Jan Graefe recently published an open letter in response to the updated Getting Started guides on serenity-js.org. His letter touches on something that's been central to the Screenplay Pattern since 2007 — and that I've been working on since joining the effort in 2013: the idea that test automation should express intent, not implementation.
I'd like to respond publicly because the ideas Graefe raises deserve a wider conversation.
Serenity/JS 3.43 introduces support for testing Electron desktop applications using the same Screenplay Pattern APIs you already know from web testing. This release also brings a completely revamped Playwright Test documentation — split into focused, digestible guides to help you get productive faster.
Let's explore what's new!
Serenity/JS 3.42 brings native ECMAScript Module (ESM) support to all packages, enabling you to use modern import syntax while maintaining full backwards compatibility with CommonJS require(). This release also includes Node.js 24 compatibility fixes and addresses the dual-package hazard that can occur when mixing ESM and CJS in the same project.
Serenity/JS 3.37 introduces a focused set of improvements to the Playwright Test integration, delivered in PR #3096. This update strengthens the flexibility of Playwright Test fixtures while keeping the Serenity/JS API clean, expressive, and easy to maintain.
Let's explore what's new!
The latest release, Serenity/JS 3.32, brings powerful enhancements to your test automation workflow. This version focuses on further improving the integration between Playwright Test and Serenity BDD, delivering rich, actionable test reports that go beyond pass/fail results.
Key updates in this release:
🎭 Improved APIs and support for using actors in beforeAll and afterAll hooks.
✅ Improved reporting, including support for retried tests, repeated tests, and project tags.
⚙ Configuration updates to better separate test-scope and worker-scope fixtures.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s new!
We’re thrilled to announce the release of Serenity/JS 3.31, marking a significant step forward for modern test automation. This release introduces support for WebdriverIO 9, while maintaining compatibility with WebdriverIO 8 for projects that are not yet ready to migrate (#2572).
Let’s explore what makes this update exciting!
The Serenity/JS team is excited to unveil version 3.30, a release focused on helping you simplify your test automation infrastructure. This update introduces:
Let’s explore what’s new!
Love numbers? You'll love Serenity/JS 3.29! 🎉
We’re excited to share the latest release of Serenity/JS, which is packed with new powerful features for handling numeric data in your automated tests!
In the ever-evolving world of software development, the importance of clear, concise, and accessible documentation cannot be overstated. The Serenity/JS team is thrilled to announce a series of significant improvements to our API documentation, designed to enhance the developer experience and streamline the process of building automated acceptance tests. These updates are crafted to support developers at every stage of their journey, from understanding the basics to mastering the intricacies of the framework.
📣 Serenity/JS Tasks, Interactions and Questions now support dynamic descriptions 🎉
With the new release of Serenity/JS 3.24, descriptions of Tasks, Interactions, and Questions, including assertions and synchronisation statements, can be determined dynamically at runtime and incorporate the actual values of static and dynamic parameters you passed in.
The new dynamic descriptions feature is particularly useful when designing custom Serenity/JS tasks that accept notes or other dynamic data structures like questions, question adapters, or answerables.
Long story short: to use dynamic descriptions, upgrade to Serenity/JS 3.24 and replace d
with the in your custom Task and Interaction definitions:
- import { Task, d } from '@serenity-js/core';
+ import { Task, the } from '@serenity-js/core';
export const recordItem = (name: Answerable<string>): Task =>
- Task.where(d`#actor records an item called ${ name }`,
+ Task.where(the`#actor records an item called ${ name }`,
Enter.theValue(name).into(newTodoInput()),
Press.the(Key.Enter).in(newTodoInput()),
Wait.until(itemNames(), contain(name)),
)
This tiny change to your code will enable your Serenity reports to show the actual values of your task and interaction parameters.
Want to learn more? Read on!
