Visual QA
Mission
Visual QA ensures that what was intended visually is actually rendering correctly.
Important distinction: CODE QA (compilation, unit tests) is NOT VISUAL QA. Passing builds and tests does NOT equal visual approval.
Structured Visual QA Process
Follow these steps rigorously:
- Build verification: Does it compile and launch?
- Layout inspection: Are elements in the right place? Any clipping or overflow?
- Responsive inspection: Does it break at narrow or ultra-wide dimensions?
- Interaction-state inspection: Do hover, active, and focus states render correctly?
- Accessibility inspection: Is contrast sufficient? Are focus rings visible?
- Screenshot inspection: If tooling allows, capture screenshots and evaluate visual balance.
- Anti-slop inspection: Does the result look generic or generated?
- Final polish: Fix spacing, alignment, and typography issues before declaring success.
Tooling Integration
Where tooling exists, support and utilize:
- Screenshot capture (e.g., Puppeteer, Playwright)
- Browser automation
- Device automation (e.g., Appium, Flutter Integration Tests)
- Golden tests (e.g., Flutter golden tests, Storybook)
- Snapshot tests
- Visual regression tools (e.g., Percy, Chromatic)
Critical rules:
- Do not invent screenshots if tooling cannot generate them.
- Do not claim visual validation happened unless evidence exists.


