Warp Integration Test Video

Integration Test Video Recording

Scope — GUI desktop app only. This skill applies to Warp's GUI desktop front-end (the app/ crate on the WarpUI pixel/GPU framework). It does not apply to the headless TUI front-end (crates/warp_tui; cell-grid TuiElement library under crates/warpui_core/src/elements/tui), which has its own components, tests, and change-verification workflow. For TUI work, see the tui-ui-guidelines, tui-testing, and tui-verify-change skills instead.

Use this skill when working with Warp's integration test recording pipeline on this branch.

When NOT to use this skill

This skill is only for capturing screenshots/video from within the Rust integration-test harness (crates/integration). It is not the way to fulfill a general "take a screenshot" or "record a video" request against the running Warp app or a live UI flow. For those, use the computer use tool, which exposes screenshot and screen-recording (start/stop recording) capabilities that drive the real app — don't reach for this integration-test tooling just because a request mentions "recording" or "screenshot."

The relevant implementation lives in:

• integration/src/bin/integration.rs
• integration/src/test/video_recording.rs
• integration/tests/integration/ui_tests.rs
• ui/src/integration/driver.rs
• ui/src/integration/step.rs
• ui/src/integration/video_recorder.rs
• ui/src/integration/artifacts.rs
• ui/src/integration/overlay.rs

Command to invoke a test

For a single manually-invoked recording test, prefer the integration binary:

WARPUI_USE_REAL_DISPLAY_IN_INTEGRATION_TESTS=1 \
cargo run -p integration --bin integration -- test_video_recording

That is the command shown by the sample test in integration/src/test/video_recording.rs.

If you want the driver to auto-record a test or set of tests, add WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO:

WARPUI_USE_REAL_DISPLAY_IN_INTEGRATION_TESTS=1 \
WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO=test_video_recording \
cargo run -p integration --bin integration -- test_video_recording

For broader integration test runs, the same env vars work with the normal test runner:

WARPUI_USE_REAL_DISPLAY_IN_INTEGRATION_TESTS=1 \
WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO=test_foo,test_bar \
cargo nextest run --no-fail-fast --workspace test_foo

Environment variables

WARPUI_USE_REAL_DISPLAY_IN_INTEGRATION_TESTS

• Set this to 1 when you need real frame capture.
• Use it for screenshot/video workflows and manual visual verification.
• Without a real display, expect recording workflows to be incomplete or unusable.

WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO

This is the main env var that controls driver-managed video recording in ui/src/integration/driver.rs.

Behavior:

• Unset or empty: auto-recording is disabled.
• 1 or all: auto-record every test in the run.
• Comma-separated test names: auto-record only those tests.

Examples:

# Record every test in the run
WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO=all

# Record only specific tests
WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO=test_foo,test_bar

Important nuance:

• You do not need WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO if the test itself explicitly calls with_start_recording() and with_stop_recording().
• Use the env var when you want whole-test recording without changing the test code.

WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_ARTIFACTS_DIR

This controls the root artifact directory used by TestArtifacts in ui/src/integration/artifacts.rs.

If unset, artifacts go under:

$TMPDIR/warp_integration_test_artifacts

Each run gets a timestamped directory:

<artifacts_root>/<test_name>/<timestamp>/

This is the main directory to inspect for screenshots, logs, and the final recording.mp4.

WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO_DIR

This env var exists in ui/src/integration/video_recorder.rs as the lower-level recorder output root helper, defaulting to:

$TMPDIR/warp_integration_video_captures

On this branch, the normal integration driver flow writes the finalized video into the test artifacts directory instead, so WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_ARTIFACTS_DIR is the one you usually care about when reviewing results.

How to specify which tests to record

There are two modes:

1. Record in test code

Use TestStep::with_start_recording() and TestStep::with_stop_recording() inside the test itself. This is best when you only want to capture a specific span of the test.

2. Record from the environment

Set WARP_INTEGRATION_TEST_VIDEO to:

• all
• 1
• or a comma-separated list like test_a,test_b

This starts recording at the beginning of matching tests and writes the video when the test completes.

How overlays work

There is no separate overlay env var on this branch.

Overlay annotations are produced from the input events the test dispatches while recording is active. The overlay pipeline is implemented in ui/src/integration/overlay.rs, and the event capture hooks live in ui/src/integration/step.rs.

To get useful overlays in the final video, drive the test with APIs that emit mouse and keyboard events, such as:

• with_event(...)
• with_event_fn(...)
• with_click_on_saved_position(...)
• with_keystrokes(...)

Overlay types currently exercised by the sample test:

• mouse click indicators
• drag trails
• keyboard shortcut pills

In practice:

• Mouse down / drag / mouse up events create click and drag overlays.
• KeyDown events create keyboard overlay pills.
• If a test only records frames and never dispatches relevant input events, the resulting video will not show these annotations.