stop reporting; its dialog says so and offers See plans. You can still see and revoke the tokens. They work again as soon as the organization is back on a paid plan, with nothing to set up again. Manual test runs are not affected.

Next step

• Reporter documentation — options, test helpers, steps and screenshots, and run selection.
• CI integrations — how the Cypress reporter compares with the CLI, the Playwright and the Jest reporters.
• Run cases API — the case keys the reporter reads to run only a run’s tests.
• Reports API — the endpoint the reporter calls, for your own tools.