argo-cd/docs/developer-guide/test-e2e.md

# E2E Tests

The test [directory](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/tree/master/test) contains E2E tests and test applications. The tests assume that Argo CD services are installed into `argocd-e2e` namespace or cluster in current context. A throw-away
namespace `argocd-e2e***` is created prior to the execution of the tests. The throw-away namespace is used as a target namespace for test applications.

The [/test/e2e/testdata](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/tree/master/test/e2e/testdata) directory contains various Argo CD applications. Before test execution, the directory is copied into `/tmp/argo-e2e***` temp directory (configurable by `ARGOCD_E2E_DIR`) and used in tests as a
Git repository via file url: `file:///tmp/argo-e2e***`.

> [!NOTE]
> You might get an error such as `unable to ls-remote HEAD on repository: failed to list refs: repository not found` when querying the local repository exposed through the e2e server running in a container.
> This is often caused by `/tmp` directoring sharing protection. You can configure a different directory with `ARGOCD_E2E_DIR`, or disable the directory sharing protection.
>
> **Rancher Desktop Volume Sharing**
>
> To do enable `/tmp` sharing, add the following to
> `~/Library/Application\ Support/rancher-desktop/lima/_config/override.yaml` and restart Rancher Desktop:
>
> ```yaml
> mounts:
>   - location: /private/tmp
>     writable: true
> ```

## Running Tests Locally

### With virtualized chain

1. Start the e2e version `make start-e2e`
2. Run the tests: `make test-e2e`

### With local chain

1. Start the e2e version `make start-e2e-local`
2. Run the tests: `make test-e2e-local`

## Observing tests results

You can observe the tests by using the UI [http://localhost:4000/applications](http://localhost:4000/applications) with username `"admin"` and password `"password"`.

## Configuration of E2E Tests execution

The Makefile's `start-e2e` target starts instances of ArgoCD on your local machine, of which the most will require a network listener. If, for any reason, your machine already has network services listening on the same ports, then the e2e tests will not run. You can derive from the defaults by setting the following environment variables before you run `make start-e2e`:

- `ARGOCD_E2E_APISERVER_PORT`: Listener port for `argocd-server` (default: `8080`)
- `ARGOCD_E2E_REPOSERVER_PORT`: Listener port for `argocd-reposerver` (default: `8081`)
- `ARGOCD_E2E_DEX_PORT`: Listener port for `dex` (default: `5556`)
- `ARGOCD_E2E_REDIS_PORT`: Listener port for `redis` (default: `6379`)
- `ARGOCD_E2E_YARN_CMD`: Command to use for starting the UI via Yarn (default: `yarn`)
- `ARGOCD_E2E_DIR`: Local path to the repository to use for ephemeral test data

If you have changed the port for `argocd-server`, be sure to also set `ARGOCD_SERVER` environment variable to point to that port, e.g. `export ARGOCD_SERVER=localhost:8888` before running `make test-e2e` so that the test will communicate to the correct server component.

## Test Isolation

Some effort has been made to balance test isolation with speed. Tests are isolated as follows as each test gets:

- A random 5 character ID.
- A unique Git repository containing the `testdata` in `/tmp/argo-e2e/${id}`.
- A namespace `argocd-e2e-ns-${id}`.
- A primary name for the app `argocd-e2e-${id}`.

## Run only a subset of tests

Running all tests locally is a time-consuming process. To run only a subset of tests, you can set the `TEST_MODULE` environment variable.
For example, to run only the OCI tests, you can set the variable as follows: `make TEST_MODULE=./test/e2e/oci_test.go test-e2e-local`

If you want to get a more fine-grained control over which tests to run, you can also try `make TEST_FLAGS="-run <TEST_METHOD_NAME_REGEXP>" test-e2e-local`
For individual tests you can run them using the IDE run test feature

## Troubleshooting

**Tests fails to delete `argocd-e2e-ns-*` namespaces.**

This maybe due to the metrics server, run this:

```bash
kubectl api-resources
```

If it exits with status code 1, run:

```bash
kubectl delete apiservice v1beta1.metrics.k8s.io
```

Remove `/spec/finalizers` from the namespace

```bash
kubectl edit ns argocd-e2e-ns-*
```