Chromatic Visual Testing

Chromatic Visual Testing

Cloud-based visual testing platform that captures screenshots of every Storybook story and detects visual changes.

Quick Start

# Install Chromatic
npx storybook add chromatic

# Or install manually
npm install --save-dev chromatic

# Run visual tests (first time creates baselines)
npx chromatic --project-token=<token>

How It Works

1. Cloud Rendering: Chromatic renders components in cloud browsers
2. Snapshot Capture: Takes screenshot of each story
3. Automated Diffing: Compares new snapshots to baselines
4. Review & Verify: Approve or reject visual changes

Configuration

chromatic.config.json

{
  "projectToken": "chpt_xxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "buildScriptName": "build-storybook",
  "storybookBuildDir": "storybook-static",
  "zip": true,
  "autoAcceptChanges": "main",
  "exitOnceUploaded": false,
  "exitZeroOnChanges": false,
  "onlyChanged": true,
  "externals": ["public/​**"],
  "skip": "dependabot/​**"
}

Package.json Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "chromatic": "chromatic --exit-zero-on-changes",
    "chromatic:ci": "chromatic --auto-accept-changes=main"
  }
}

Story-Level Configuration

Disable Snapshots

// Skip specific story
export const Loading: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: { disableSnapshot: true }
  }
};

// Skip all stories in file
export default {
  title: 'Components/​Spinner',
  parameters: {
    chromatic: { disableSnapshot: true }
  }
};

Viewport Testing

export const Responsive: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      viewports: [320, 768, 1200]
    }
  }
};

Delay for Animations

export const Animated: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      delay: 300, // Wait 300ms before snapshot
      pauseAnimationAtEnd: true
    }
  }
};

Diff Threshold

export const SubtleChanges: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      diffThreshold: 0.2 // 0-1, higher = more tolerant
    }
  }
};

Multi-Browser Testing

// Test in multiple browsers
export default {
  title: 'Components/​Button',
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      modes: {
        chrome: { viewport: 1200 },
        firefox: { viewport: 1200 },
        safari: { viewport: 1200 },
        edge: { viewport: 1200 }
      }
    }
  }
};

Modes for Theme/​Locale Testing

// .storybook/​modes.ts
export const allModes = {
  light: { theme: 'light' },
  dark: { theme: 'dark' },
  mobile: { viewport: { width: 375, height: 667 } },
  desktop: { viewport: { width: 1200, height: 800 } }
};

// Component story
export const Button: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      modes: {
        'light desktop': allModes['light'],
        'dark desktop': { ...allModes['dark'], ...allModes['desktop'] },
        'light mobile': { ...allModes['light'], ...allModes['mobile'] }
      }
    }
  }
};

CI Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Chromatic

on: push

jobs:
  chromatic:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/​checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0 # Required for accurate baselines

      - uses: actions/​setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20

      - run: npm ci

      - uses: chromaui/​action@latest
        with:
          projectToken: ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN }}
          autoAcceptChanges: main
          onlyChanged: true

GitLab CI

chromatic:
  stage: test
  image: node:20
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx chromatic --project-token=$CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN
  only:
    - merge_requests
    - main

TurboSnap (Incremental Testing)

Only test stories affected by code changes:

npx chromatic --only-changed

Configure in CI:

- uses: chromaui/​action@latest
  with:
    projectToken: ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN }}
    onlyChanged: true
    traceChanged: expanded # Track changes across files

Handling Dynamic Content

Ignore DOM Elements

export const WithTimestamp: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: {
      diffIncludeAntiAliasing: false
    }
  },
  decorators: [
    (Story) => (
      <>
        <Story />
        <span data-chromatic="ignore">
          {new Date().toISOString()}
        </​span>
      </>
    )
  ]
};

Mock Data

export const UserProfile: Story = {
  parameters: {
    chromatic: { delay: 500 }
  },
  loaders: [
    async () => ({
      user: { name: 'Test User', avatar: '/​mock-avatar.png' }
    })
  ]
};

Review Workflow

Accept Changes

# Auto-accept on main branch
npx chromatic --auto-accept-changes=main

# Accept specific branches
npx chromatic --auto-accept-changes="main|release/​*"

Skip Builds

# Skip CI for specific patterns
npx chromatic --skip="dependabot/​**"

# Skip with commit message
git commit -m "docs: update readme [skip chromatic]"

Troubleshooting

Flaky Tests

// Increase delay for async content
parameters: {
  chromatic: {
    delay: 1000,
    diffThreshold: 0.1
  }
}

Font Loading Issues

// Wait for fonts in preview.js
export const decorators = [
  (Story) => {
    const [fontsLoaded, setFontsLoaded] = useState(false);

    useEffect(() => {
      document.fonts.ready.then(() => setFontsLoaded(true));
    }, []);

    return fontsLoaded ? <Story /> : null;
  }
];

External Resources

{
  "externals": [
    "public/​fonts/​**",
    "public/​images/​**"
  ]
}

See references/​configuration.md for complete CLI options and references/​ci-integration.md for advanced CI setups.