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+# Setting up the test environment
+In order to get tests running, there are a few requirements 
+
+1. Setting up the development/test environment
+2. Installing playwright
+3. Installing the test browsers
+4. Setting up environment variables for testing
+5. Running in vscode
+
+## Setting up the development/test environment
+
+Following the instructions found in the [development documentation](https://automatisch.io/docs/contributing/development-setup) is a great place to start. Note there is one **caveat**
+
+> You should have the backend server be running off of a **non-production database**. This is because the test suite will actively **drop the database and reset** between test runs in order to ensure repeatability of tests.
+
+## Installing playwright and test browsers
+
+You can install all the required packages by going into the tests package
+
+```sh
+cd packages/e2e-tests
+```
+
+and installing the required dependencies with
+
+```sh
+yarn install
+```
+
+At the end of installation, this should display a CLI for installing the test browsers. For more information, check out the [Playwright documentation](https://playwright.dev/docs/intro#installing-playwright).
+
+### Installing the test browsers
+
+If you find you need to install the browsers for running tests at a later time, you can run
+
+```sh
+npx playwright install
+```
+
+and it should install the associated browsers for the test running. For more information, check out the [Playwright documentation](https://playwright.dev/docs/browsers#install-browsers).
+
+
+## Running in VSCode
+
+We recommend using [Playwright Test for VSCode](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-playwright.playwright) maintained by Microsoft. This lets you run playwright tests from within the code editor, giving you access to additional tools, such as easily running subsets of tests.
+
+# Test failures
+
+If there are failing tests in the test suite, this can be caused by a myriad of reasons, but one of the best places to start is either running the test in a headed browser, looking at the associated trace file for the failed test, or checking out the output of a failed GitHub Action.
+
+Playwright has their [own documentation](<https://playwright.dev/docs/trace-viewer#trace-viewer-features)>) on the trace viewer which is very helpful for reviewing the exact browser steps made during a failed test execution.