npm / cypress

cypress

What changed in cypress 16, from its official release notes, upgrade guides and advisories. Sources checked 2026-10-18.

129 breaking1 security7 deprecations12 new APIs and options8 behavior and defaults1 tooling

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cypress 16158 changes

Breaking changes 129

The result arguments supplied to after:run handlers have a changed shape; update property access in handlers.
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The result arguments supplied to after:spec handlers have a changed shape; update property access in handlers.
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Aliases are always re-queried, which can change test outcomes when the DOM changes; use a static alias when the value should not be re-queried.
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The configuration option was removed; Cypress warns if it remains, and there is no behavior change.
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The migration-gate configuration option was removed in Cypress 16.0 and is no longer valid.
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The minimum supported Angular version for component testing is now 21.
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The minimum required Angular version is now 21.0.0; Angular 18, 19, and 20 are no longer supported.
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Angular 17 is no longer supported for component testing; the minimum required Angular version is 18.0.0.
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Component testing requires Angular 17.2.0 or later.
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The event's second argument is now a launchOptions object rather than an array of browser arguments; use launchOptions.args to access arguments.
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Starting in Cypress 14, official support covers the latest three major versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
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CoffeeScript support was removed, affecting .coffee specs, support files, and fixtures.
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Built-in CoffeeScript support was removed: the default preprocessor no longer bundles coffee-loader or coffeescript, and .coffee is no longer resolved for specs, support files, or fixtures.
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For Create React App component testing, change the framework option from create-react-app to react after selecting a bundler.
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For Vue CLI component testing, change the framework option from vue-cli to vue after selecting a bundler.
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This option is no longer supported; use specPattern inside the component configuration object.
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Configuration files are required, so configFile false is no longer valid in the module API; JSON config files are also unsupported.
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Cookie commands use hostname rather than superdomain by default; pass an explicit domain option when cookies should be shared across subdomains.
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Component tests now need a bundler; CRA users must eject to webpack or use vite, and change the framework configuration to react.
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Removed; delete .end() calls.
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cy.end() was removed; delete calls because a new cy command already terminates the previous chain.
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Removed; replace calls with cy.task().
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The result property code was renamed to exitCode; update assertions that read the old property.
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cy.exec() was removed. Use cy.task() for Node.js work, or spawn external commands from a task with execFileSync and an argument array.
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Use this command as the replacement for the removed cy.server, cy.route, and Cypress.server.defaults APIs.
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A subsequent mount call in the same test removes the previously mounted component from the DOM.
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Mounting options no longer accept cssFile, cssFiles, style, styles, stylesheet, or stylesheets; use test-imported CSS or a supportFile for styles.
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Angular mounting-option providers are assigned at the module level, so they can override module providers but not providers declared in Component metadata.
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Tests interacting with a second origin must use cy.origin() because Cypress no longer injects document.domain into text/html content by default.
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readFile is a query and re-reads the file when a later command in the chain fails, retrying until the requested property and assertions pass.
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The command was removed; use cy.intercept instead.
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The command was removed; use cy.intercept instead.
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The deprecated three-argument signature is no longer supported; use .callsFake(fn) on the stub instead.
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CYPRESS_* environment variables populate env only and do not reach Cypress.expose(); pass values with --expose or copy them into config.expose.
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The harness is deprecated and is no longer shipped with the Cypress binary.
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The temporary Angular 17 test harness is installed as @cypress/angular; update mount imports from cypress/angular.
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The package requires zone.js version 0.14.0 or newer for Angular component testing.
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The Angular signals test harness has been merged into cypress/angular; migrate imports from cypress/angular-signals.
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Cypress Cloud communication verifies certificate authorities and rejects unauthorized calls; networks using a self-signed CA can configure the listed CA environment variables.
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The command no longer prints proxy or CYPRESS_* environment variables, making output safer to share in bug reports and CI logs.
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To launch directly to the specs list, cypress open now requires --browser and either --e2e or --component.
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This CLI command has been removed; use cypress open --component instead.
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The plugins file is no longer supported or automatically loaded; its functionality is replaced by setupNodeEvents() and devServer configuration options.
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The React 18 test harness has been merged into cypress/react; migrate imports from cypress/react18 to cypress/react.
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The harness is deprecated and is no longer shipped with the Cypress binary.
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This CLI command has been removed; use cypress run --component instead.
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When recording a run to Cloud with Test Replay enabled, the Runner UI is hidden by default, affecting recorded video and runner screenshots; it can be enabled with --runner-ui.
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The experimental Cypress Studio has been removed.
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Vite 4 is no longer supported for component testing; the minimum supported Vite version is 5.
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The package is ESM-only and can no longer be used from a CommonJS context; move the Cypress configuration to ESM or TypeScript.
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The default preprocessor no longer shims all built-ins previously provided by webpack v4; configure any additional required built-ins through webpack fallback options.
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Webpack 4 and Webpack Dev Server 4 are no longer supported; component testing must use supported versions or an independently installed deprecated package as a temporary workaround.
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Webpack 4 is no longer supported for end-to-end preprocessing; a deprecated standalone package version is available as a temporary workaround.
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The undocumented firefox:force:gc and log:memory:pressure methods have been removed with no replacement.
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This API can no longer overwrite readFile; use Cypress.Commands.overwriteQuery to overwrite the query instead.
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Queries such as cookie and storage reads must be overwritten with overwriteQuery() rather than Cypress.Commands.overwrite().
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Setting blockHosts with Cypress.config() during test execution now throws; set it in a describe, context, or it test configuration instead.
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A project cannot contain both JavaScript and TypeScript Cypress config files; Cypress reports an error when loading them together.
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The API was removed; use cy.session to preserve cookies and browser storage between tests.
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The API was removed; use cy.session to preserve cookies and browser storage between tests.
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onElement is no longer an option to defaults; remove it from calls to the method.
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Removed; migrate to cy.env() or Cypress.expose().
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Cypress.env() was removed. Use cy.env() for sensitive values or Cypress.expose() for non-sensitive configuration needing synchronous browser access.
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Cypress.env() is no longer available in Cypress 16.0; migrate reads to cy.env() or Cypress.expose().
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Support for cypress.json was removed; Cypress loads JavaScript or TypeScript configuration files instead.
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The API was renamed to Cypress.ElementSelector; migrate callers to the new name.
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The API was removed; use cy.intercept instead.
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Configure component testing dev servers by specifying a framework and bundler in this option; dev server packages are no longer directly importable.
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The env key is no longer valid in per-test or suite config overrides; use expose if necessary.
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This is now a testing-type-specific option. Its defaults differ by testing type, and **/node_modules/** is automatically added and cannot be overridden.
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The configuration option was removed alongside cy.exec(); setting it prints a warning and is otherwise ignored.
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The experimental boolean configuration option was removed and replaced by visibilityStrategy.
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This configuration option has been removed; remove it and use cy.intercept() to handle fetch requests.
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The experimental configuration option is ignored and produces a warning; use manageBrowserMemory instead.
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The experiment flag was removed when Session and Origin became generally available.
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The option was removed because its behavior— not injecting document.domain—is now the default.
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The configuration option was removed; remove it and enable removeSRIAttributes if it was used for SRI.
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The configuration option was removed. If SRI attributes block rewritten resources, use removeSRIAttributes instead.
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The experimental Cypress Studio option has been removed; setting it causes Cypress to error on load.
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Electron no longer allows fetch or XMLHttpRequest requests from an about:blank page; use cy.request() or navigate first with cy.visit().
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Cypress 15 removed Firefox CDP automation and uses WebDriver BiDi only; supported Firefox minimums are 135 for Cypress 15.0.0–15.18.1 and 140 for 15.19.0 and newer.
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The getSelector method has been removed from the Selector Playground API.
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Cypress 15 prebuilt Linux binaries no longer support distributions based on glibc below 2.31.
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Cypress 14 prebuilt Linux binaries no longer support distributions based on glibc below 2.28.
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invoke throws if the called function returns a promise; use then to call a method that returns a promise. Chained commands can also cause the function to be invoked multiple times.
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JIT compilation is now the default behavior for component tests; set this option to false to disable it.
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JIT compilation no longer applies with vite because there is no benefit to enabling it.
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The default delay between keystrokes changed from 10 to 0 milliseconds to improve performance of typing-heavy test runs.
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Cypress 14 requires macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer because of its Electron upgrade.
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Replaces experimentalMemoryManagement and defaults to true, enabling browser memory management by default for users running Chromium-based browsers.
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The properties and values returned by the Module API changed shape, so code reading cypress.run() results may need updated property access.
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The cypress/vue mount function now returns an object containing both the VueWrapper and component instance, rather than the VueWrapper itself.
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mountCallback from cypress/vue has been removed; the notes recommend using mount.
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mountHook from cypress/react has been removed; the notes recommend replacing it with mount and a component.
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Chrome, Chromium, and Edge route test traffic through the native browser network, so applications negotiate the server-supported protocol as in production; some network behaviors differ.
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The minimum supported Next.js version for component testing is now 15.0.4.
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Component testing requires Next.js 15.0.4 or newer, or Next.js 16; Next.js 14 is no longer supported.
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Component testing no longer supports Next.js versions 10 through 13; the minimum supported version is 15.0.4.
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Cypress 16 requires Node.js 22.x, 24.x, or 26.x and above to install the binary; Node.js 20 and 25 are no longer supported.
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Cypress 15 supports Node.js 20, 22, and 24+, and no longer supports Node.js 18 or 23 for installing Cypress.
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Cypress 14 requires Node.js 18 or newer to install Cypress and no longer supports Node.js 16 or 21.
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Node.js 14 support has been removed; Node.js 16 is deprecated and users are recommended to update to at least Node.js 18.
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Installing the Cypress npm package requires Node.js 14, 16, or 18 and later; Node.js 12, 15, and 17 are no longer supported.
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The deprecated configuration option has been removed; Cypress uses the Node.js version it was launched with to execute setupNodeEvents.
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Nuxt 2 apps can no longer be component tested out of the box because Cypress no longer ships the Vue 2 harness.
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Component testing no longer supports React versions below 18.0.0; the minimum required version is 18.0.0.
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The Run all specs functionality has been removed.
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The Run filtered specs functionality has been removed.
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Generated screenshot paths now strip common ancestor paths shared by discovered spec files or specs selected with --spec or the spec module API.
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A should callback throws if it invokes Cypress commands; use then to execute commands on the yielded value.
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This option must be defined inside component or e2e. Defaults no longer match CoffeeScript or CJSX; component tests matching the E2E pattern are excluded.
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This option is now testing-type-specific and invalid at the top level; multiple matching support files for one testing type cause a load error.
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Cypress no longer ships the Svelte 3 and 4 component testing harness; the legacy harness can be installed independently via @cypress/svelte.
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When enabled, Cypress resets the browser context before each test, clearing the page, cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage across domains.
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This option is no longer used; use specPattern inside the component or e2e configuration object.
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The minimum supported TypeScript version is 4.x.
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unmount from cypress/react has been removed; the notes recommend using React's unmountComponentAtNode API.
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Unsupported browser versions can no longer be run with cypress run or cypress open; Cypress displays an error instead.
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Video recording is disabled by default; set video to true to continue recording.
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Video compression is disabled by default, reducing run time while producing larger, higher-quality video files; enable it to reduce file size.
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Generated video paths now strip common ancestor paths shared by discovered spec files or specs selected with --spec or the spec module API.
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This configuration option has been removed; delete passing-test videos if you want to prevent their upload to Cloud.
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Replaces experimentalFastVisibility with a configuration option accepting 'legacy' or 'modern'; 'modern' is now the default, and the option is deprecated as a temporary migration aid.
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The minimum supported Vite version for component testing is now 8.
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An inline viteConfig in cypress.config no longer automatically merges with vite.config.js; explicitly import and merge the configuration if needed.
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Cypress no longer ships the Vue 2 component testing harness with the Cypress binary; it can be installed independently as @cypress/vue2.
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Component tests using Vue CLI now need a bundler; migrate to webpack or vite.
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@cypress/webpack-dev-server no longer supports webpack-dev-server version 3 and ships with version 5 by default; webpack 4 users should install version 4.
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within throws when given multiple elements as its subject; reduce the subject to one element or use aliases or each for collections.
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Security 1

Use cy.env() to read sensitive values asynchronously; it is read-only and requests only the keys you need.
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Deprecations 7

Launching directly into component testing with this command is deprecated; use cypress open --component instead.
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Electron is deprecated as a test browser; plan to switch to an installed browser.
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The bundled Electron browser is deprecated as a test browser and will be removed in a future major version; configure another browser if runs rely on Electron as the implicit default.
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The bundled Electron browser is deprecated as a test browser in Cypress 16.0 and will be removed in a future major version.
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Electron targeting emits a deprecation warning and will fail after removal; use an installed browser instead.
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Setting injectDocumentDomain to true avoids some cy.origin() calls for matching superdomains but emits a deprecation warning and will be removed in a future version.
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The resourceType option on cy.intercept is deprecated and its types may change or it may be removed in the future.
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New APIs and options 12

Pass a timeout to cy.env() for slow secret lookups; its 4000ms default does not follow defaultCommandTimeout.
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The React mount library is included in the main cypress package and can be imported from this path.
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The Vue mount library is included in the main cypress package and can be imported from this path.
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Cypress automatically loads a project-root cypress.config.js file when present.
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Cypress automatically loads a project-root cypress.config.ts file when present.
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The Selector Playground API was renamed to Cypress.ElementSelector to reflect use beyond the Selector Playground.
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Use Cypress.expose() for public, non-sensitive configuration that needs synchronous access and can be available in the browser.
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Set defaultBrowser to an installed browser to prevent Cypress from falling back to Electron when no browser is specified.
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Set this option to true to use external dependencies in cy.origin callbacks.
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Configure public, non-sensitive values under expose instead of env when they should be available through Cypress.expose().
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Pass public configuration values with --expose when running Cypress; -x is also available.
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Pass this option to cypress run to show the Runner UI during a Cloud-recorded run.
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Behavior and default changes 8

Cypress now uses @angular/platform-browser in place of @angular/platform-browser-dynamic; Angular 21 uses the replacement by default.
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Now a retry-able query that re-reads localStorage across origins and retries chained assertions; it accepts a timeout option and uses defaultCommandTimeout.
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Now a retry-able query that re-reads sessionStorage across origins and retries chained assertions; it accepts a timeout option and uses defaultCommandTimeout.
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The command became generally available; using require and import in its callback remains disabled by default.
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The command became generally available for setting up and caching browser storage between tests.
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The zoneless testing harness is now the default cypress/angular test harness.
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Built-in placeholder mount and hover commands can now be overwritten without using Cypress.Commands.overwrite().
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Users with this existing experimental flag can remove it from their configuration; JIT compilation is now controlled by justInTimeCompile.
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Tooling 1

Use this command to launch directly into component testing from the main app.
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