To write the most effective feature tests, we are going to employ a few additional tools. These tools are meant to support JavaScript testing. We will cover their uses in the scope of building a feature test that drives implementation.

Chai

Node.js has a default assertion library that provides enough functionality to write basic test code. The Chai testing library extends the types of assertions we can make.

Chai is an assertion library for Node.js and browsers that can be paired with any JavaScript testing framework.

PhantomJS

PhantomJS is a headless browser scriptable with a JavaScript API, which allows us to write tests that mimic user interaction and then evaluate the results. It does not require us to render the application in a browser.

A browser runs “headless” when it doesn’t render anything to the screen, but runs in the background.

WebdriverI/O

WebdriverIO provides methods that allow us to programmatically interact with the user-facing elements of our app in the headless browser that PhantomJS runs.

Toolbelt High-Level Summary

Phantom allows us to run an instance of a headless browser so you can run tests that mimic user interaction with a web application. WebdriverIO provides the methods to interact with browser values programmatically. We can make assertions against these tests using the Chai assertion library.