Getting Started

Get up and running with Pepper in minutes. This guide walks you through installation and generating your first test documentation.

Prerequisites

Before installing Pepper, make sure you have:

• .NET 8.0 SDK or later installed
• A .NET test project using NUnit, xUnit, or MSTest

dotnet --version

Installation

Install Pepper in your test project:

dotnet add package PepperBDD

After building, pepper.exe will be automatically copied to your project's output directory alongside your test assembly.

Adding StepDescription Attributes

Add [StepDescription] attributes to your page object methods:

Basic StepDescription

[StepDescription("Navigate to the login page")]
public void NavigateTo()
{
    driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://app.example.com/login");
}

StepDescription with Variables

Use curly braces to include parameter values in your documentation:

[StepDescription("Enter username '{username}'")]
public void EnterUsername(string username)
{
    usernameField.SendKeys(username);
}

Multiple Steps with Order

[StepDescription("Navigate to checkout page", Order = 1)]
[StepDescription("Fill in shipping information", Order = 2)]
[StepDescription("Select express shipping", Order = 3)]
public void CompleteCheckout(ShippingInfo info)
{
    // Implementation
}

StepIgnore Attribute

Exclude helper methods from documentation:

[StepIgnore]
public void LogDebugInformation()
{
    // This won't appear in docs
}

Adding CaseDescription

Add [CaseDescription] to your test methods:

[Test]
[CaseDescription("Verify user can log in with valid credentials")]
public void Login_ValidateSuccess()
{
    loginPage.NavigateTo();
    loginPage.EnterUsername("test@example.com");
    loginPage.EnterPassword("password123");
    loginPage.ClickLogin();

    Assert.That(dashboard.IsDisplayed(), Is.True);
}

Generate Documentation

Build your project and run Pepper:

dotnet build
pepper -generateReport -project "C:\Path\To\Project" -output "TestReport.pdf"

Custom Attributes

Add custom metadata to your tests for richer documentation and test management integration.

Using CustomAttribute

[Test]
[CaseDescription("Verify user can log in")]
[CustomAttribute("Priority", "Critical")]
[CustomAttribute("TestRailId", "TC-001")]
public void Login_ValidateSuccess()
{
    // Test implementation
}

Framework-Specific Alternatives

You can also use your test framework's native attributes:

• NUnit: [Property("Key", "Value")]
• xUnit: [Trait("Key", "Value")]
• MSTest: [TestProperty("Key", "Value")]

Including in PDF

Use the -includeCustoms flag to show custom attributes in PDF reports:

pepper -generateReport -project "./MyTests" -output "report.pdf" -includeCustoms

Configuration Files

Use JSON configuration files for consistent, repeatable builds.

Example Configuration

{
  "project": "./MyTestProject",
  "output": "TestReport.pdf",
  "reportName": "My Test Suite Documentation",
  "font": "calibri",
  "reportStyle": "structured",
  "generateJson": true,
  "includeCustoms": true,
  "categories": "Smoke,Regression",
  "logoSource": "./company-logo.png"
}

Using Config Files

pepper -config pepper.config.json

CLI parameters override config file values when both are provided.

CLI Reference

Commands

Customization Options

Category Filtering Examples

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

- name: Build Test Project
  run: dotnet build ./tests/MyTestProject

- name: Generate Test Documentation
  run: ./tests/MyTestProject/bin/Debug/net8.0/pepper -generateReport -project ./tests/MyTestProject -output TestReport.pdf

- name: Upload Documentation
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
  with:
    name: test-documentation
    path: TestReport.pdf

Azure DevOps

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Build Tests'
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    projects: '**/MyTestProject.csproj'

- script: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/tests/MyTestProject/bin/Debug/net8.0/pepper.exe -generateReport -project $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/tests/MyTestProject -output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/TestReport.pdf
  displayName: 'Generate Test Documentation'

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: 'test-documentation'