Our test pyramid had a problem:
Since our app is basically a computer game (PixiJS-based) with lots of rendering, I realized we didn’t need the backend just to check if a rectangle appeared. By mocking responses and using Cypress for rendering tests, I got test times down to 5-10 seconds each.
The result? Faster, more reliable tests, wider adoption, and an award:
This Boxer was the ultimate owner and proposed their own solution for tackling the testing problem. They've delivered an incredible value for the team with component testing using Cypress. The solution was widely adopted in the Box Canvas team and provided a supreme developer experience. It improved speed, quality, and reliability. Right now, the complete test suite run is 8x faster than before – for a single test, it's 5-10 seconds compared to 2-3 minutes from before. This is an epic example of our values and more than worthy of our award today.
— Rafal Szczepanski, Senior Director, Engineering and Site Leader Poland @ Box
Turns out, faking a backend can be a real power move.