What is Cucumber?
Cucumber is an open-source testing tool that supports Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). It lets you write test scenarios in plain English, so that everyone (developers, testers, business analysts) can understand them — even if they don’t know how to code.
It works by connecting your English-language test steps (written in Gherkin) to Java methods (called step definitions) that actually perform the test.
🧩 Components of Cucumber Framework
📄 Feature File
The Feature file is the heart of a Cucumber test. It contains test scenarios written in Gherkin syntax, which uses plain English keywords like Given, When, Then, And, etc. These scenarios describe the application’s behavior from an end-user perspective. Each feature file describes a specific feature or functionality (e.g., login, registration) and consists of multiple scenarios. It helps non-technical stakeholders understand and even contribute to the test cases.
💬 Step Definitions
Step Definitions are Java methods that contain the actual automation logic behind each Gherkin step. These methods are mapped to the steps in the feature file using annotations like @Given, @When, @Then, etc. When a Cucumber test is executed, it matches each step in the feature file to its corresponding method in the step definition file. This is where you write your Selenium or REST Assured code to interact with the application or API.
🧱 POM (Page Object Model)
The Page Object Model (POM) is a design pattern used to enhance the maintainability and readability of Selenium test code. In the context of Cucumber, POM helps keep the step definitions clean and reusable by separating the page-specific logic (like locators and page actions) into separate Java classes. Instead of writing Selenium code directly in step definitions, you call methods from your page classes. This separation of concerns makes the framework scalable and easier to update when UI changes happen.
🚀 Test Runner
The Test Runner is the class that triggers the execution of Cucumber tests. It uses annotations like @CucumberOptions to define configuration options such as the path to feature files, step definitions, tags to filter scenarios, report plugins, etc. The runner can use JUnit or TestNG, depending on your preference. It glues everything together and tells Cucumber where to find the steps and which tests to run. Without the runner, Cucumber won’t know what to execute.
