Testing & QualityIntermediate
Snapshot Testing
PronunciationSNAP-shot TES-ting
Definition
A testing practice where the rendered output of a UI component or data structure is saved to a reference file and automatically compared against future test runs to detect unexpected changes.
Where you hear it
In frontend code reviews, during test suite setups, or when refactoring UI components.
Examples
We added snapshot testing to verify that the user profile component renders correctly.
The test failed because the button's CSS class changed in the new snapshot.
Common mistake
Treating snapshots as a replacement for real assertions, or blindly updating snapshot files without checking what actually changed in the UI.
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