Smoke Testing
A quick, high-level round of testing that checks whether the most critical functions of an application work, typically run immediately after a new build or deployment.
Smoke testing is sometimes called 'build verification testing.' The name originates from hardware testing: if you plug in a device and it starts smoking, there is no point testing anything else. Similarly, if a software build fails smoke tests, deeper testing is deferred until the fundamental issues are resolved.
A smoke test suite is deliberately small and fast. It covers critical paths like login, homepage rendering, core navigation, and primary conversion flows rather than edge cases or advanced features.
Why It Matters for QA Teams
Running smoke tests immediately after deployment lets QA teams catch catastrophic failures within minutes, preventing broken builds from wasting hours of deeper testing effort.
Example
After deploying a release to staging, an automated smoke suite checks: homepage loads (200 status), login works, the product listing page renders, and the checkout button is clickable. The entire run completes in under two minutes, giving the team a fast go/no-go signal.