Cypress Website Test Runner

What is Cypress Website Test Runner?

Cypress Website Test Runner runs safe, declarative website smoke checks with Cypress in the Apify cloud.

Give it a public website URL and a list of checks. The Actor launches Cypress, executes the checks, and returns structured pass/fail results that can be consumed from the Apify Console, REST API, schedules, webhooks, and automation workflows.

It is designed for uptime-style smoke testing, QA monitoring, deployment verification, and simple browser checks without requiring users to maintain their own Cypress infrastructure.

This Actor uses the open-source Cypress test runner. It is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cypress.io. It does not record runs to the Cypress Cloud service.

Supported checks

The MVP supports these declarative check types:

• pageLoads — verifies the target responds with an HTTP status below 400
• selectorExists — verifies a CSS selector exists
• selectorVisible — verifies a CSS selector is visible
• textContains — verifies visible page text exists
• titleContains — verifies the page title contains a value
• urlContains — verifies the final browser URL contains a value
• selectorTextContains — verifies an element contains expected text

Private, local, and internal network targets are blocked.

Example input

{
  "targetUrl": "https://example.com",
  "testName": "Example.com smoke test",
  "browser": "chrome",
  "timeoutSeconds": 30,
  "screenshot": true,
  "video": false,
  "checks": [
    {
      "type": "pageLoads",
      "label": "Page responds successfully"
    },
    {
      "type": "selectorExists",
      "label": "Main heading exists",
      "selector": "h1"
    },
    {
      "type": "textContains",
      "label": "Expected text is visible",
      "text": "Example Domain"
    }
  ]
}

Example output

Each check is stored as a separate Dataset item:

{
  "targetUrl": "https://example.com",
  "testName": "Example.com smoke test",
  "checkIndex": 2,
  "checkType": "selectorExists",
  "label": "Main heading exists",
  "passed": true,
  "durationMs": 842,
  "error": null,
  "screenshotUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/...",
  "videoUrl": null,
  "browser": "chrome",
  "browserVersion": "...",
  "cypressVersion": "15.20.1"
}

A machine-readable run summary is also written to the default Key-Value Store under the SUMMARY key.

Common use cases

Deployment smoke tests

Run a few critical checks immediately after deploying a website.

Scheduled website QA

Use Apify Schedules to run tests hourly, daily, or weekly and connect the result to a webhook or downstream automation.

Landing-page monitoring

Verify that critical headlines, CTA buttons, forms, or other selectors still exist after content or CMS changes.

Multi-browser sanity checks

Run the same declarative checks using Chrome, Electron, Firefox, or Edge.

API-driven testing

Start the Actor from your own backend or workflow and consume the structured Dataset output programmatically.

Input fields

Target URL

A public HTTP(S) website. Localhost, internal hostnames, and private IP ranges are rejected.

Checks

Provide between 1 and 50 checks.

Some check types require additional fields:

Type	Required field
pageLoads	none
selectorExists	selector
selectorVisible	selector
textContains	text
titleContains	value
urlContains	value
selectorTextContains	selector, text

Browser

Choose Chrome, Electron, Firefox, or Edge.

Screenshots and video

Screenshots are enabled by default. Video is disabled by default to keep compute usage lower.

Automation

The Actor can be combined with:

• Apify Schedules
• REST API calls
• Webhooks
• Make
• Zapier
• CI/CD workflows
• Internal monitoring systems

Security and responsible use

The Actor only accepts declarative checks. It does not execute arbitrary user-supplied JavaScript or Cypress spec code.

Targets resolving to localhost, private IP ranges, or common internal hostnames are rejected. Use the Actor only on websites you are authorized to test and in accordance with applicable terms and laws.

Limitations

• This version is intended for lightweight smoke checks, not full application test suites.
• Authentication flows are not yet supported.
• Complex multi-step actions such as click/type/navigation sequences are not yet supported.
• A website may behave differently depending on region, bot protection, cookies, or browser fingerprinting.

Roadmap

Possible future additions include:

• Multi-step click/type actions
• Login/session setup
• Request header and cookie configuration
• Network assertions
• Webhook-friendly failure summaries
• Visual comparison
• More detailed performance metrics

Support

If a check behaves unexpectedly, open an issue on the Actor page and include:

• the public target URL
• the check configuration
• the expected result
• the actual result

Do not include passwords, API keys, session cookies, or other secrets in public issues.