# Your first test, end to end

Record a journey, assert the outcome, run it, and read the result. About ten minutes.

The fastest way to understand Testsnag is to build one real test against a site you know. Pick something short and important: a homepage that must load, a search that must return results, a sign-up form that must accept an address. Avoid starting with your most complicated flow, because the goal here is to see the whole loop rather than to cover everything.

![The recorder mid-build, showing five recorded steps ending in an assertion.](https://testsnag.com/images/docs/building-tests/cloud-recorder-1-recorder.r1.jpg)

Marked on the screenshot:
- Add a step by hand when you know exactly what you want.
- Describe the step in plain English and let the AI find the element.
- Drive the live browser yourself and have your clicks recorded.
- Finish with an assertion. Without one, the test cannot really fail.
- Run it once from here to see the whole loop end to end.

## The loop

1. **Create the test**: Open Tests in the sidebar and click New Test. Name it after the journey, pick the Web type, and give it the URL the journey starts from.
2. **Record the journey**: The recorder opens a live browser. Click Start Recording and use the site exactly as a customer would. Every click and keystroke becomes a step.
3. **Assert the outcome**: At the end of the journey, add an assertion for the thing that proves it worked: the confirmation text, the new URL, the element that should now be visible.
4. **Replay it once**: Replay the steps from the recorder before you leave. This catches the flakiest problems immediately, while the context is still in your head.
5. **Run it for real**: Click Run Test. Testsnag opens a fresh browser, walks the steps, and reports a pass or fail with screenshots for each step.
6. **Put it on a schedule**: Open the test settings, switch to Scheduled Runs, and pick an interval. A test nobody remembers to run is not really monitoring anything.

## If the first run fails

That is normal and usually informative. The most common causes are a step that ran before the page was ready, a selector that matched something during recording but not on a fresh load, or an assertion written against text that changes between visits. Open the run, find the first failed step, and look at its screenshot: it shows you exactly what the browser saw at the moment it gave up.

The [troubleshooting articles](https://testsnag.com/docs/troubleshooting/flaky-tests.md) cover the recurring causes in more detail.

## Then what

Once one test is green and scheduled, add two or three more covering your other critical journeys, then group them into a suite so they run together and notify you as a unit. Resist the urge to cover everything at once: five reliable tests you trust are worth far more than forty that cry wolf.