# How to Use NIZU Live Testing  Step by Step

> A step-by-step guide to NIZU Live Testing: create a product, bind a project, build test suites and cases with steps, (Apps: Live Testing)

- Page: https://dashboard.nizu.io/knowledge_base/view/145-how-to-use-nizu-live-testing-step-by-step
- Part of: [Knowledge base](https://dashboard.nizu.io/knowledge_base/llms.txt) on NIZU — https://dashboard.nizu.io/llms.txt
- Updated: 2026-10-25T11:50:03Z

## How to use NIZU Live Testing

This guide walks through the full workflow, from setting up what you test to running a cycle and reviewing the results. The left menu of the app contains these sections: **Test cycles**, **Defects**, **Regressions**, **Test suites**, **Products** and **Projects**.

### Step 1 Create a product

1. Open **Live Testing → Products**.
2. Click **Add product**.
3. Enter a product name (a slug is generated automatically) and an optional description, then save.

A product is the thing you test (for example an app, a website, or an API). Every project that you test is bound to exactly one product.

### Step 2 Bind a project to the product

1. Open **Live Testing → Projects**.
2. Find the project you want to test and click **Assign product**.
3. Choose the product and save.

This binding lets builds, test cycles, defects and regressions be attributed to the right product.

### Step 3 Build test suites and cases

1. Open **Live Testing → Test suites** and click **Add suite**.
2. Pick the project, name the suite, and optionally mark it as the project's **smoke suite** (the fallback set of critical checks). Each project has one smoke suite.
3. Open the suite and click **Add case**.
4. Give the case a title. Build the test as a list of **numbered steps** using **Add step**: each step has a title, an optional description, and can carry attachments (screenshots, PDFs or other files).
5. Fill in the **expected result** (it can also carry attachments), set a priority (shown as a colour-graded badge red for highest, through yellow for medium, to green for lowest), and mark the case as mandatory if it must always be executed.
6. Optionally pick a **linked task** one of your own tasks in this project. This is who owns the underlying work, so if the case later fails or regresses, the bug task is automatically assigned to that developer.
7. Save the case. The case records you as its **author**, shown in the suite's case list alongside the linked task and its owner.

### Step 4 Start a test cycle

1. Open **Live Testing → Test cycles** and click **Start cycle** (or use the **Start cycle** button on the project's **Testing** tab).
2. Pick the project and confirm. The app creates the cycle and snapshots every active case of that project into a checklist of results to execute.

### Step 5 Claim and execute cases

1. Open the cycle. You see every case with its status.
2. Click **Claim** to assign a case to yourself.
3. Click **Execute** to run the case. Tick each step as you complete it, then choose an outcome: **Passed**, **Failed**, **Blocked** or **Skipped**.
4. Add optional notes and save.

### Step 6 Report a failure

When you choose **Failed**, a defect form appears below the outcome:

1. Set the **severity** and **reproducibility**.
2. The steps and expected result are pre-filled from the case; describe what **actually** happened.
3. Attach **evidence**: screenshots, a screen recording, or any document that shows the problem.
4. Save. The app records a structured defect, and automatically creates a **task** in the same project for a developer to fix pre-filled with a summary of the failure and a link back to this cycle. If the case was linked to a developer's task, the new task is **assigned to that developer** automatically. The task appears in the **Task** column of the cycle and opens in a popup.

### Step 7 Watch the live race (optional)

1. From a cycle, click **Live race**.
2. Each tester who has claimed cases appears as a pixel-art runner. As they complete cases, their runner moves toward the finish line; finishers stand on the podium with a medal.
3. A running **clock** in the header shows how long the cycle is taking; it turns green and shows the total when every case is done.
4. Optional race music loops while anyone is still running. Use the speaker button to mute or unmute.
5. Each tester can choose their own pixel-art avatar in their profile preferences (the "Race avatar" picker).

### Step 8 Review defects and regressions

- **Defects** open **Live Testing → Defects** to see every bug, its severity and status, and move it through its lifecycle. Evidence files are shown inline.
- **Regressions** open **Live Testing → Regressions** to see a running count, a chronological chart of regressions over time, and the register of each one. A regression is automatically detected when a case that passed before now fails.

### Step 9 Sign off

When a run is complete, an authorized approver can sign it off. The pass-rate threshold used for approval is configured in **Settings → Live Testing**.

### Step 10 Track time

The cycle is timed automatically: **Testing started** is stamped when the first test is executed, and **Finished** when the last case is closed. The cycle view shows the start, finish and total **duration**; the cycles list shows a duration column and the **average testing time** across cycles, so you can measure and forecast your QA effort.