You can integrate your TestRail project with external requirement management systems, defects and issue trackers, and other agile project management tools. These integrations are enabled like plugins, and can be used to push, link or add data straight from TestRail. By setting these up, TestRail enables you to:
- Report bugs straight from TestRail
- Create links in your test results to bugs in your issue tracker
- Fetch bug information from your issue tracker by hovering over the link
- Check reported bugs' status for test runs, tests plans and milestones
- Set up test coverage by referencing requirements or user stories in test cases
- Fetch requirements or user stories information by hovering over their link
- Generate coverage and traceability reports based on references
Requirements and references integrations
You can use the References field on test cases, runs, plans, and milestones to link requirements that your team needs to test.
Without enabling any integrations, you can simply copy and paste a URL or specification ID into this References field. This allows you to quickly access the resource as a reference during testing and for coverage-tracking purposes.
Reference View and Add URLs
If the system you use to track requirements includes a unique ID in the URL to view the requirement (for example, the ID “TR-42” in the URL https://example.tracker.com/project-1/TR-42), you can set up TestRail to automatically hyperlink each unique IDs you add. You can configure this with the View Reference URL option in Administration > Integration.
Once set up, you can copy and paste issue IDs into the References field on test cases, runs, plans, or milestones and TestRail will automatically create the hyperlink. You can link multiple references to the same entity in TestRail by adding them in a comma-separated list.
You can also bookmark the web address you use to create new issues in your external tool. This is done by setting up the Add Reference URL option for your instance or project. Once configured, TestRail will display an Add link above references field everywhere throughout your project that will open a new tab to create an issue in your external tool.
Reference Plugins
And if TestRail has a built-in Reference Plugin for the external tool your team uses to track requirements, you can use that to look up data from that tool inside of TestRail. Once enabled, reference plugins allow you to hover over a linked reference to pull data from your external tool and view it in TestRail (like status, priority, component, version, assignee, etc.). You can configure what fields you see in the hover pop-ups, and with some integrations, you can even edit the information in the external tool without leaving TestRail.
For more information about configuring and using requirements and reference integrations, check out the article Configuring Reference Integrations.
Defects, bugs, and other issue tracker integrations
When you add a test result in a run or plan, you can use the Defects field to link a defect, bug report, or other issue type tracked in an external bug, defect, or issue tracker.
Defect View and Add URLs
You can also copy and paste unique IDs for issues you’ve already created in your external tool if you prefer. If the system you use to track defects or issues includes this unique ID as part of the URL to view the defect, you can configure TestRail to automatically hyperlink the unique IDs you add. This is done with the Defect View URL option in Administration > Integration.
Once set up, you can copy and paste issue IDs into the References field on test cases, runs, plans, or milestones and TestRail will automatically create the hyperlink. You can link multiple references to the same entity in TestRail by adding them in a comma-separated list.
You can also fill the Defect Add URL field to bookmark a URL from your external tool in your TestRail project to be able to quickly open a new tab and add new issues. Once configured, you will see an Add link appear to the right of the Defects field when adding a test result.
You will also see a Defects dropdown menu appear in the toolbar for projects, milestones, plans, runs, and test cases. This allows you to click the link to go to your external tool and add a new defect from nearly any location in TestRail.
Defect Plugins
If TestRail has a built-in Defect Plugin integration available for your external tool, then you can further extend the integration. Defect plugins give you the ability to create new issues and push them to your external tool without leaving TestRail. You can customize the push defect dialog view to set which fields to display in the new issue view that you can edit before submitting, change layout settings, and configure default values.
You can also customize the template that TestRail uses to auto-generate description fields for the issues you push. Most importantly, you can insert variables in description templates that TestRail will use to dynamically pull data from your test case, run, plan, milestone, and current test result when you push the defect.
Once you have configured the defect plugin, you can also hover over linked defects to view real-time data about them like status, assignee, version, etc. You can also customize the fields displayed in defect hover preview windows, and some defect plugins even allow you to edit data in your external tool from the hover preview window, without having to leave TestRail.
For more information about setting up defect integrations, configuring hover fields, and customizing push defect descriptions templates, see the article on Configuring Defect Integrations.