Browser-based component testing

In the past, when discussing component testing, we’ve generally advised against browser-based tools. They were difficult to set up, slow to run and often flaky. This has improved significantly. Today, browser-based component testing, using tools such as Playwright, is a viable and often preferable approach. Running tests in a real browser provides more consistency, as the test matches the environment where the code actually executes. The performance hit is now small enough that the trade-off is worthwhile. Flakiness has also decreased, and we’re seeing more value than from emulated environments such as jsdom.