Creating a Case

Click New case — or just press C — to open the composer. It is the same side panel you use to read a case, in draft mode, so creating one is a couple of keystrokes rather than a form to fill in.

Think of it as filling in a recipe card

The template is the card format — some recipes need an ingredients list, others need a tools section. Fields are the blanks you fill in. Switching to a different card format (template) may mean some blanks disappear and new ones appear.

Step-by-step

1. Click New case on the Test Cases page, or press C.
2. Enter a title — a short, descriptive name for the test case.
3. Adjust the properties if you need to: State, Folder, Template, Estimate, plus any properties your template defines. Sensible defaults are pre-filled, and the folder starts as the one you are currently browsing — or Unfiled if you are not in a folder.
4. Optionally add Labels.
5. Press ⌘Enter (or click Create case). If your template has required fields you have not answered yet, the button stays disabled until you do.

The new case appears with an auto-generated case number unique within the project, carrying every property and template field you set in the composer, and the panel switches straight to the real case so you can carry on writing. What you were looking at in the draft is what the saved case shows.

Steps, prose fields, and attachments are added after you create. The composer deliberately leaves them out — they attach to a case that exists, and a case does not have an identity until you create it. Create first (it takes one keystroke), then write.

A draft with content will not vanish silently. If you have typed anything, closing the composer — by the ×, Cancel, Esc, or clicking away — asks you to confirm before discarding it.

Core properties

The Folder picker

The Folder row opens the project’s folder tree, indented by depth, with the folder the case is currently in check-marked. Unfiled sits at the top as a destination in its own right — picking it is how you take a case back out of a folder without putting it in another one.

Past four folders the picker gains a Search folders… box; type to narrow the tree and press Enter to take the first match. Typing hides the Unfiled row, which is a destination rather than one of the folders you are searching.

If you have the Manage folders permission, the picker also creates folders inline: type a name that matches nothing and take the Create folder “…” row. The folder is created at the top level and the case is filed into it in the same gesture.

A folder is not required to create a case. A project with no folders at all can still have its first case written in it — the composer’s Folder row reads Unfiled and the server files the case there. See Unfiled.

Unfiled is offered only where it exists. The bucket is created the first time a case is created without a folder, so in a project where that has never happened, an already-filed case has no Unfiled row to move back to. It appears once the project has one.

Creating a case through the API or an MCP agent still requires a folder. The optional folder is a behaviour of the app’s own composer; the MCP create_test_case tool takes a folder argument and will not create a case without one.

Template fields

Below the core metadata, the composer shows the custom fields defined by the selected template. These fields are configured by an admin in Fields and assembled into templates in Test Case Templates, and they appear here in the order the admin gave them, each with its configured label and icon.

Every field type gets an editor suited to it (see Field Types for what each type is for):

Text and Steps fields are not in the composer. They are the two types that need room to write, and they belong to a case that exists — so they are not offered here, for the same reason attachments are not. Create the case, then write them on the case itself. See The STEPS field below and Case Detail.

Admin defaults are already filled in

If an admin gave a field a Default Value — on the template, or as a project override — the composer opens with that value already in place, so the common answer costs nothing and only the exceptions need your attention. Change any of them before you create; they are ordinary values, not suggestions.

Picking a different Template re-reads the defaults for the fields that template carries.

Required fields

A field the admin marked required shows an asterisk beside its label and genuinely gates the create:

• Create case is disabled until every required field has an answer, and the disabled button says which ones are missing — for example Priority, Severity are required.
• ⌘Enter is held to the same rule, so the keyboard path cannot slip past it.
• A required row offers no Clear action, because emptying it would only put the create back behind the same gate.

A required TEXT field does not block the create. Prose is written on the case rather than in the composer, so a template with a required TEXT field would otherwise be a template no one could ever use. The requirement still applies to the field on the case.

Link fields

Type a URL however you would say it. A link with no scheme gets https:// added when it is saved, so docs.example.com becomes https://docs.example.com — the editor previews exactly what will be stored while you type. Anything that already carries a scheme is left alone, mailto: and root-relative /paths included.

Once saved, the value renders as a real link that opens in a new tab, both in the case’s side rail and in the Test Cases table. A value using a scheme that is unsafe to click — javascript:, data:, vbscript: — is never turned into a link; it is shown as plain text so you can see what is stored and correct it.

The STEPS field

The STEPS field is unique to test cases and is the most powerful field type. You write it on the case, after creating it. It lets you define a structured, ordered sequence of test steps — each with configurable subfield columns like Step, Expected Result, and Notes.

How it works

• Each step is a numbered row with one or more subfield columns.
• Each cell uses a rich text editor — you can add formatting, links, and paste images directly.
• Add — click Add step to append a row. A newly added row is not saved until you type into it, so an accidental click costs nothing.
• Reorder — use the Move step up and Move step down buttons on each row. They are disabled at the ends of the list.
• Delete — click the trash icon on a row. A toast names the step that went, and ⌘Z (or the toast’s Undo) brings it straight back.
• Steps are visually connected with numbered circles and vertical lines, and the editor shows a live step count above the list.

The columns come from your template. If your administrator configured only one steps subfield, you get a single action column; a second subfield becomes the expected-result column, and so on. There is no fixed Expected Result field — it is whatever your workspace named it. If a template has no steps configured, the editor says so rather than showing an empty grid.

Example: a 3-step login test

The subfield columns above are an example. The real column names are configured by an admin when setting up the field — see Field Types for details on STEPS configuration.

Switching templates

The template is a property like any other, so you can change it at any time from the case’s Template row.

Switching templates hides the fields the new template does not carry. On a saved case their values are kept, not deleted: switch back, or have an admin add the field to the new template, and they reappear. If you switch by mistake, ⌘Z reverses it in the same session. On a new case that has not been created yet, switching starts the template fields over from the new template’s defaults.

Attachments

You can attach files to a case in two ways, both after the case exists:

• Case-level attachments — use the Attachments section, which is available in the side panel as well as in the right-hand rail on the full page: click Add file, or drag files onto the drop area. These appear as downloadable files on the case.
• Inline images — paste or drag images directly into a rich text field or a step cell. These are embedded in the field content. Your edit waits for the upload to finish rather than saving a broken image.

Supported file types: PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, PDF, CSV, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, TXT.

Removing an attachment is permanent — there is no undo. The × beside a file opens a confirmation dialog naming it, so a stray click cannot destroy evidence; the dialog opens on Cancel and Esc keeps the file. Confirming detaches it for good — ⌘Z will not bring it back, so download anything you might need first.

External issue links

Linked issues are added after the case exists, from the Linked issues section on the case. You need the Manage external references permission. See Case Detail and Integrations.

Saving

Press ⌘Enter or click Create case. You need a title, a template, and a state — both of the latter are pre-filled for you. A folder is optional: leave it and the case goes to Unfiled.

After that, there is no Save button anywhere on a test case. Titles, properties, and labels apply the moment you change them; steps and prose fields commit when you leave the field. A ✓ Saved receipt flashes to confirm, and ⌘Z undoes your last change. See Editing & Managing.