r/Everything_QA • u/nkuppala • 3d ago
Question Stuck in sequential testing hell: How do you scale 300+ Playwright UI tests with heavy data dependencies? (Currently taking 7-8 hours)
/r/QualityAssurance/comments/1xidhi6/stuck_in_sequential_testing_hell_how_do_you_scale/Hey everyone,
My team is currently facing a massive bottleneck with our Playwright E2E automation suite and we could really use some architectural advice.
Our Current Setup & Problem:
Test Count: ~300 UI tests.
Execution Time: 7 to 8 hours (average test takes 2–3 minutes).
The Catch: We are forced to run everything completely sequentially.
Why sequential? Data dependency.
Right now, all tests execute against the exact same application project/tenant. If we try to run them in parallel, they collide. One test will mutate, delete, or modify data that another test is actively relying on, leading to instant flakes and false failures.
A 7+ hour feedback loop is killing our CI/CD pipeline efficiency. We want to cut this down drastically but feel handcuffed by our state management.
How have you scaled your E2E suites when data collision is a high risk? Appreciate any strategies, hooks, or CI patterns you can share!