Run UI tests in your own browser

Turn your everyday Chrome into a UI-test runner. Flip one switch in the Mockarty extension and your browser becomes a place Mockarty can run your saved UI-test cases — on demand, from the Mockarty web app. Each run opens in its own window, so the tabs you’re working in are never touched.

This is the fastest way to run a UI test against a site that only your machine can reach — an internal app behind your VPN, a staging site that needs your login, or just “run it here so I can watch it.”

Who can see and use your runner

A browser runner is private to you. Only you see it in the list, and only you can send tests to it. Nobody else on your team can dispatch to your browser. This is by design: the runner performs the steps a test describes inside your real browser session, so it stays yours alone.

Quick start

1. Install the Mockarty Chrome extension and pair it with your Mockarty admin (open the extension side panel → Settings → enter your admin URL → Connect). If you’ve used the recorder before, you’re already paired.
2. Turn on the runner — in the extension side panel → Settings, switch on Use as UI-test runner. The status dot turns green (“online · waiting for jobs”) and a caption shows whose runner it is.
3. Open the Mockarty web app → UI Testing → Grid tab. Your browser appears under My browser runners with a green “online” dot.
4. Run a saved test on it — in that panel, pick a saved UI test and your browser from the two dropdowns, then click Run on browser. A new window opens, the steps play out, and the result comes back to Mockarty.

What you can run

Any saved UI test in your namespace. A UI test is a list of browser steps — navigate, click, fill, select, hover, scroll, assertions (visible / hidden / text / value / URL / count / attribute), waits, and screenshots. You create these by recording them with the extension (see UI Test Recording) and saving them, or by building them in the UI-test editor.

When you press Run on browser, Mockarty sends that test’s steps to your runner, your browser replays them in a fresh window, and the per-step pass/fail result is reported back.

Each active replay keeps its own lease alive. Heartbeats, live step updates and
the final result are tied to the exact attempt, so a delayed browser process
cannot change evidence after that job has stopped or been superseded.

Status meanings

If your browser shows offline but Chrome is open, make sure the Use as UI-test runner switch is still on and the extension is still paired (Hub tab).

Good to know

• Your tabs are safe. Every test runs in a new window that Mockarty opens and closes itself. Your working tabs are never navigated or clicked.
• Sensitive values are masked. Passwords, one-time codes and card numbers are never recorded or sent back — the recorder masks them at the source.
• Works behind a firewall. The runner reaches out to your admin; nothing needs to reach in to your browser. No ports to open, no inbound network rules.
• One test at a time. A browser runner runs a single test at a time and queues the rest.
• Turn it off anytime. Flip the switch off in the extension, or click Forget next to the runner in the Grid panel to remove it.

Frequently asked

Do I need to keep the window open?
Keep Chrome running with the extension’s runner switch on. Mockarty opens and closes the test window for you — you don’t manage it.

Can I watch the test run?
Yes — the run window is a normal browser window. You can watch the steps happen (or leave it; it closes itself when done).

My runner disappeared from the list.
A runner drops to offline after a while with no connection (Chrome closed, laptop asleep). Re-open Chrome with the switch on and it comes back. If it’s gone entirely, just toggle Use as UI-test runner off and on again to re-register.

Related

• UI Test Recording — record the browser actions that become a UI test.
• Runner Labels and Targeting — how Mockarty picks which runner gets a job.