How To Install & Set Up Nightwatch.js For E2E Testing | Nightwatch.js Tutorial

From The House of LambdaTest LambdaTest Tutorials
1

:rocket: Watch the 2nd Video of Our Nightwatch.js Series! :rocket:

In this session, Tapas Adhikary takes you step-by-step through installing and setting up Nightwatch.js for cross-browser testing.

Learn to manage globals, environment variables, and optimize test execution with parallel runs. Click to level up your testing game! :fire:

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I’ve been using Nightwatch for a while, and this is how I usually get started super fast:

Initialize your project:

mkdir nightwatch-e2e
cd nightwatch-e2e
npm init -y

Install Nightwatch locally:

npm install nightwatch --save-dev

Install ChromeDriver:

npm install chromedriver --save-dev

Create a config file nightwatch.conf.js with the basic setup pointing to Chrome.

  • Create a tests folder and write your first test like opening Google.

Run it:

npx nightwatch

This approach works great if you want everything project-specific without messing with global installs.

3

Hey there! I usually prefer installing Nightwatch globally so I can run it across projects without reinstalling.

Here’s my flow:

Install Nightwatch globally:

npm install -g nightwatch

Install a browser driver globally (Chrome example):

npm install -g chromedriver

Create a folder for your E2E tests, e.g., nightwatch-tests.

Generate a Nightwatch config file using:

nightwatch --init

It sets up a ready-to-go structure with folders for tests, reports, and examples.

Write your first test in tests/ and run:

nightwatch

I like this method because I don’t have to repeat the setup for every small project.

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If you like keeping things fully under Node control, I recommend a project-local setup managed entirely with package.json:

Initialize Node project:

npm init -y

Install Nightwatch and ChromeDriver locally:

npm install nightwatch chromedriver --save-dev

Add a test script to package.json:

"scripts": {
  "test:e2e": "nightwatch"
}

Create nightwatch.conf.js and tests/ folder.

Run your tests via npm:

npm run test:e2e

This approach is neat because everything is versioned with your project, making it easier to share with teammates.