How can a tester get started with installing and running Cypress for the first time?

Introduction to Cypress: A Friendly Guide for Testers

You know how, when you have ever manually tested a website. Tiring it can be. Browsing all the pages, completing forms, and verification. Buttons over and over soon become tiresome. Automation testing comes in that way. It also allows your computer to do the monotonous job on your behalf so that you can concentrate on identifying actual problems and making your application better.
Cypress is one of the most useful tools for this. It’s a modern web application, JavaScript-based, and it eases the creation and execution of tests significantly, and easy to use compared to the old-fashioned tools.

The usefulness of Automation Testing.

Think about it: each time your team deploys a minor code. change, you would be forced to manually look through the whole app without the use of automation. That is cumbersome, tedious, and prone to errors. Automation saves time, makes tests more accurate, and can, in fact, be run during sleep (when you use CI/CD). Pipelines). Not here to supersede you, -it is here to smarten up your work, not harder.

What Is Cypress?

Cypress is a browser-based testing software for your app. This renders it speedy and allows it access to everything in its entirety. happening on the page. It is possible to test complete workflows such as logging in, submitting forms, or shopping cart flows. It is also possible to test a single component, such as a custom button or modal, without starting the whole app.

People love the following aspects in Cypress:

Live reloading: Runs are executed immediately after you make changes.
Time Travel: What occurred in every step?
Automatic waiting: No further introduction of random delays.
Network control: Easily control fake API calls or control responses.
It is constructed basically to make your life as a tester easier.

Who Should Use Cypress? (Suitability)

Cypress is suitable for a wide range of users:

✔ Junior Testers / Beginners

• Easy setup
• Visual test runner
• Clear debugging
• Simple JavaScript syntax

✔ Mid-level & Senior QA Engineers

• Supports advanced workflows
• API stubbing
• CI/CD integration
• Parallel test execution

✔ Enterprise-Level Applications

Cypress is reliable for large-scale, production-grade applications because it provides:

• Dashboard analytics
• Test insights
• Flake detection
• Fast execution
• Team collaboration features

Cypress is versatile – it fits startups, mid-sized teams, and large enterprises.

Cypress Pricing

Cypress is open-source and free for writing and running tests locally.

However, Cypress also offers Cypress Cloud, which provides additional features.

Cypress Cloud Pricing Options

• Free Plan
  Basic dashboard, suitable for individuals and small teams.
• Team Plan (Paid)
  Enhanced test insights, parallelization, analytics.
• Business / Enterprise Plan (Paid)
  Advanced security, SSO, role management, extended limits, premium support.

If you don’t use Cypress Cloud, running tests locally or in CI is completely free

Cypress vs Other Testing Tools

Cypress vs Selenium

Cypress vs Playwright

Cypress vs Puppeteer

When to Use Cypress

Cypress is great for:
Testing single-page apps (SPAs)
Running end-to-end workflows

Testing components in isolation
Automating tests in CI/CD pipelines
It is not really suitable for mobile app testing or even browsers such as Safari (support is experimental).

Setting Up Cypress

Cypress requires Node.js and npm. Node.js executes JavaScript without using the browser, and npm installs tools such as Cypress.

Windows setup:

Download Node.js LTS from nodejs.org
Open terminal and check versions:
node -v
npm -v

Linux setup (Ubuntu example):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs npm
Install Cypress in your project, then:
npm install cypress –save-dev

Verify it:

npx cypress verify

Opening Cypress

To launch Cypress:
npx cypress open

You’ll see the Launchpad. The choice here is either End-to-End or Component.
Cypress, and Cypress will make your testing. You can also add a shortcut to package.json as follows:
{
 “scripts”: {
“cy:open”: “cypress open”
 }
}

Then run with:

npm run cy:open

Writing Your First Test
Cypress generates sample tests. Here’s a simple one:
describe(‘My First Test’, () => {
it(‘Visits the homepage’, () => {
cy.visit(‘https://example.com‘)
cy.contains(‘Example Domain’).should(‘be.visible’)
 })
})
Open it and see Cypress launch a browser, access the page.
and check for the text. It is rewarding that everything is automatic.

System Requirements

Cypress is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux, requires Node.js 20 and over, 4GB and higher (8GB and above, CI). The supported browsers are Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Electron (bundled with Cypress).

Final Thoughts

Cypress simplifies testing; it is quick, visual and dependable. It’s easy to install, simple to debug and suitable to work on the new web applications. Whether you are doing your first test or writing an entire workflow, Cypress is a resource you will have a revisit.