Running a RobotFramework test on GitHub actions

4 min readMar 10, 2024

Robot Framework is a versatile open-source automation framework that allows for easy automation of test cases, acceptance tests, and robotic process automation (RPA). Integrating Robot Framework into your CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions can streamline your testing process and ensure the reliability of your codebase. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to set up and run Robot Framework tests on GitHub Actions.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

A GitHub repository containing your Robot Framework tests.
Robot Framework installed in your project. This can typically be achieved using tools like pip.

This is the sample code taken to run the test. In the sample code, I have added a test to search on Google for a country. This will be a simple test and I haven’t concentrated more on RobotFramework.

*** Settings ***
Library           SeleniumLibrary

*** Variables ***
${BROWSER}        Chrome
${URL}            https://www.google.com

*** Test Cases ***
Open Google Homepage and Search Countries Headlessly
    Open Browser    ${URL}    ${BROWSER}    options=add_argument("--headless")
    Maximize Browser Window
    Input Text      name=q    Afghanistan
    Press Keys      name=q   ENTER
    Sleep           2s  # Wait for the search results to load
    Capture Page Screenshot
    [Teardown]      Close Browser

*** Keywords ***
Set Browser Implicit Wait
    [Arguments]    ${timeout}
    Set Selenium Implicit Wait    ${timeout}

Step 1: Create a GitHub Actions Workflow File

GitHub Actions are defined in YAML files stored in the .github/workflows directory in your repository. Create a new YAML file, for example, .github/workflows/robot-framework.yml.

name: Robot Framework Tests

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          pip install robotframework-seleniumlibrary

      - name: Run Robot Framework tests
        run: |
          robot --outputdir results/ tests/

      - name: Test Report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: robot-framework-report
          path: results/**

This workflow will trigger on every push and pull request, checking out the repository, setting up Python, installing dependencies, and finally running Robot Framework tests located in the tests/ directory.

Step 2: Customize the Workflow

Installing Dependencies

Modify the requirements.txt file in your repository to include Robot Framework and any additional dependencies required for your tests.

robotframework==3.2.2

Specifying Test Paths

Update the Run Robot Framework tests step in the workflow file to specify the correct paths for your Robot Framework tests.

- name: Run Robot Framework tests
  run: |
    robot tests/

Customizing Robot Framework Execution

You can include additional flags or options for the Robot Framework execution by modifying the run command. For example:

- name: Run Robot Framework tests
  run: |
    robot --outputdir results/ tests/

Step 3: Commit and Push

Commit the changes to your repository, including the new workflow file and any necessary updates. Push the changes to trigger the GitHub Actions workflow.

git add .
git commit -m "Add GitHub Actions workflow for Robot Framework"
git push origin master

Step 4: Monitor the Workflow Execution

Visit the “Actions” tab in your GitHub repository to monitor the workflow execution. You’ll be able to see the progress of each step and identify any issues that may arise during the Robot Framework test execution.

I have opened an execution in the GitHub action. In the execution, we can see the test steps. In the test, we have only one test on the project for testing purposes.

I have installed the dependencies of the test and used a docker image to run the tests. The docker image is old and has old libraries. If you guys want to use you can use the latest libraries and versions.