Testing
Windows desktop apps built with WPF or WinUI 3 present a familiar testing challenge: UI frameworks couple logic to platform types that are hard to instantiate in tests. The solution for both frameworks is the same—MVVM architecture that concentrates testable logic in ViewModels, with UI tests reserved for integration
Testing
Tauri is a framework for building lightweight desktop apps with a Rust backend and a web frontend. Its architecture—Rust commands exposed to the frontend via a bridge—creates a natural testing boundary: Rust logic is tested with Rust's toolchain, frontend logic with JavaScript testing tools, and the
Testing
Qt applications are tested with QTest, Qt's built-in unit testing framework. Unlike third-party frameworks bolted onto C++, QTest understands Qt's object model—you can test signals, slots, models, and widgets with purpose-built APIs rather than workarounds. This guide covers QTest setup, unit testing
Testing
macOS AppKit applications are tested with XCTest, Apple's first-party testing framework. Unlike iOS testing where UIKit is the focus, macOS AppKit has some unique characteristics—NSDocument architecture, menu bar integration, window management—that require specific testing approaches. This guide covers unit testing AppKit apps with XCTest, including
Testing
Electron applications combine Node.js and Chromium into a single runtime, making them powerful but uniquely challenging to test. Unlike pure web apps or pure Node.js services, Electron apps have two processes—main and renderer—that communicate via IPC. Jest is the go-to testing framework for the Node.
Testing
Tauri is a framework for building lightweight desktop applications using web technologies for the frontend and Rust for the backend. Unlike Electron, which bundles Chromium, Tauri uses the OS's native WebView — resulting in apps that are typically 10-100x smaller. Testing a Tauri app means testing two distinct
Testing
macOS applications built with AppKit or SwiftUI can be automated using XCUITest — the same framework used for iOS UI testing. If you're building a macOS app with Xcode, XCUITest is the native way to write end-to-end tests that launch your app, interact with UI elements, and
Testing
Windows desktop applications — whether built with WPF, WinForms, or Win32 — require specialized automation tooling. WinAppDriver (Windows Application Driver) is Microsoft's open-source tool that implements the WebDriver protocol for Windows UIA (UI Automation), letting you automate Windows applications using the same Appium-style API used for mobile testing.
Testing
Desktop application testing is harder than web testing. Applications have richer state, native controls that don't map cleanly to HTML, OS-level interactions, and file system dependencies. Without deliberate architectural decisions, desktop test suites become fragile and slow. These patterns address the most common failure modes. The Three-