Validate performance with Lighthouse inside your automated test
Performance is a key component of user experience. Slow pages frustrate users, increase bounce rates, and can negatively impact conversions. The Check Lighthouse performance step brings real performance auditing into your automated flows by running Lighthouse checks on the current page and asserting that important metrics meet your expectations.
Lighthouse is the industry standard for performance auditing. It measures metrics like page load speed, interactivity, accessibility, and best practices. By integrating this check directly into your test automation, you validate performance at the same time as functionality.
Why performance checks matter
Traditional automated tests focus on correctness—did the function work as expected? But performance is just as important. Users expect snappy interactions, fast load times, and responsive navigation. Measuring performance alongside functionality helps you:
Catch regressions that make pages slower
Validate performance targets before release
Ensure real user conditions are covered
Balance speed and reliability across environments
When performance becomes part of your automation suite, confidence rises across teams.
How Lighthouse performance testing works
When the Check Lighthouse performance step runs, it evaluates the current page against a set of predefined performance criteria using Lighthouse. This produces a report with key metrics such as:
First Contentful Paint
Largest Contentful Paint
Time to Interactive
Total Blocking Time
Cumulative Layout Shift
Your test can assert that these metrics fall within acceptable thresholds. If they do not, the test can fail, surfacing performance issues just like functional bugs.
Real-world performance validation
Performance testing inside an automated flow lets you examine real user pathways. For example:
After navigating to a landing page, check that load performance remains fast
Validate that a signup funnel loads quickly on various steps
Measure dashboard performance after data-heavy rendering
Confirm key pages stay responsive even under dynamic load
With each run, you get a consistent, repeatable performance signal that tracks over time.
Combine performance checks with functional assertions
Performance should not exist in isolation. With Lighthouse integration, you can follow performance checks with:
Check Text to confirm content loaded
Check Title to validate correct navigation
Visual regression to compare layout behaviour
Check Value or Check Element to validate UI state
This gives you deeper insight into how performance and functionality work together.
Track performance trends over time
Because Lighthouse scores can be captured and logged across runs, you can monitor how performance evolves:
Detect regressions caused by frontend changes
Compare performance between environments
Share signals with design and product teams
Integrate performance checks into CI/CD pipelines
Performance data becomes a first class signal alongside functional test results.
Confidence in real user experience
Automated performance testing with Lighthouse gives teams confidence that:
Pages load quickly in real conditions
Interactions remain responsive
Layouts don’t shift unexpectedly
Users aren’t blocked by slow interfaces
This helps you deliver fast, reliable experiences that delight users, improve engagement, and align with business goals.