Smoke testing

A smoke test answers:

• “Does the build basically work?”

It’s a quick suite that checks:

• app starts
• critical endpoints respond
• major screens load

Often run:

• after deployment to staging
• after CI build

Sanity testing

A sanity test answers:

• “Does this specific change look OK?”

It’s narrower and focused on a particular area.

Example:

• after a checkout fix, sanity test checkout only

Quick comparison

• smoke: broad and shallow
• sanity: narrow and deep

Tip

Keep smoke tests small and reliable.