Glossary term
Test case
A test case is a set of steps, input data and expected results used to check that one specific behaviour of a system works. Good test cases are clear enough that anyone on the team can run them and agree on whether the result passed or failed.
What a test case contains
- An ID and a short title.
- Preconditions, such as the user being logged in.
- Test steps and test data.
- The expected result.
- After the run, the actual result and a status: pass, fail or blocked.
Tips for writing them
- Test one behaviour per case, so a failure points to one problem.
- Cover negative and edge cases, not only the happy path.
- Link each case to the requirement or user story it checks.
- AI assistants can draft cases from acceptance criteria, but a tester should review every one.
Read the full guide: How to Write Test Cases with AI — Complete 2026 Guide for SDETs
More terms
Agentic testingAI hallucinationAI red teamingAnswer relevancyAPI testingBehaviour-driven development (BDD)CI quality gateContext precisionEnd-to-end testingExploratory testingFaithfulnessFlaky testGolden datasetIntegration testingJailbreakLLM evaluationLLM guardrailsLLM-as-a-judgeLoad testingModel Context Protocol (MCP)OWASP Top 10 for LLM ApplicationsPage Object ModelPrompt injectionRegression testingRetrieval-augmented generation (RAG)SDETSelf-healing testsSmoke testingTest automationTest pyramidVisual regression testing
