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Testing

Testing in AEM usually combines unit tests for backend logic, integration tests for content and services, and UI tests for authoring behavior.

Test pyramid (AEM)​

  1. Unit tests: Fast, isolated tests (models, services, utilities).
  2. Integration tests: Repository + OSGi wiring in a test context.
  3. UI tests: Authoring and end-to-end flows in a browser.

What to cover​

  • Unit tests: Sling Models, services, and utilities.
  • Integration tests: Repository interactions and OSGi configs.
  • UI tests: Authoring flows and component dialogs.

Tools and frameworks​

  • JUnit 5 for Java tests.
  • AEM Mocks for unit and integration-style tests.
  • Sling Testing utilities for request/response helpers.
  • Playwright/Cypress for authoring and UI flows.

Example: Sling Model unit test​

@ExtendWith(AemContextExtension.class)
class TitleModelTest {

    private final AemContext ctx = new AemContext();

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        ctx.addModelsForClasses(TitleModel.class);
        ctx.create().resource("/content/page/jcr:content",
            "jcr:title", "Hello",
            "sling:resourceType", "myproject/components/title");
    }

    @Test
    void readsTitle() {
        Resource resource = ctx.resourceResolver().getResource("/content/page/jcr:content");
        TitleModel model = resource.adaptTo(TitleModel.class);
        assertEquals("Hello", model.getTitle());
    }
}

Example: Service test with OSGi config​

@ExtendWith(AemContextExtension.class)
class FeatureServiceTest {

    private final AemContext ctx = new AemContext();

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        ctx.registerInjectActivateService(new FeatureServiceImpl(),
            "enabled", true,
            "threshold", 10);
    }

    @Test
    void featureIsEnabled() {
        FeatureService service = ctx.getService(FeatureService.class);
        assertTrue(service.isEnabled());
    }
}

Example: Integration-style repository test​

@ExtendWith(AemContextExtension.class)
class ContentQueryTest {

    private final AemContext ctx = new AemContext();

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        ctx.create().resource("/content/site/en",
            "jcr:title", "Home",
            "sling:resourceType", "myproject/components/page");
    }

    @Test
    void findByPath() {
        ResourceResolver resolver = ctx.resourceResolver();
        Resource resource = resolver.resolve("/content/site/en");
        assertFalse(ResourceUtil.isNonExistingResource(resource));
    }
}

Example: Load JSON content for Sling Models​

You can load JSON content into the AemContext from your test resources folder and adapt the resource to a model.

@ExtendWith(AemContextExtension.class)
class TeaserModelTest {

    private final AemContext ctx = new AemContext();

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        ctx.addModelsForClasses(TeaserModel.class);
        ctx.load().json("/content/teaser.json", "/content/site/en");
    }

    @Test
    void readsTeaserProperties() {
        Resource resource = ctx.resourceResolver().getResource("/content/site/en/jcr:content/root/teaser");
        TeaserModel model = resource.adaptTo(TeaserModel.class);

        assertEquals("My Teaser", model.getTitle());
        assertEquals("/content/site/en/page", model.getLink());
    }
}

Example JSON file in test resources:

src/test/resources/content/teaser.json
{
  "jcr:primaryType": "cq:Page",
  "jcr:content": {
    "jcr:primaryType": "cq:PageContent",
    "root": {
      "jcr:primaryType": "nt:unstructured",
      "teaser": {
        "jcr:primaryType": "nt:unstructured",
        "sling:resourceType": "myproject/components/teaser",
        "title": "My Teaser",
        "link": "/content/site/en/page"
      }
    }
  }
}

UI testing guidance​

  • Keep UI tests minimal and focused on critical authoring flows.
  • Prefer stable selectors (data attributes) over text-based selectors.
  • Run UI tests against a predictable environment (local SDK or dedicated test env).

Smoke test checklist​

  • Create a page with core components and custom components.
  • Open each dialog and verify defaults and validations.
  • Publish and verify rendering on publish.
  • Check 404s and clientlib loading.

CI tips​

  • Run unit tests on every commit.
  • Run integration tests nightly or on main merges.
  • Keep UI tests in a separate stage to avoid slowing down PR checks.

Practical tips​

  • Prefer fast unit tests for business logic.
  • Keep integration tests focused on content structure and permissions.
  • Smoke-test authoring scenarios before releases.

See also​