Flaky tests and their impact on reliability

Flaky tests are test cases that pass or fail in a non-deterministic manner, even when the source code or test suite remains unchanged. The presence of flaky tests can be a challenge for developers as they can introduce maintenance burdens and affect the reliability of the testing process. Flakiness can arise due to various factors such as improper setup and teardown, shared resources, external system dependencies, and even the testing framework itself. Addressing flaky tests requires a balance between reducing flakiness and maintaining realistic and efficient tests. Tools like Datadog and Cypress offer flaky test management dashboards and insights to help developers better understand and troubleshoot flaky tests. Moreover, libraries like Tenacity and Pytest Randomly provide options for retrying tests with customized back-off strategies and randomized test ordering respectively. These tools and approaches aid in improving the overall reliability and effectiveness of the testing process.