flaky-selector-scan

Flaky Selector Scan

Find the selectors that will break on the next redesign. No signup required.

Prerequisites

• None. Pure Claude Code — reads the test files directly, no MCP required.

Trigger

• "Scan my tests for flaky selectors"
• "Which locators are brittle?"
• "Why do my UI tests keep breaking?"

Workflow

1. Find UI test files (Playwright *.spec.ts, Cypress *.cy.js, Selenium page objects, etc.).
2. Extract locators from page.locator(...), getBy*, $(...), find_element(...), cy.get(...).
3. Classify each by fragility:

Fragility classes

Class	Example	Why it's flaky
Absolute XPath	/html/body/div[2]/div[1]/button	Breaks on any DOM reshuffle
Positional CSS	.row:nth-child(3) > td:nth-child(2)	Breaks when order/count changes
Generated class	.css-1a2b3c, .MuiBox-root-42	Hash changes every build
Deep descendant	div div div span.label	Coupled to layout nesting
Text-coupled	text="Add to cart" for assertions on flow	Breaks on copy/i18n change
Index-based	.locator('button').nth(4)	Breaks when buttons are added

Stable (good): getByRole('button', { name }), data-test/data-testid, getByLabel, id (if stable), ARIA roles.

1. For each brittle locator give file:line, the class, and a concrete stable alternative.

2. Output:

## Flaky Selector Scan — 12 spec files, 140 locators

**Brittle: 23 (16%) · Stable: 117**

### Highest risk
- `checkout.spec.ts:31` — `.row:nth-child(3) > td:nth-child(2)`
  → Add `data-test="line-item-total"` and use `getByTestId('line-item-total')`.
- `login.spec.ts:12` — `page.locator('button').nth(2)`
  → `getByRole('button', { name: 'Sign in' })`.
- `nav.spec.ts:8` — `.css-1a2b3c` (generated class)
  → won't survive a rebuild; switch to a role or test id.

### By file
  checkout.spec.ts ......... 7 brittle
  login.spec.ts ............ 4 brittle
  nav.spec.ts .............. 3 brittle

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