Retry-ability of commands in Cypress - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this Cypress test snippet?

Consider this Cypress test code that tries to find a button and click it:

cy.get('button.submit').click()

If the button is not immediately present, what will Cypress do?

Cypress

cy.get('button.submit').click()

A Cypress retries the <code>click</code> command multiple times but does not retry <code>get</code>.

B Cypress immediately fails the test if the button is not found on the first try.

C Cypress retries the <code>get</code> command until the button appears or timeout is reached, then clicks it.

D Cypress waits for 5 seconds and then clicks the button regardless of presence.

💡 Hint

Think about how Cypress handles commands that query elements.

Cypress automatically retries get commands until the element appears or the default timeout expires. Only then it performs the click. This retry-ability helps tests be more stable.

❓ assertion

intermediate

Which assertion will Cypress retry automatically?

Given this code snippet:

cy.get('.message').should('contain', 'Success')

Which statement about the assertion is true?

Cypress

cy.get('.message').should('contain', 'Success')

A Neither <code>get</code> nor <code>should</code> are retried; test fails immediately if not found.

B Cypress retries only the <code>get</code> command, but the assertion runs once immediately.

C Cypress retries only the <code>should</code> assertion, not the <code>get</code> command.

D Cypress retries the <code>get</code> and the <code>should</code> assertion until the text appears or timeout.

💡 Hint

Remember how Cypress handles chained commands and assertions.

Cypress retries both the element query and the assertion until the condition is met or timeout. This makes tests more reliable when UI updates take time.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this Cypress test fail despite retry-ability?

Look at this test code:

cy.get('#loadButton').click()
cy.get('#result').should('have.text', 'Loaded')

The test fails because #result does not have the expected text. Why?

Cypress

cy.get('#loadButton').click()
cy.get('#result').should('have.text', 'Loaded')

A Because <code>click()</code> is not retried, the button might not have triggered loading before the assertion runs.

B Because Cypress commands run asynchronously, the assertion runs before the click completes.

C Because <code>get('#result')</code> does not retry, it fails if element is not present immediately.

D Because <code>should('have.text')</code> does not retry, it checks only once immediately.

💡 Hint

Think about what Cypress retries and what it does not.

Cypress retries queries and assertions but does not retry actions like click(). If the click triggers loading asynchronously, the assertion may run before the UI updates. Adding waits or chaining properly can fix this.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Which Cypress command does NOT have built-in retry-ability?

Choose the command that Cypress does NOT retry automatically when it fails.

A cy.click()

B cy.get(selector)

C cy.contains(text)

D cy.should('be.visible')

💡 Hint

Consider which commands are queries/assertions and which are actions.

Cypress retries queries like get, contains, and assertions like should. It does not retry actions like click or type. Actions run once when called.

❓ framework

expert

How can you customize retry-ability timeout for a specific Cypress command?

You want to increase the time Cypress retries a get command before failing. Which option correctly sets a custom timeout for just that command?

A cy.get('.item').timeout(10000)

B cy.get('.item', { timeout: 10000 })

C cy.get('.item').setTimeout(10000)

D cy.get('.item').retryTimeout = 10000

💡 Hint

Check Cypress docs for command options syntax.

Cypress commands accept an options object as the second argument where you can specify timeout in milliseconds. This overrides the default retry timeout for that command only.