QAStarter CLI

Command-line tool for generating production-ready QA automation project structures.

Generate complete, well-structured test automation projects in seconds. Supports Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Appium, and more.

Installation

From npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @qatonic_innovations/qastarter-cli

From Source

git clone https://github.com/QATonic/QAStarter.git
cd QAStarter/cli
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Quick Start

# Interactive mode - guided project setup
qastarter new --interactive

# One-liner for Web + Playwright + TypeScript
qastarter new -n my-project -t web -f playwright -l typescript

# See all available options
qastarter list

Usage

Interactive Mode

Generate a project with guided prompts:

qastarter new --interactive

Command Line Options

qastarter new [options]

Options: | Option | Description | Default | |--------|-------------|---------| | -n, --name <name> | Project name | my-qa-project | | -t, --type <type> | Testing type: web, mobile, api, desktop | web | | -f, --framework <framework> | Testing framework | Varies by type | | -l, --language <language> | Programming language | java | | -r, --runner <runner> | Test runner | Varies by language | | -b, --build <tool> | Build tool | Varies by language | | -p, --pattern <pattern> | Testing pattern | page-object-model | | -c, --cicd <tool> | CI/CD tool | (optional) | | --reporting <tool> | Reporting tool | (optional) | | -u, --utilities <list> | Utilities (comma-separated) | (optional) | | --no-samples | Exclude sample tests | false | | -o, --output <path> | Output directory | Current directory | | -i, --interactive | Use interactive mode | false |

Examples

Web Testing with Playwright + TypeScript:

qastarter new -n e2e-tests -t web -f playwright -l typescript -c github-actions --reporting allure

API Testing with RestAssured + Java:

qastarter new -n api-tests -t api -f restassured -l java -b maven -r testng

Mobile Testing with Appium + Python:

qastarter new -n mobile-tests -t mobile -f appium -l python --no-samples

Desktop Testing with WinAppDriver + C#:

qastarter new -n desktop-tests -t desktop -f winappdriver -l csharp

List Available Options

# List all available frameworks, languages, etc.
qastarter list

# Filter by testing type
qastarter list --type web
qastarter list --type api

Supported Stack

| Testing Type | Frameworks | Languages | |--------------|------------|-----------| | Web | Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, WebdriverIO | Java, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, C# | | API | RestAssured, Requests, Supertest, RestSharp | Java, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, C# | | Mobile | Appium, XCUITest, Espresso | Java, Python, TypeScript, Swift, C# | | Desktop | WinAppDriver, PyAutoGUI | Java, Python, C# |

Configuration

Set custom API URL (for local/self-hosted development):

export QASTARTER_API_URL=http://localhost:5000

MCP server (AI assistants)

QAStarter ships a built-in Model Context Protocol server so Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf and other MCP-aware AI clients can scaffold projects directly into your workspace — no browser, no download, no rate limit.

Quick start

# Option A — one-off via npx (no global install)
npx @qatonic_innovations/qastarter-cli mcp

# Option B — global install, then run
npm i -g @qatonic_innovations/qastarter-cli
qastarter mcp

The server talks JSON-RPC over stdio, so your MCP client invokes it for you — you shouldn't normally run it by hand.

Claude Desktop / Claude Code config

Add to claude_desktop_config.json (macOS/Windows/Linux) or your mcp block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qastarter": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@qatonic_innovations/qastarter-cli", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart the client and ask: "Use qastarter to scaffold a Playwright TypeScript project with Jest reporter into ./tests/e2e."

Exposed tools

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | list_combinations | Every supported (type × framework × language × runner × build tool). Call this first. | | validate_combination | Confirm a combo is supported before scaffolding. | | get_bom | Pinned library/tool versions per language. | | get_dependencies | The dep map that would be added to your project. | | preview_project | Dry-run — returns the file tree and sample files without writing to disk. | | generate_project | Writes the full project into targetDir. Safe by default: relative paths only, refuses non-empty dirs unless force: true. |

Safety

• generate_project rejects absolute targetDir paths unless you pass allowAbsolute: true.
• It refuses non-empty target directories unless force: true.
• ZIP extraction is zip-slip guarded — entries that resolve outside targetDir are rejected.
• All file writes happen locally; your AI client never sees any credentials.

Pointing at a local server

QASTARTER_API_URL=http://localhost:5000 qastarter mcp

Same QASTARTER_API_URL override used by the CLI's new/list/update commands.

Rate limits

Anonymous users (web UI + untagged CLI): 10 project generations per 15 minutes per IP.

MCP clients that send X-QAStarter-Client: mcp are tagged for telemetry; if the server operator sets QASTARTER_MCP_BYPASS_TOKEN and you pass a matching X-QAStarter-Token (via QASTARTER_MCP_TOKEN env), the limit becomes 100 per 15 minutes — enough headroom for an AI iterating through options.

QASTARTER_API_URL=https://qa.internal.example.com \
  QASTARTER_MCP_TOKEN=your-shared-secret \
  qastarter mcp

Health checks for operators

• GET /api/v1/health — liveness (always 200 while the process is up).
• GET /api/v1/health/deep — probes the metadata route (MCP depends on it), counts template packs on disk, and pings the cache. Returns 503 if any probe fails — wire this into uptime monitoring.

Links

• 🌐 Web App
• 📖 Documentation
• 🐛 Report Issues

License

MIT © QATonic Innovations