What is Shortest used for?

Shortest is a natural-language end-to-end testing framework built on Playwright that uses the Anthropic Claude API to run tests written in plain English. It is a good fit for testing user flows without brittle selectors and letting non-developers describe QA scenarios.

Is Shortest open source?

Yes. Shortest is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at antiwork/shortest and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Shortest is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $10 per seat per month.

What is Shortest an alternative to?

Shortest is an open-source alternative to mabl, Testim, QA Wolf and Functionize. Other open-source alternatives to mabl include Magnitude, Crusher and Playwright.

Is Shortest actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Shortest was on 6 August 2026, and the latest release is v0.4.9, published on 1 April 2025. The project has 5.7k stars on GitHub.

Shortest: open-source alternative to mabl, Testim, QA Wolf

About Shortest

Shortest is an AI-powered end-to-end testing framework in which tests are written in natural language. Test execution is handled by the Anthropic Claude API, and the browser automation underneath is Playwright. It is released under the MIT license and maintained by the Antiwork team.

The project adds integrations for common testing hurdles, including GitHub login with two-factor authentication and email validation with Mailosaur. A shortest init command streamlines setup in a new or existing project by installing the package as a development dependency, creating a default shortest.config.ts file, and generating a .env.local file.

Shortest is written in TypeScript and works in Next.js and other JavaScript projects. It suits development teams who want to describe user flows in plain language rather than maintain brittle selectors, and who accept the cost and variability of calling a language model API during test runs.

Key features

Tests written in plain English
AI-driven execution with the Claude API
Built on Playwright
GitHub login with 2FA support
Email validation through Mailosaur
Setup command that generates config files

Good fit for

→Testing user flows without brittle selectors
→Letting non-developers describe QA scenarios

Built with: TypeScript; JavaScript; Next.js
Tags: e2e-testing; playwright; ai-testing; natural-language; claude; nextjs; test-automation; typescript

Shortest: questions and answers

What is Shortest used for?: Shortest is a natural-language end-to-end testing framework built on Playwright that uses the Anthropic Claude API to run tests written in plain English. It is a good fit for testing user flows without brittle selectors and letting non-developers describe QA scenarios.
Is Shortest open source?: Yes. Shortest is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at antiwork/shortest and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Shortest free?: Yes. Shortest is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $10 per seat per month.
What is Shortest an alternative to?: Shortest is an open-source alternative to mabl, Testim, QA Wolf and Functionize. Other open-source alternatives to mabl include Magnitude, Crusher and Playwright.
Is Shortest actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Shortest was on 6 August 2026, and the latest release is v0.4.9, published on 1 April 2025. The project has 5.7k stars on GitHub.