Tester guide

Your day as a tester with Orbit: sign in on the Station, choose tests, run them, watch them, run again what failed, and read the results. It also covers working offline, starting with Windows, updates, the Diagnostics page with its support bundle, and the first steps of failure triage in the Console.

Who this is for

QA Engineers who run tests on their own Windows PC every day. QA Leads and Project Admins do the same work and can use this page too.

Before you start

The Station is installed and enrolled on your PC. If not, follow Install the Orbit Station first.
You have the QA Engineer role (or higher) on the project. A Viewer can look but not run.
You can sign in to the Console. Getting started shows the Console and its menu.

The Station’s menu has three groups: Work (Today, Run, Explorer, and Running while a run is on), Quality (Activity, Coverage, Failures, Insights, Release, Reports) and Mine (History, Settings). The bar at the top holds the project and the environment you work on; every page follows it. The status bar shows the Station (online or offline), your Session, Sync, Slots (runs at once) and Offline runs. Choose an item for its details.

Steps

Start Orbit Station from the Start menu (or the desktop shortcut). A small window opens, then your browser shows the Station. Keep that window open while you work: closing it stops the Station.
On Welcome to Orbit Station, choose Sign in with Orbit. Your browser opens the Orbit sign-in page. Sign in with your Console account. The Station never sees your password.
If your account has an authenticator, the Station asks for the Authenticator code. Type the 6 digits and choose Confirm code.
Today opens.

Good to know:

Sign in as a different account switches to another account, for example when a colleague uses your PC.
Your session ends after 8 hours without activity, or at a fixed end date. The Session item of the status bar shows how much time is left.
Settings, Account shows who is signed in (Your account), Where you can run (each environment with Run or View only) and Sign out.

2. Start the day on Today

Today shows what needs you on the current project and environment:

Needs your attention: what the Console has for you today, by your role (for example failure groups past their SLA). Use J and K to move and Enter to open an item.
Right now: Running now, the Last failure of this Station and the Release of the environment with its cycle completion and gate.
My runs today: your runs, on This Station or on All my Stations.
Start a run (or N) opens the Run page; its arrow offers more ways to start. Personal report opens a report of your own work. Ask about today asks Ask Orbit.

3. Choose the tests in the Explorer

The Explorer is where you pick exactly which tests to run.

Open Explorer and choose the Workload.
Find tests with Search tests (/; it searches titles, files and tags) and the Filters (Priority, Module, Flags, Folder, Quarantine, Last result here, This cycle and more). Group by changes the tree: Folder › File › Describe, File › Describe or None.
Tick the tests to run. A ticks every test shown, Esc clears the ticks. A flag marked “Lock tag: runs with it wait for each other” means those tests change shared settings and never run together.
The panel on the right (N tests selected) shows the Environment, Settings from profile and the Run options. Leave the options on the profile values when the run should count in the quality figures; see Station run features.
Choose Run N tests.

Save a selection you run often: in Saved selections, use Save as a new selection, give it a name (for example “Material smoke”) and choose what to keep: The N selected tests (a fixed list) or This filter (it picks up new tests that match). The Run page and the Explorer can open a saved selection later.

The test list can be behind the repository. The Explorer runs exactly the commit of its last list. After colleagues merge new tests, choose Refresh from main. Details: Station run features.

4. Or start a run from the Run page

The Run page (title Run tests) runs a whole profile, or a saved selection:

What runs: the Environment, the Workload, the Profile (for example smoke or regression), the Tests (every test of the profile, or a saved selection) and, if you need another version of the tests, the Branch, tag or commit. Empty runs the default branch.
How it runs: workers, retries, the time limit and whether you see the browser.
Variables: only change one if you know why; a changed variable marks the run Overridden.
Choose Start run.

5. Watch the run

The run page opens by itself, and Running appears in the menu.

The steps at the top are Checkout, Install, Lock and secrets, Running and Collecting results. The first run of a workload on your PC is slower: it downloads the dependencies and the browsers.
Running now lists each test that runs at this moment. A run with several suites also has a Suites list and one report per suite; see Station run features.
The Log shows what the Station does. Secret values are always hidden in it.
If the run waits, a banner says what for (“Waiting for” a lock tag, a test account or a free slot). It starts by itself when that is free.
Cancel run stops it. Tests that did not finish are Not run, never failed.
A run stops at its time limit. “Most of the time limit is used” appears at 80 %. See Station run features.

Turn on Notify me when a run finishes in Settings, Station, General to get a browser notification when the Station tab is in the background.

6. Read the result and run again

When the run ends, the run page shows the result. Choose a failed test for its failure panel: the error, the Steps, the Evidence (screenshots and files), Open report (the Playwright report) and Open in Console.

To run again, choose Re-run… on the run page, in History or in the run preview:

Choice	What runs
Failed tests	Only the tests that failed in this run
All tests	The same selection as this run
This test	One test (from a test’s row)
More options…	Opens the Re-run dialog: pick the tests (Failed tests, All tests or Chosen tests), the Environment, the Commit (This run’s commit or the latest on its branch) and the run options. What this re-run will do sums it up before you start.

7. Look back in History

History lists every run started on this Station, with the Result, Compared with the run before, Ran by and Started · took.

Filter with Search runs, Environment, Workload, Result, Date and Ran by. Needs attention shows the runs that need you.
J and K move between runs; Enter opens the run preview and Shift+Enter the run page.
The preview has Open run page, Open report, Re-run… and Open in Console.
A row’s ⋯ menu has Open run in Console, Keep for offline runs (the cleanup keeps that run’s files) and Delete files… (the files go; the run stays in History).
The page’s own menu has Recently deleted, Clean up and a link to Sync.

8. Read and export reports

Reports on the Station has two tabs:

Generate: a report of the project or of your own work, built when you open it. Its export menu saves it as Markdown, CSV or JSON, or prints it with Print / PDF.
Saved reports: the reports QA Leads saved in the Console. / searches them, and each one has the same export menu.

The Station does not share reports. A QA Lead shares a saved report from the Console with a link.

Activity, Coverage, Insights and Release show the figures of the project and environment in the top bar. Open in Console opens the matching Console page. What the figures mean: Quality figures explained.

9. Triage failures in the Console

Failures are grouped by their error, so ten tests that fail with the same error are one group. As a QA Engineer you do the first triage:

In the Console open Failures. The views are Groups, Triage board and Investigations. Groups I own shows your own groups.
On the Triage board, move with J and K (Shift+J and Shift+K jump between groups). For each failing test:
- Label it Bug (B), Environment issue (E) or Known flaky (F).
- Take ownership (O) of the group if you will follow it up.
- Investigate… (I) opens an investigation when the cause needs digging.
- Resolve… (R) once no test fails with that error any more. A group that comes back reopens by itself.
Each group has a deadline (its SLA, counted in business days). Past SLA on Home and Today shows the late ones.
Quarantine… (Q) is for QA Leads. If you think a test should be quarantined, tell your QA Lead.

The Station’s own Failures page offers the same labels (B, E, F) and Claim or release the group (O).

10. Work offline

The Station can run tests when it cannot reach the Console, for a limited time per environment.

The Offline runs item of the status bar says which environments accept offline runs and until when (“None allowed” means none). A Project Admin sets this per environment as the offline grace (3 days by default; 0 turns offline runs off). Each online run renews it.
Offline runs need what an online run left on this PC: your sign-in, the configuration, the secrets and the workload’s code and dependencies. Run each workload online at least once first. Settings, Account, Kept for offline runs lists what is kept and when it expires; it is removed when you sign out.
Offline, locks only see runs on this Station, and test accounts are not leased: another offline Station may use the same account at the same time. The run plan warns you.
Results wait on your PC. Sync shows what is still to be sent; nothing is dropped, even after days offline. The Console marks those runs Ran offline.

11. Start with Windows

In Settings, Station, General, turn on Start Orbit Station when I sign in to Windows. The Station then starts in a minimized window without opening the browser. Open it from the Start menu when you need it. Create desktop shortcut (or Recreate shortcut) puts an icon on your desktop.

12. Keep the Station up to date

The Station downloads new versions by itself.

When one is ready, the Update item appears in the status bar (“version ready”). Choose Restart to update. It waits until no run is going on (“Once the running executions finish”).
The same button is on Settings, Station (row Updates) and on About Orbit Station, which also lists What’s new.
“This Station is no longer supported” means the Station is below the minimum version. Runs still work, but their results wait on your PC until you update.

13. When something is wrong: Diagnostics and the support bundle

Open Diagnostics from your avatar menu (or from Settings, Station, Help).

The Overview says “Everything checks out”, or how many problems and warnings it found, by group: Install, Data folder, Configuration, Sync, Browsers, Workload sources, Proxy, Local server, Clock and Network.
Run all network checks tests the connections one by one. Check again runs the checks again.
Copy summary puts a short text on the clipboard (version, problems, warnings). Paste it in your message to support.
When support asks for more, use Support bundle:
- Under Runs to include, tick up to 5 runs (none picked: the last failed run goes in).
- Choose how many days of Server log (1, 3, 7 or 14).
- Tick Include test names and error messages only if support needs them.
- Choose Create support bundle. The bundle is built on your PC and nothing is uploaded. You see every file, what was hidden (secrets, variable values, tokens, passwords in links, your user folder and more) and what is Never in a bundle.
- Choose Download and send the zip to the person helping you. The Station deletes its copy after a while.

What can go wrong

You see	What to do
“Sign in first” on the Run page	Sign in on Today with Sign in with Orbit.
“The sign-in page did not open?”	Choose Open it here.
“You cannot run on this workload”	You only have view access on its environments. Ask a Project Admin for the QA Engineer role, or a run grant for a restricted environment.
“Your account has expired”	You have 3 days of view only. Ask a Project Admin to extend your account, then refresh the configuration (Settings, Station, Refresh).
“Variables are missing” on a run	The workload needs a variable or secret that is not set for this environment. Ask a Project Admin to set it, then run again.
“The workload’s manifest has errors”	The `orbit.workload.yaml` of that branch is wrong. Tell the workload author, or run another branch.
A run ends with `run-timeout`	See What to do when a run is cut off.
A suite says “Waiting for lease …” for long	Another run holds the lock. Wait, or look at Running or History.
Installing the workload failed	Open Diagnostics from the error card; Workload sources says which repository cannot be read. See Install the Orbit Station.
The Explorer lists old tests	Choose Refresh from main.
Station · Offline and “Offline runs are not allowed now”	No environment accepts offline runs. Reconnect; Diagnostics, Network shows what fails.
Sync shows failed items	Open Sync and follow its message. If it stays, send the Copy summary text to support.
Restart to update is greyed out	A run is going on. The update waits until it ends.

Install the Orbit Station: install, enroll, remove.
Station run features: run options, parallel runs, the time limit, Refresh from main, account expiry.
Quality figures explained: why the Station and the Console can show different verdicts.
Workload author guide: if you also write the tests.
QA lead guide: quarantine, releases and gates.
FAQ.