DryRun

 In BDD Cucumber Framework, a dry run is a feature that helps you verify whether all steps in your feature files have matching step definitions—without actually executing the test code.

✅ What is dryRun in Cucumber?

• It’s a flag used in the @CucumberOptions annotation (for TestNG or JUnit runners).

• When set to true, it checks the mapping between feature file steps and Java step definition methods.

• It helps to quickly validate if you’ve implemented all step definitions, without launching the browser or app.

When dryRun=true, if a step is not implemented:

Cucumber checks only mapping of each step with its definition. Does not execute any code.

Feature: Debit Card Payment

@Dryrun

Scenario: Ebay homepage display

Given User is on Ebay homepage

When click on Ebay Icon

Then User navigated to Ebay Homepage

package testRunner;

import io.cucumber.testng.AbstractTestNGCucumberTests;

import io.cucumber.testng.CucumberOptions;

@CucumberOptions(features = "src/test/java/features",glue="Steps", monochrome=true, dryRun = true, tags = "@Dryrun")

public class DryrunTestRunner extends AbstractTestNGCucumberTests{

}

package Steps;

public class DryRun_Steps {

}

Output:

io.cucumber.testng.UndefinedStepException: The step 'User is on Ebay homepage' and 2 other step(s) are undefined.

You can implement these steps using the snippet(s) below:

@Given("User is on Ebay homepage")

public void user_is_on_ebay_homepage() {

// Write code here that turns the phrase above into concrete actions

throw new io.cucumber.java.PendingException();

}

@When("click on Ebay Icon")

public void click_on_ebay_icon() {

// Write code here that turns the phrase above into concrete actions

throw new io.cucumber.java.PendingException();

}

@Then("User navigated to Ebay Homepage")

public void user_navigated_to_ebay_homepage() {

// Write code here that turns the phrase above into concrete actions

throw new io.cucumber.java.PendingException();

}

dryRun=false

Cucumber executes all tests normally, including setup and test logic.

✅ When to Use dryRun

• While developing new scenarios, to check if step definitions exist.
• During CI/CD pipeline checks, to verify step coverage without full execution.
• Before running full tests, to avoid runtime errors from missing steps.