Up to 55% offYour first purchase - Offer ends Oct 31Claim offer
Contact usLog in
Start free trialBook a demo
Katalon Studio Solutions

Reduce test maintenance and flaky test failures

A UI change shouldn't break 30 tests. Katalon Studio matches a fix to each cause of flakiness, from broken locators to timing, and nothing changes in your tests until you approve it.

Start free trialSee how it works

The problem

Why test maintenance eats your sprint

Most flaky tests aren't random. They come from a handful of causes, and rerunning the job fixes none of them.

A UI change breaks dozens of tests

A renamed ID or a moved button fails every test that touches it, and each one needs the same fix.

Timing failures come and go

The element wasn't ready, the animation hadn't finished, and the test passes on the second run.

Red builds stop meaning anything

When the team can't tell a flaky failure from a real bug, they rerun until it's green and real bugs slip through.

Fixing tests crowds out writing them

Coverage stalls because the week goes to keeping yesterday's tests alive.

The financial risk of flaky tests
How it works

How Katalon Studio reduces test maintenance

Match the fix to the cause.

Causes of test maintenance, what you see, and what Katalon Studio does about each
CauseWhat you seeWhat Studio doesPlan
The UI changedElement not found after a releaseLocators live in the object repository, so one fix reaches every test. Classic self-healing tries your other locators in the order you set. If they all fail, AI self-healing looks at the page source, accessibility tree, and screenshots to find the element.Object repository: FreeSelf-healing: Paid plans
TimingPasses on rerun, fails at randomSmart Wait waits for page loading, visibility, animations, and editability on web before each step.Free
Environment noiseFails in CI, passes locallyRetry failed executions immediately or after the whole run, and run in the same setup every time with the Katalon Docker Image or Test Cloud.Retries: Paid plans
Flaky or real?Reruns hide real bugsScreenshots and video at the point of failure. With Katalon True Platform, a flakiness score across your run history shows which tests are unstable.Reports: FreeTrue Platform: separate product
Self-healing

You approve every fix

  1. 1

    The run keeps going

    When a locator breaks, Studio tries the alternatives and finishes the run instead of failing on a renamed ID.

  2. 2

    Review in Self-healing Insights

    See the broken locator, the proposed one, how it was found, and a screenshot.

  3. 3

    Approve or discard

    Approve saves the new locator as the default. Discard rejects it.

Self-healing handles locator changes. It won't fix a timing issue, bad test data, or a real bug, which is why the other fixes above exist.

Setup

Set up self-healing in three steps

Self-healing tests in Katalon Studio
In Katalon Studio

What keeps your tests stable

Object repository

Fix a locator once and every test that uses it picks up the fix.

Free

Smart Wait

Fewer timing failures on web, without hard-coded sleeps.

Free

Classic self-healing

Falls back to your other locators when the default breaks.

Paid plans

AI self-healing

Finds the element from the page source, accessibility tree, and screenshots when every locator fails.

Katalon AI featuresPaid plans

Self-healing Insights

Review each proposed fix and approve or discard it.

Retry failed executions

Separate one-off failures from real ones.

Paid plans

Don't want AI in your runs? Classic self-healing and Smart Wait use no AI, and AI self-healing only runs with a model you configure.

By role

What changes for your team

Automation engineer

  • Fix a broken locator once, not in 30 scripts
  • Stop adding sleeps to get a green run
  • Review healed locators instead of hunting for them

QA lead

  • Red builds that mean something again
  • Less of each sprint spent on keeping old tests alive
  • Know which tests are flaky before release day, with Katalon True Platform

Manual tester

  • Recorded tests that survive the next UI change
  • Fixes you can review without reading code
In your pipeline

Stable in CI, not just on your machine

Most flaky failures show up in the pipeline. Run the same tests, in the same environment, every time, and send the results where your team already looks.

Run from any CI tool

Katalon Runtime Engine runs your suites from the command line, so any pipeline can trigger them, with retry rules applied on every run.

GitHub ActionsJenkinsAzure DevOpsGitLab CICircleCIRead the docs

The same environment every run

Most "fails in CI, passes locally" failures come from environment drift. Pin it with a container, or let Test Cloud supply the browsers.

Katalon Docker ImageTest CloudChromeFirefoxEdgeSafariExplore Test Cloud

Results where your team looks

Failures arrive with screenshots and video attached. With Katalon True Platform, a flakiness score shows which tests are unstable across runs.

Katalon True PlatformJiraSlackExplore integrations
Side by side

Rerun and hope vs fix by cause

SituationRerun and hopeKatalon Studio
Broken locatorEdit it in every script that uses itFix it once in the object repository, or approve a healed locator
Timing failureAdd a sleep and move onSmart Wait handles page timing on web
Intermittent CI failureRerun the job until it's greenRetry rules, and the same environment every run
Flaky or real?GuessEvidence at the point of failure, plus a flakiness score with True Platform
What changes in your testsWhatever someone editedOnly what you approve
Flaky tests in test automation
Questions

Frequently asked questions

What causes flaky tests?

Most flaky tests come from a few causes: locators that break when the UI changes, timing issues where an element isn't ready yet, test data or environment differences between runs, and shared state between tests. Each cause needs a different fix, which is why rerunning rarely solves the problem.

How does self-healing work in Katalon Studio?

When a test's default locator fails, Studio tries your other locators (XPath, Attributes, CSS, Image, Smart Locator) in the order you set. If none of them work, AI self-healing can analyze the page source, accessibility tree, and screenshots to find the element. Proposed fixes appear in Self-healing Insights for you to review.

Will self-healing change my tests without me knowing?

No. The run can continue on an alternative locator, but the permanent change waits in Self-healing Insights. You approve a fix to save it as the new default, or discard it.

Does self-healing work for mobile tests?

Yes. Self-healing works for Web UI and Mobile tests, with separate settings for each.

Do I have to use AI?

No. Classic self-healing, Smart Wait, and the object repository don't use AI. AI self-healing uses the model set in your AI configuration, or your own API key.

Can Katalon find flaky tests across runs?

Yes, with Katalon True Platform. It calculates a Probabilistic Flakiness Score from pass-to-fail patterns in your test history, so you can see which tests are unstable.

Is self-healing included in the Free plan?

No, self-healing is on paid plans. Smart Wait, the object repository, and built-in reports are on the Free plan.

Run your flakiest suite in Studio this week

Start free trial