What is Aethr

Aethr is a command-line AI agent designed to run natural language test scenarios using LLM and MCP tools, providing real-time feedback in the terminal.

Use cases

Use cases for Aethr include automating test scenarios in software development, generating test plans from natural language descriptions, and providing real-time feedback during test execution.

How to use

To use Aethr, install Node.js 22+, set up API keys for a supported LLM provider, create a test scenario file, and execute it using the command ‘npx -y a’.

Key features

Key features include natural language test file definition, AI agent for test planning and execution, automation of test execution through MCP tool calling, and a CLI-based interface that is CI friendly.

Where to use

Aethr can be used in software testing environments, particularly for automated testing processes that require natural language descriptions.

Aethr /ˈiːθər/

Natural language test scenario runner agent with MCP tools.

Overview

Aethr is a command-line AI agent that runs natural language test scenarios with LLM and MCP, with real-time terminal feedback. It bridges the gap between plain natural language test descriptions and automated testing.

Demo

Success example

Failure example

Features

• Natural language test file definition
• AI agent for test plan and execution
• MCP tool calling to automate test execution
• CLI-based i.e. CI friendly

Getting started

Assuming you have Node.js installed and an OpenAI key that can access your gpt-4.1-mini model on macOS or Linux:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-....
export OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4.1-mini
mkdir aethr-test && cd aethr-test
# The 'aethr-test' directory is created to serve as a workspace to store aethr.config.mjs and 'logs'
# You can replace 'aethr-test' with any directory name of your choice.
npx -y aethr@latest run https://raw.githubusercontent.com/autifyhq/aethr/main/demo.md

[!NOTE]
See how to setup for the other LLM providers in Prerequisites section.

Prerequisites

• Install Node.js 22+ by any method you like
• Setup API keys or credentials for one of LLM providers below:
  • OpenAI, OpenRouter, Anthropic, Amazon Bedrock, Google GenAI, Google VertexAI, Azure OpenAI, Groq, Cohere, Ollama
• Put model name and keys/credentials in environment variables (or .env file)

# Model names here are just examples.
# As long as the model supports tool calling, you can try it out with Aethr.

OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
OPENAI_API_KEY=

# or

OPENROUTER_MODEL=openai/gpt-4o-mini
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=

# or

ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=

# or

BEDROCK_MODEL=us.amazon.nova-pro-v1:0
AWS_PROFILE=
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=

# or

GOOGLE_MODEL=gemini-1.5-flash-8b
GOOGLE_API_KEY=

# or

VERTEXAI_MODEL=gemini-2.0-flash-exp
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=

# or

AZURE_OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=
AZURE_OPENAI_API_INSTANCE_NAME=
AZURE_OPENAI_API_DEPLOYMENT_NAME=
AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION=

# or

GROQ_MODEL=llama-3.1-8b-instant
GROQ_API_KEY=

# or

COHERE_MODEL=command-r7b-12-2024
COHERE_API_KEY=

# or

OLLAMA_MODEL=llama3.2

Usage

Create a test scenario file (see below or examples directory) and run it:

npx -y aethr@latest run <your_test_file>

[!NOTE]
The default MCP tools is @aethr/playwright-mcp that is a patched version of @playwright/mcp with a few new features:

• Assertion tool (browser_assert_contain_text)
• Environment variable replacement (browser_navigate, browser_type)
• Trace file output

You can use any MCP tools for test automation by modifying aethr.config.mjs created by the first execution.

Along with the CLI output logs, you can also check Playwright Trace data for debugging:

npx -p @aethr/playwright-mcp@latest playwright show-trace ./trace.zip

Example Test Scenario

Test scenario can be any text format as long as LLM can understand.
Here is an example using Markdown:

# Test login feature

Follow the steps below.

## Steps

1. Visit ${URL}
2. Enter ${MY_USERNAME} to the Username
3. Enter ${MY_PASSWORD} to the Password
4. Click login button
5. Assert the button shows "Logout"
6. Assert "You logged into a secure area!" text exists

Note: ${...} notation is replaced by the environment variables available on the CLI execution (currently it’s done by MCP actually). This is useful for sensitive input like password as well as data driven tests.

Configuration

Aethr uses aethr.config.mjs in the current directory as a configuration file (you can change it by --config-file option):

/** @type {import("aethr/dist/config/schema.js").ConfigSchema} */
export default {
  profiles: {
    default: {
      mcpServers: {
        playwright: {
          command: "npx",
          args: [
            "-y",
            "@aethr/playwright-mcp@latest",
            ...["--browser", "chromium"],
            ...["--headless"],
            ...["--user-data-dir", "${TEMP_DIR}"], // ${TEMP_DIR} is given by Aethr per run and cleared after the run
          ],
          env: {
            FORCE_COLOR: "0", // To avoid unnecessary color codes in the assertion failure message
            TRACE: "./trace.zip", // Location to store the trace file
          },
        },
      },
      runOptions: {
        recursionLimit: 50,
        temperature: 0.7,
        thinkTool: false,
        reasoning: false,
      },
    },
  },
};

You can tweak any configuration here.

CI example

[!NOTE]
We’re preparing to provide a GitHub Actions to simplify this setup. Stay tuned.

If you want to run Aethr in GitHub Actions:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: "22"
      - run: npx -y -p @aethr/playwright-mcp playwright install chromium --with-deps --only-shell
      - run: npx -y aethr run ./example/login.md
        env:
          OPENROUTER_MODEL: ${{ vars.OPENROUTER_MODEL}}
          OPENROUTER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
          URL: ${{ vars.URL }}
          MY_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.MY_USERNAME }}
          MY_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MY_PASSWORD }}
      - run: mkdir -p trace && unzip trace.zip -d trace
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: trace
          path: trace
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: logs
          path: logs

Development

# Run in development mode
npm run dev -- run examples/login.test.md

# Lint code
npm run lint

# Format code
npm run format

Author

Autify Inc.

License

Apache-2.0