Exploration

How AI explores and maps your application.

Exploration

Exploration is the first step in automated testing with Plaintest. Our AI navigates through your entire application, discovering screens, interactions, and building a complete map.

How It Works

When you start an exploration:

  1. Initial Load: The AI navigates to your base URL and captures the initial screen
  2. Element Discovery: It identifies all interactive elements (buttons, links, forms)
  3. Recursive Navigation: The AI clicks through elements, following links and buttons
  4. Screenshot Capture: Each unique screen is captured for later reference
  5. Flow Graph Building: The AI builds a map showing how screens connect

What Gets Discovered

During exploration, Plaintest identifies:

  • Pages: Every unique URL in your application
  • Screens: Different UI states (modals, tabs, expanded sections)
  • Navigation: How screens connect to each other
  • Interactive Elements: Buttons, links, form fields, menus
  • Forms: Input fields and their types

Exploration Settings

You can customize exploration behavior:

Depth Limit

Control how deep the AI explores:

  • Shallow (2): Just the main pages
  • Medium (5): Main pages and one level of subpages
  • Deep (10): Comprehensive exploration

Exclusions

Prevent the AI from exploring certain areas:

  • Add URL patterns to exclude (e.g., /admin/*)
  • Useful for avoiding logout buttons or dangerous actions

Authentication

If your app requires login:

  1. The AI automatically detects login forms
  2. Provide credentials in Project Settings > Secrets
  3. The AI will authenticate before exploring

Understanding the Flow Graph

After exploration, you'll see a flow graph showing:

  • Nodes: Each discovered screen
  • Edges: Navigation paths between screens
  • Screenshots: Visual preview of each screen

Use the flow graph to:

  • Verify the AI found all important screens
  • Identify missing areas to explore manually
  • Plan which flows to test

Re-running Exploration

You can re-run exploration when:

  • Your app has significant UI changes
  • You've added new features
  • The flow graph seems incomplete

Existing tests will continue to work, but you may want to update them after major changes.

Tips for Better Exploration

  1. Start simple: Test with a smaller section of your app first
  2. Add credentials: Authenticated exploration finds more screens
  3. Check the flow graph: Make sure important screens were found
  4. Exclude dangerous actions: Add patterns for logout, delete, etc.

Next Steps