Python Test Automation Engineer: Complete Setup Guide

 

1. Install Python

🔹 Steps:

1. Download Python (latest stable, e.g., 3.12.x)
   👉 https://www.python.org/downloads/

2. During installation:

   • ✅ Check “Add Python to PATH”

   • ✅ Install pip (package manager)

3. Verify installation:

   python --version
   pip --version
   

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2. Set Up Environment

🔹 Virtual Environment

Always isolate projects using venv or pipenv.

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv

# Activate (Windows)
venv\Scripts\activate

# Activate (Linux/Mac)
source venv/bin/activate

You should see (venv) in your terminal.

🔹 Install Core Packages

pip install pytest selenium requests pytest-html

Optional (for advanced use):

pip install allure-pytest pytest-xdist

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3. Start with a Small Example

🔹 Web Automation Example (Selenium + pytest)

1. Install browser driver (e.g., ChromeDriver).

   • Download: https://chromedriver.chromium.org/

   • Keep chromedriver.exe in PATH or project folder.

2. Create test_google.py:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By

def test_google_search():
    driver = webdriver.Chrome()
    driver.get("https://www.google.com")
    search_box = driver.find_element(By.NAME, "q")
    search_box.send_keys("Python Test Automation")
    search_box.submit()
    assert "Python" in driver.title
    driver.quit()

3. Run test:

pytest -v --html=report.html

👉 Generates report.html with results.

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4. API Automation Example (pytest + requests)

Create test_api.py:

import requests

def test_github_api():
    response = requests.get("https://api.github.com")
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert "current_user_url" in response.json()

Run:

pytest -v

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5. Build a Mini Automation Framework (Skeleton)

Project Structure:

automation/
│── tests/
│   ├── test_ui.py
│   ├── test_api.py
│── pages/
│   ├── base_page.py
│   ├── login_page.py
│── utils/
│   ├── config.py
│   ├── logger.py
│── conftest.py
│── requirements.txt
│── pytest.ini

• tests/ → UI + API test cases

• pages/ → Page Object Model for UI

• utils/ → Config, helpers

• conftest.py → pytest fixtures

• pytest.ini → markers, test configs

✅ This is a reusable base for real projects.

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6. Integrate with CI/CD

🔹 Option A: Jenkins

1. Install Jenkins (download)

2. Install plugins:

   • Git Plugin

   • Pytest Plugin (or Allure)

3. Create a Jenkins Job:

   • Pull code from GitHub

   • Add build step:

     pip install -r requirements.txt
     pytest -v --html=report.html
     

   • Archive report.html as test report.

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🔹 Option B: GitHub Actions

1. In your repo, create .github/workflows/python-tests.yml:

name: Python Test Automation

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.12'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          pip install -r requirements.txt

      - name: Run Tests
        run: pytest -v --html=report.html

2. Push code → GitHub Actions runs tests automatically.

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7. Scaling Up

• Add parallel execution: pytest -n 4 (with pytest-xdist)

• Add cross-browser testing: BrowserStack/Sauce Labs integration

• Add Allure Reports for rich reporting

• Add Dockerfile to containerize the framework

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✅ Summary Roadmap

1. Install Python + pip + venv

2. Install pytest, selenium, requests

3. Write UI & API tests

4. Create framework structure

5. Integrate with CI/CD (Jenkins/GitHub Actions)

6. Scale with parallel execution, cloud, reporting