Qastor: the tool designed to get those troubling manual tests to their rest!

What is this?

Qastor is a multi-platform desktop application that allows you to create manual test cases from an easy to use interface and gather evidence with just a few clicks/keystrokes, allowing developers to focus on the actual testing rather than copying-and-pasting screenshots or debug logs.

WARNING: This tool is an early alpha version and hasn't been fully tested in all operating systems. Proceed with caution.

Why does this exist?

Qastor was created out of the necessity to have a self-contained tool that allows to create and manage manual QA test cases, as well as their evidence. While this is not a new idea, and there are other tools that make a better job out of it, I wanted to create this tool as in my current job, we make extensive use of spreadsheet files to keep track of test cases statuses (both manual and automatic), however what I find the most time consuming is linking the evidences, that are stored on the cloud and then referenced using their URL. When working with hundreds of cases, this becomes a nightmare, and it's a considerable amount of time spent doing this repetitive work, so this is what Qastor is designed for, to reduce that repetive screenshot/upload/link motion and keep everything stored within a single place and at the reach of only a few keystrokes.

Install

There are readily available releases here for the major operating systems (macOS, Windows, Linux), but I recommend you to build it from source, as it is still in development.

Pre-requisites to build from source

If you decide to build Qastor from source, you will need the following installed on your system:

• Rust
• Deno
• Node.js (only required for Tauri CLI compatibility)

macOS

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run deno install to set up the environment.
3. Run deno task tauri build to generate the .dmg file. You can find it under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg.
4. Ensure you grant Screen Recording permissions when prompted by the application for the screenshot functionality to work.

Windows

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run deno install.
3. Run deno task tauri build to generate the .msi file.

Linux

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run deno install.
3. Run deno task tauri build to generate the .AppImage file. Note: Depending on your Wayland/X11 setup, screenshot capture behavior might vary.

Features

• Project-based Structure: Keep your test cases organized in folders. Qastor relies on a simple JSON schema for test cases, meaning they can be version-controlled effortlessly.
• Authoring Made Simple: Create, edit, and organize test cases with tags, priorities, and module grouping directly from the application.
• Session Runner: Execute your test cases step by step. A compact runner UI and a system tray indicator will guide you through the process without getting in the way of your actual testing.
• Automatic Evidence Capture: Bind global hotkeys to capture screen regions, mark steps as passed or failed, and automatically attach the screenshots to your execution session.
• Standalone HTML Reports: Once a session is complete, export a self-contained HTML report with all the steps, statuses, and embedded screenshots, ready to be shared with your team or attached to a Jira/Linear ticket.

Global Hotkeys (Default)

Qastor uses global hotkeys to prevent context switching while you perform your manual tests:

These hotkeys can be customized in the application settings.

Technology Stack

• Desktop Shell: Tauri 2
• Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Zustand, and React Router.
• Build Tooling: Deno 2 and Vite.
• Validation: JSON Schema with ajv (frontend) and serde_json (backend).

AI Test Case Generation

Writing manual test cases from scratch can be time-consuming. Qastor includes a reference document designed to help you leverage your favorite AI agents (like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any coding assistant) to generate test cases automatically.

Simply feed the AI-TEST-CASE-GENERATION.md file into your AI prompt along with the description of the feature or user story you want to test. The AI will understand Qastor's JSON schema constraints and output ready-to-use .json files that you can drop directly into your project structure.

Limitations

As this is an early alpha release, some features are not yet implemented or fully polished:

• Automated testing integrations (Playwright, Cypress).
• Video recording is currently not supported.
• Cloud synchronization is not built-in.