WiFiManager/docs/TESTING.md

Testing

WiFiManager separates repeatable board-free builds from opt-in tests that flash a real board or join a captive portal. The normal commands never need a board, local Wi-Fi credentials, browser binary, or sibling checkout.

Physical test harness	Transport	Host adapter	Secret source	Required proof
Portal lifecycle suite	Serial flash + captive-portal HTTP/browser	Named secondary adapter	safe fixture AP password	Unity/lifecycle checks and portal UI/API coverage
Portal HTTP OTA	WiFiManager multipart POST /u	Named secondary adapter	safe fixture AP password	rendered upload succeeds, portal restarts automatically, and fixture marker changes A → B twice

The selected secondary adapter is intentionally never used for normal LAN testing. It is never-default, so the host's ordinary route remains intact.

Board-free fixture, consumer, and example builds

The Unity compile check builds WiFiManager's own fixture without a board. The consumer check builds a project that declares only WiFiManager, proving that a normal PlatformIO dependency resolution can compile DFTE, ESPAsyncWebServer, and the correct ESP8266 or ESP32 TCP dependency. Normal commands reuse the persistent PlatformIO cache; they do not delete, reinstall, or separately assert the package graph.

./scripts/test.sh compile --platform esp8266
./scripts/test.sh compile --platform esp32
./scripts/test.sh unity --platform esp8266
./scripts/test.sh unity --platform esp32
./scripts/test.sh examples --platform esp8266
./scripts/test.sh examples --platform esp32
./scripts/test.sh ota-fixtures --platform esp8266
./scripts/test.sh ota-fixtures --platform esp32

CI runs these board-free checks for pull requests and pushes to the maintained branch. esp32 uses Arduino-ESP32 3.3.11 and compiles the guided examples. The OTA fixture builds compile both immutable A and B images against their tracked OTA partition layout. CI rejects equal A/B artifacts, an ESP32 image larger than either 0x1F0000-byte app slot, or a partition-table edit that breaks the required two-slot/no-filesystem layout. These checks intentionally do not require attached hardware, a local network, or Docker.

Direct PlatformIO test-harness commands default to two compiler jobs. Set PLATFORMIO_RUN_JOBS=3 only for an explicit local run on an otherwise idle host.

Physical portal commands lock the shared 192.168.4.0/24 portal network, the selected secondary adapter, and the named serial device. These non-secret resource locks are shared with DeviceFramework's portal harness, so a collision fails before either runner changes a board or adapter while unrelated station tests can use their own resources.

Local hardware lifecycle tests

The Unity suite runs portal-only firmware with no Wi-Fi credentials, MQTT, product application framework, or local profile. It verifies portal start/stop recovery, scan-cache release, and a real asynchronous Wi-Fi scan.

Use a stable serial-by-id path rather than a changing /dev/ttyUSB number:

pio device list
./scripts/test.sh hardware --platform esp8266 --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-...
./scripts/test.sh hardware --platform esp32 --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-...

The runner flashes the selected board, captures normal-boot serial output with the repository Bash helper, requires Unity's Tests 0 Failures and OK summary, and prints lifecycle metrics. Hardware work shares a lock with the portal test harness and DeviceFramework's hardware runners on the same host, so two first-party invocations cannot flash or use the same board at once.

Docker portal test harness

test/portal-harness is deliberately tiny portal-only firmware, not an example or consuming application. tools/portal-hardware flashes it to one explicitly selected board, joins its AP through one explicitly selected secondary Wi-Fi adapter, then runs its HTTP and browser test harness in a pinned Playwright Docker image. Docker uses host networking only to reach the already-routed portal; it never runs NetworkManager or changes host adapters.

The runner resolves PlatformIO from WIFIMANAGER_PIO_EXECUTABLE, then PATH, then PlatformIO's standard ~/.platformio/penv/bin/pio installation. That makes the same command work from a non-interactive SSH shell without modifying the user's PATH.

NetworkManager authorization

The portal adapter is a host-side resource, separate from fixture credentials. The runner never reads a sudo password from test/.env, an environment file, or source control. doctor reports whether the current session can use NetworkManager directly or will need scoped sudo. In a graphical desktop, Polkit normally authorizes the selected adapter directly. In an SSH or other headless session with no Polkit agent, the runner visibly validates sudo -v before it erases or flashes the board, then uses sudo -n nmcli only to scan, disconnect, join, and remove its generated connection on the named secondary adapter.

The normal setting is WM_NMCLI_AUTH=auto. Use WM_NMCLI_AUTH=sudo to choose the same scoped path deliberately, or WM_NMCLI_AUTH=direct only when a working Polkit policy already grants the required actions. Do not run the whole runner under sudo: its state files and browser artifacts intentionally remain owned by the invoking developer. If the sudo ticket expires during a long run, the runner stops with an actionable message rather than silently treating an unauthorized rescan as a missing portal SSID. down uses the same scoped path to remove a retained connection.

./tools/portal-hardware doctor --client-interface wlx74da385d4165
./tools/portal-hardware run \
  --platform esp8266 \
  --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-... \
  --client-interface wlx74da385d4165

The command refuses the host default-route adapter. If the chosen secondary adapter is already connected, require an explicit acknowledgement before it is replaced:

./tools/portal-hardware run ... --take-over-client-adapter

The fixture opens a 15-minute portal session and includes thirteen harmless custom parameters. It verifies root/bootstrap/info/status API responses, concurrent low-priority requests, every custom field and value across repeated API fetches, timeout reset, an actual async scan, a missing-route response, and desktop/mobile portal rendering with no browser page errors. It also round-trips a value containing apostrophes, quotes, backslashes, angle brackets, and an ampersand through the rendered form and parameter-save API. Screenshots, traces on failure, JSON results, and the HTML report are saved under the printed XDG state-directory artifact path.

On ESP8266, an AP+STA scan can briefly move the radio off the AP channel. The client may reconnect during that interval; the test harness deliberately retries that transport interruption and still requires a reachable portal with a complete, valid scan result.

The normal browser test harness catches the common regression case. When changing parameter rendering, run the opt-in ESP8266 soak as well. It performs twelve full browser renders and API fetches while the AP is active, asserting all thirteen fields and their exact values on every pass. This targets the memory-sensitive rendering failure reported upstream in issue #1787 without making every ordinary hardware run unnecessarily long:

./tools/portal-hardware run \
  --platform esp8266 \
  --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-... \
  --client-interface wlx74da385d4165 \
  --custom-parameter-stress

For interactive diagnosis, leave the temporary client connection up and remove only that managed connection when finished:

./tools/portal-hardware up --platform esp32 --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-... \
  --client-interface wlx74da385d4165
./tools/portal-hardware down

An optional station handoff test is deliberately separate because it connects the fixture to a real LAN. Copy the ignored template below, add local credentials, and pass it explicitly. The runner parses only WIFI_SSID and WIFI_PASSWORD into a generated mode-600 two-key file, mounts that file read-only into the test container, and removes it after the browser run; it never mounts the complete local environment file or logs either value. Because browser traces can retain request bodies, this opt-in mode disables Playwright screenshots, video, and tracing, including explicit diagnostic screenshots. It cannot be combined with README-media capture. Docker builds from the tracked tests/portal-harness directory only, so neither the source environment file nor the generated two-key file enters its build context. Keep its private output directory private and review any remaining report before sharing it.

After either a passing or failing station-handoff attempt, the runner serial-flashes the portal-only fixture once more. Its setup() clears saved station settings, so the selected test board returns to the clean no-station portal state and does not retain the developer's Wi-Fi credentials. A failed restore or a failure to see the cleaned fixture AP return makes the command fail. --keep affects only the runner's temporary secondary-adapter connection; it does not retain station credentials on the board.

A retained session is deliberately never overwritten. Before touching NetworkManager, the runner atomically records its uniquely generated connection name; after creation it atomically replaces that pending record with the exact UUID. Ordinary failures and interrupts remove that connection immediately, and down accepts either record after an uncatchable host termination or an intentional up/--keep session. It never removes another NetworkManager connection.

cp test/portal-station.env.example test/portal-station.env
./tools/portal-hardware run ... --station-env test/portal-station.env

Refresh README media

README media is an explicit ESP32-only capture, not part of normal testing or CI. It uses the same real-board portal test harness above, but records a short browser tour and stores all candidate files under the ignored artifacts/readme-media/ directory by default:

./tools/portal-hardware run \
  --platform esp32 \
  --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-... \
  --client-interface USB_WIFI_ADAPTER \
  --capture-readme-media

Review the printed artifact directory. To keep a run somewhere more convenient, pass --output DIRECTORY. After review, promote only the approved PNG/GIF files into tracked documentation assets:

./tools/promote-readme-media \
  --from artifacts/readme-media/TIMESTAMP-esp32 \
  --replace
./scripts/check-docs.sh

The Docker renderer validates the GIF duration. The promotion tool requires the successful ESP32 media manifest, checks file types and size limits, and never copies raw video, browser reports, traces, or arbitrary artifact files. The renderer preserves the real recording but deliberately presents it at 1.25× duration and 6 fps so the README tour is readable; it does not change normal browser-test-harness timing. ESP8266 remains covered by the normal hardware and browser test harness but does not produce duplicate README media.

Portal HTTP OTA A/B test harness

portal-hardware ota is a separate opt-in physical test for WiFiManager's built-in HTTP update path. It exercises the rendered firmware-update page and its real multipart POST /u request; it is not an ArduinoOTA/UDP test.

./tools/portal-hardware ota \
  --platform esp8266 \
  --port /dev/serial/by-id/usb-... \
  --client-interface wlx74da385d4165

The selected --client-interface has exactly the same safety rules as the normal portal test harness: it must be the explicitly named secondary adapter and cannot be the host default-route interface. The test never attaches that adapter to a normal station network. The fixture AP uses the safe local default1 WPA password; this is an AP-access test, not a claim that /u has HTTP route authentication.

The test harness performs the following complete run:

1. Builds immutable A and B fixture images from one platform environment. A generated harness-only header in an ignored, per-run private directory is the only changed input, so their marker is compiled into the binary rather than saved in WiFiManager settings or EEPROM.
2. Checks both ESP32 images against the explicit matching app0/app1 slots; ESP8266 validates B after A has booted against the exact aligned capacity passed to Update.begin().
3. Erases the explicitly selected test board's flash, then flashes A over serial and starts its captive portal.
4. Joins that portal only through the named secondary adapter and requires the A marker at /api/test/firmware-marker.
5. Mounts B read-only into the Playwright container, chooses it in the real #wm-ota-file browser input, and submits the rendered form.
6. Requires the real POST /u success response, an automatic portal outage, automatic restart, and two independent B-marker responses.

The OTA command additionally requires Python with PySerial (the python3-serial package on Debian/Ubuntu) and retains a passive, no-reset serial-ota.log beside the browser artifacts. It attaches immediately after serial-flashing A releases the port—before portal association and the A marker check—and remains attached through the two B checks. A passing run requires a healthy recorder, but its contents are diagnostic evidence rather than a pass/fail comparison against product log strings. This preserves firmware-side portal-start and DHCP evidence without manufacturing a reset. OTA-only fixture images wait five seconds after their upload reset so the passive recorder can attach before A/B boot evidence is emitted; ordinary portal test-harness startup remains fast.

The fixture marker endpoint exists only in test/portal-harness; it is not a WiFiManager library route or a product-firmware pattern. The test does not issue a manual reset. A board which boots B only after intervention is a failure, even if B later appears.

Both fixture images are built with explicit OTA-capable layouts:

Platform	Fixture layout	Capacity check
ESP8266	eagle.flash.4m1m.ld	A's live ESP.getFreeSketchSpace() response
ESP32	two 0x1F0000 A/B app slots, no filesystem	tracked CSV app1 size

These are 4 MB fixture layouts (d1_mini for ESP8266 and esp32dev for ESP32). Do not run this command against a board with another flash size unless its matching explicit A/B layout and capacity checks have been added first.

The final board state is firmware B in the portal-only fixture: it clears saved station settings on every boot and leaves no developer Wi-Fi credential on the device. By default the temporary NetworkManager connection is removed when the test exits. Pass --keep only for interactive diagnosis, then run ./tools/portal-hardware down to remove that named temporary connection.

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