Built-in Cucumber BDD Step Definitions

SHAFT Engine ships with 500+ pre-built Gherkin step definitions covering browser navigation, element actions, and assertions. You can write feature files and start running BDD tests immediately — without authoring glue code from scratch.

tip

This page describes how to use Cucumber with SHAFT. If you prefer a simpler BDD approach without .feature files, see BDD-Style Reports with Allure Annotations.

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Maven Dependency

Add the SHAFT Cucumber integration dependency to your pom.xml:

pom.xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.github.shafthq</groupId>
    <artifactId>SHAFT_ENGINE</artifactId>
    <!-- Use your current SHAFT version -->
</dependency>

SHAFT's built-in Cucumber steps are included in the core engine — no separate artifact is required.

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Test Runner Setup

Create a runner class using JUnit Platform Suite:

CucumberTestRunner.java

import org.junit.platform.suite.api.*;

@Suite
@IncludeEngines("cucumber")
@SelectClasspathResource("features")
@ConfigurationParameter(
    key = "cucumber.glue",
    value = "com.shaft.cucumber,your.steps.package"
)
@ConfigurationParameter(
    key = "cucumber.plugin",
    value = "io.qameta.allure.cucumber7jvm.AllureCucumber7Jvm"
)
public class CucumberTestRunner { }

info

Always include both com.shaft.cucumber (SHAFT's built-in steps) and your own steps package in the cucumber.glue value. Separate them with a comma.

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Feature File Examples

Browser Navigation and Element Interaction

login.feature

Feature: User Login

  Scenario: Successful login with valid credentials
    Given I open the target browser
    When I navigate to "https://example.com/login"
    And I type "testuser" into the element found by "id" "username"
    And I type "password123" into the element found by "id" "password"
    And I click the element found by "id" "loginBtn"
    Then I assert that the "title" attribute of the browser, equals "Dashboard"
    And I assert that the element found by "id" "welcomeMsg", exists

Assertions and Validations

profile.feature

Feature: User Profile

  Scenario: Profile page displays correct user information
    Given I open the target browser
    And I navigate to "https://example.com/profile"
    Then I assert that the element found by "id" "fullName", text contains "John Doe"
    And I assert that the element found by "id" "email", text equals "john@example.com"
    And I assert that the element found by "id" "role", is visible
    And I close the current browser

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Available Step Packages

SHAFT's built-in steps are organised into the following packages under com.shaft.cucumber:

Package	Steps Provided
BrowserSteps	Open/close browser, navigation, URL and title assertions
ElementSteps	Type, click, select, scroll, hover, drag-and-drop
AssertionSteps	Assert element existence, visibility, text, and attributes
AlertSteps	Accept, dismiss, and interact with browser alerts
APISteps	Send requests and validate responses in Gherkin

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Adding Custom Step Definitions

Create your own step definitions in a separate package and include it in cucumber.glue:

CustomSteps.java

package your.steps.package;

import com.shaft.driver.SHAFT;
import io.cucumber.java.en.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.By;

public class CustomSteps {
    private SHAFT.GUI.WebDriver driver;

    @Given("I am logged in as {string}")
    public void loginAs(String username) {
        driver = new SHAFT.GUI.WebDriver();
        driver.browser().navigateToURL("https://example.com/login");
        driver.element()
            .type(By.id("username"), username)
            .type(By.id("password"), "defaultPassword")
            .click(By.id("loginBtn"));
    }

    @Then("I should see the dashboard")
    public void verifyDashboard() {
        driver.assertThat().browser().url().contains("/dashboard").perform();
    }
}

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warning

Do not remove com.shaft.cucumber from the cucumber.glue configuration. Removing it disables all of SHAFT's built-in steps and will cause step-not-found errors.

note

Allure reporting for Cucumber is enabled by adding io.qameta.allure.cucumber7jvm.AllureCucumber7Jvm to cucumber.plugin. This produces the same rich Allure report as non-Cucumber SHAFT tests.