# Flaky Tests
## What is a flaky test?
A flaky test is a test that did not succeed on the first attempt. It fails only occasionally: one time it passes, another time fails, and the next time pass again, without any changes.
Flaky tests are marked with a dedicated badge.
## How to activate flaky test detection?
Flaky tests are automatically activated for [when](https://playwright.dev/docs/test-retries) retries are enabled. When a test has retries enabled and it doesn't pass on the first attempt, it is marked as flaky.
## Why are flaky tests bad?
A flaky test **can block a CI/CD pipeline**, making feature delivery slower than it needs to be. Flaky tests are not deterministic — making them useless and expensive to repair.
In summary, flaky tests are considered harmful because:
* You cannot trust them - neither system / component under test nor the test itself is reliable
* Even if flaky tests passes, your end users can experience intermittent issues
* Flaky tests increase the duration of your testing suite
* Flaky tests are expensive to repair and maintain
## How to get rid of flaky tests?
### Measure and Identify Flakiness
Use [Test Explorer](/dashboard/test-suite-performance-explorer/tests-explorer.md) to see the tests with the highest flakiness rate.
## Eliminate Flaky Tests
Brows past test executions and examine what error messages cause flakiness using [Test Explorer](/dashboard/test-suite-performance-explorer/tests-explorer.md#individual-test-analysis).
Test history tab show flaky execution for a particular test
The error above is a 100% cause of flakiness for the test
Most common reason for flakiness
* Using fixed wait times
* Long complex and fragile
* Sharing data and state between tests
## Fail on Flaky Tests
{% hint style="info" %}
`failOnFlakyTests` property is available in Playwright **v1.52+**, and in `@currents/playwright` starting from **v1.12.3**.
{% endhint %}
Starting with Playwright v1.52, the runner can be configured to exit with an error if any test has been marked as flaky [see the official docs](https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-testconfig#test-config-fail-on-flaky-tests). This is particularly useful on CI systems where the presence of flaky tests should block the pipeline.
#### Configuration
In your `playwright.config.ts`, enable the option by setting `failOnFlakyTests` to `true` (for example, based on the `CI` environment variable):
```ts
import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';
export default defineConfig({
// Exit with an error if any test is marked flaky.
failOnFlakyTests: Boolean(process.env.CI),
});
```
#### Command-Line Option
Alternatively, the same behavior can be enabled via the CLI flag:
```bash
# Using Playwright test command
npx playwright test --fail-on-flaky-tests
# Using the Playwright wrapper
npx pwc --fail-on-flaky-tests
# Using the orchestration
npx pwc-p --fail-on-flaky-tests
```
When this flag is present, the test run will exit with a non-zero status if any tests are detected as flaky, ensuring flaky tests block your CI pipeline.
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