BDD Cucumber + Azure DevOps Integration

BDD (Behaviour-Driven Development) with Cucumber lets non-technical stakeholders write and read test scenarios in plain English. In Azure DevOps, Cucumber tests run as part of CI/CD and publish results alongside other automated tests.

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The BDD + Azure DevOps stack

Gherkin feature files (business language)
          ↓
Cucumber (JavaScript/Java/Python) runs scenarios
          ↓
JUnit XML output
          ↓
Azure Pipelines → PublishTestResults
          ↓
Azure Test Plans (results visible)

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JavaScript (Playwright + Cucumber)

Feature file

GHERKIN
1# features/checkout/discount.feature
2Feature: Discount code application
3
4  Background:
5    Given I am logged in as a registered user
6    And my cart contains a "Laptop Pro X" worth £899
7
8  Scenario: Valid discount code applies correctly
9    When I enter discount code "SAVE20"
10    And I click "Apply"
11    Then I should see "20% discount applied"
12    And the order total should be "£719.20"
13
14  Scenario: Expired discount code shows error
15    When I enter discount code "EXPIRED10"
16    And I click "Apply"
17    Then I should see error "This discount code has expired"
18    And the order total should remain "£899.00"
19
20  Scenario Outline: Invalid codes show appropriate errors
21    When I enter discount code "<code>"
22    And I click "Apply"
23    Then I should see error "<message>"
24
25    Examples:
26      | code     | message                          |
27      | INVALID  | Discount code not recognised     |
28      | USED123  | This code has already been used  |
29      | NOTREAL  | Discount code not recognised     |

Step definitions

TYPESCRIPT
1// steps/checkout/discount-steps.ts
2import { Given, When, Then } from '@cucumber/cucumber'
3import { expect } from '@playwright/test'
4
5Given('I am logged in as a registered user', async function () {
6  await this.page.goto('/login')
7  await this.page.fill('[name="email"]', process.env.TEST_EMAIL!)
8  await this.page.fill('[name="password"]', process.env.TEST_PASSWORD!)
9  await this.page.click('[type="submit"]')
10  await this.page.waitForURL('**/dashboard')
11})
12
13When('I enter discount code {string}', async function (code: string) {
14  await this.page.fill('[data-testid="discount-input"]', code)
15})
16
17When('I click {string}', async function (buttonText: string) {
18  await this.page.click(`button:has-text("${buttonText}")`)
19})
20
21Then('I should see {string}', async function (message: string) {
22  await expect(this.page.locator('[data-testid="discount-message"]')).toContainText(message)
23})
24
25Then('the order total should be {string}', async function (total: string) {
26  await expect(this.page.locator('[data-testid="order-total"]')).toContainText(total)
27})

Cucumber configuration

TYPESCRIPT
1// cucumber.js
2module.exports = {
3  default: {
4    require: ['steps/**/*.ts', 'support/**/*.ts'],
5    requireModule: ['ts-node/register'],
6    format: [
7      'progress-bar',
8      'junit:test-results/cucumber-results.xml',
9      'html:test-results/cucumber-report.html',
10    ],
11    formatOptions: { snippetInterface: 'async-await' },
12    paths: ['features/**/*.feature'],
13    parallel: 4,
14  },
15}

---

Java (Cucumber + Selenium)

Maven dependencies

XML
1<dependencies>
2  <dependency>
3    <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
4    <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
5    <version>7.18.0</version>
6    <scope>test</scope>
7  </dependency>
8  <dependency>
9    <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
10    <artifactId>cucumber-junit</artifactId>
11    <version>7.18.0</version>
12    <scope>test</scope>
13  </dependency>
14  <dependency>
15    <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
16    <artifactId>cucumber-picocontainer</artifactId>
17    <version>7.18.0</version>
18    <scope>test</scope>
19  </dependency>
20</dependencies>

Runner class

JAVA
1@RunWith(Cucumber.class)
2@CucumberOptions(
3    features = "src/test/resources/features",
4    glue = "steps",
5    plugin = {
6        "pretty",
7        "junit:target/cucumber-results.xml",
8        "html:target/cucumber-report.html"
9    },
10    tags = "@regression"
11)
12public class CucumberRunner {}

---

Azure Pipelines YAML

YAML
1trigger:
2  branches:
3    include: [main]
4
5pool:
6  vmImage: ubuntu-latest
7
8stages:
9  - stage: BDDTests
10    displayName: Cucumber BDD Tests
11    jobs:
12      - job: Cucumber
13        timeoutInMinutes: 30
14        steps:
15          - task: NodeTool@0
16            inputs:
17              versionSpec: '20.x'
18
19          - script: npm ci
20            displayName: Install packages
21
22          - script: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
23            displayName: Install Playwright
24
25          - script: mkdir -p test-results
26            displayName: Create results dir
27
28          - script: npx cucumber-js
29            displayName: Run Cucumber tests
30            env:
31              BASE_URL: $(STAGING_URL)
32              TEST_EMAIL: $(TEST_EMAIL)
33              TEST_PASSWORD: $(TEST_PASSWORD)
34            continueOnError: true
35
36          - task: PublishTestResults@2
37            displayName: Publish Cucumber results
38            inputs:
39              testResultsFormat: JUnit
40              testResultsFiles: test-results/cucumber-results.xml
41              testRunTitle: BDD Cucumber — $(Build.BuildNumber)
42              mergeTestResults: true
43            condition: always()
44
45          - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
46            displayName: Upload HTML report
47            inputs:
48              targetPath: test-results/cucumber-report.html
49              artifact: cucumber-html-report
50            condition: always()

---

Tagging for selective execution

Run only smoke tests in PR pipelines:

YAML
1- script: npx cucumber-js --tags "@smoke"
2  displayName: Smoke BDD tests (PR)
3  condition: eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'PullRequest')
4
5- script: npx cucumber-js --tags "@regression and not @wip"
6  displayName: Regression BDD tests
7  condition: ne(variables['Build.Reason'], 'PullRequest')

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Common errors and fixes

Error: Undefined step: Given I am logged in... Fix: The glue path (Java) or require pattern (JS) must match where your step definitions live. Check the path configuration in the runner or cucumber.js config.

Error: Scenario Outline runs but only shows 1 result Fix: Each row in the Examples table is a separate test case. If only 1 appears in results, the JUnit reporter may be collapsing them. Use junit:test-results/results.xml and check the generated XML for multiple <testcase> elements.

Error: Background steps run once for the whole feature, not before each scenario Fix: The Background: section runs before EACH scenario by design. If your background is running only once, check if you've accidentally used BeforeAll instead of Before in hooks.

Error: Parallel execution causes test data collisions Fix: Each parallel worker must create isolated test data. Use unique identifiers (UUID) for any records created during scenario setup.