Build fast. Test in parallel.
Why 2025 testing is receipts, not ceremony — and how we designed Bugster for that.
The pace changed. AI didn’t just make us type faster—it raised feature capacity. You can sketch a component, wire a route, and have a fresh branch preview in minutes. What didn’t grow is the review window. The new failure mode isn’t “not enough tests”; it’s not having the right signals at the right time.
Our stance: keep a final safety net and run testing in parallel while you build. Not “finish → throw it over the wall.” Instead, deliver small bursts of evidence—screens, steps, traces—during the work so decisions are immediate: push forward or fix now.
AI/Copilot-era productivity means more change volume per day; you need signals that keep pace, not a bigger checklist later.
Branch previews are the new review surface; that’s where evidence should show up, continuously, while the feature is being shaped.
“Signals in parallel”: the idea we built around
While you code: tiny, trustable checks with receipts.
When your branch previews: automation exercises the real app in a browser and posts a clear result with evidence where you review.
Before release: you still keep the last gate—only now you arrive with confidence.
We built Bugster to live in that middle lane: a pragmatic peer that watches changes, generates and runs browser checks, performs a destructive sweep on changed pages, and leaves evidence you can act on—without turning testing into its own project.
How Bugster fits your day (minimal ceremony)
1) Generate once to seed a baseline
The first time you set it up, you create a readable base from your app’s structure:
bugster init
bugster generate
This can produce a long, human-readable base of specs that maps to pages and flows. That’s intentional: you’ve turned intent into something executable and explainable.
2) From then on, it’s automated on each change
On every branch update/preview, Bugster will:
Select what matters based on the diff (don’t run the world).
Update or create specs as the app evolves (no test graveyard).
Run in real browsers, capture screenshots/video, and attach evidence where you review code.
Kick off a destructive agent to explore changed pages and surface the weird stuff no recipe would cover.
Think of it like a pragmatic teammate: a mix of steady checks plus exploratory curiosity, always current, never naggy.
Vibe coding deserves vibe testing—with receipts
“Vibe coding” is real—AI IDEs, quick scaffolds, instant refactors (see Karpathy’s take here). The risk is shipping on feelings. Our antidote is vibe testing with teeth: intuitive and fast, but grounded in evidence.
Example A — Riffing a new UI
You add a settings dialog. Instead of “we’ll test later,” you keep short loops:
Save work; Bugster runs the relevant browser checks in the background and drops a clip calling out a missing focus trap.
Paste the finding into your assistant (Cursor / Claude Code / Copilot), accept the patch, keep riffing.
Momentum stays; accessibility is fixed before anyone reviews.
Example B — The destructive pass
Scripts confirm what you expected. Many bugs hide in what you didn’t. A destructive sweep explores changed pages, tries odd combos, records video of failures, and reports errors/UX issues. It’s a modern cousin of exploratory/monkey testing—useful, bounded, repeatable.
Example C — Tiny backend tweak → UI ripple
You adjust sorting; Bugster updates a couple of checks and the agent stumbles into a pagination edge. You get steps + screenshot where you already review code and fix while the context is still warm.
Guardrails so this stays helpful (not noisy)
Prefer few, high-signal checks that finish in minutes, with screenshots/trace.
Focus on changed areas; don’t spray the whole app every time.
Review new/updated specs when they’re proposed; aim for a living baseline, not an archive.
Keep a last gate for releases—your parallel signals mean fewer surprises. If you enforce blocking checks, do it with receipts (GitHub’s required checks are described here).
Try it in ~5 minutes
Option A — Sign up (fastest)
Connect your GitHub org and pick the Next.js repo.
Confirm preview provider and basic settings.
Merge the configuration pull request.
From then on, each branch/preview runs real-browser checks, keeps tests fresh as the app evolves, and surfaces evidence where you review code.
Option B — CLI setup (terminal first)
Install the CLI:
curl -sSL https://github.com/Bugsterapp/bugster-cli/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash -s -- -y
Seed a baseline in your project:
bugster init
bugster generate
bugster run
When you want an extra sweep on changed pages:
bugster destructive
Integrate with GitHub (so bugster runs on every push and pull request):
bugster install --github
Bottom line: Testing that waits until the end is too late; testing that tries to replace your flow is too heavy. Keep the end gate, and run testing in parallel while you build. Short cycles, real browsers, updated specs, a destructive sweep when needed. That’s the vision behind Bugster—and it’s how we ship fast without breaking trust.