01Anatomy of a test run
A test run typically captures:
- What's being tested — which build or version
- Where — environment, browser, device
- Selected cases — which subset of the repository is in this run
- Results per case — pass / fail / blocked / skipped, with timestamps and tester
- Notes per case — what was observed, screenshots, attachments
- Overall status — open, in progress, complete, signed off
02Why runs exist (and not just cases)
A test case describes the check. A test run is the evidence that you ran it. Without runs, you have a list of "things we could test" but no record of what happened on May 5 against build 1.4.2.
Runs are also the audit trail: "did we test the payment flow before that release?" gets a yes/no answer because there's a recorded run.
03Runs and cycles
Runs typically live inside a cycle. A cycle is a higher-level grouping — "release X regression," "weekly smoke" — and the runs inside it are the specific executions across environments or builds.
04Related
05Frequently asked questions
How is a test run different from a test cycle?
A test run is one execution. A test cycle (or milestone) groups multiple runs across a period — for example, "v1.4 regression cycle" might contain five runs across five environments.
Can a single test case be in multiple runs?
Yes — the same case is typically run many times, across builds, environments, and releases. Each execution is a new result.