Recipes

The same command locally and on the CI server

Two profiles in default-profiles, each with a condition, let robotcode run do the right thing on a developer machine and on the CI server, without a -p. GitHub Actions and GitLab CI, for example, set the environment variable CI:

default-profiles = ["local", "ci"]

[profiles.local]
description = "Developer machine"
enabled = { if = "'CI' not in environ" }

[profiles.local.extend-variables]
BASE_URL = "http://localhost:8080"

[profiles.ci]
description = "CI server"
enabled = { if = "'CI' in environ" }
output-dir = "results/ci"

[profiles.ci.extend-variables]
BASE_URL = "https://staging.shop.example"
HEADLESS = "true"

On a developer machine, ci is disabled and only local applies; on the CI server, it is the other way round.

Browsers as profiles

Profiles for the browsers combine with the profiles for the environments, so you don't need a profile for every pair:

[variables]
BROWSER = "chromium"

[profiles.staging.extend-variables]
BASE_URL = "https://staging.shop.example"

[profiles.firefox]
description = "Firefox"

[profiles.firefox.extend-variables]
BROWSER = "firefox"

[profiles.webkit]
description = "WebKit"

[profiles.webkit.extend-variables]
BROWSER = "webkit"

robotcode -p staging -p firefox run runs against the staging shop in Firefox. In VS Code and PyCharm, select both profiles in Select Configuration Profiles.

Smoke tests and dry runs

[profiles.smoke]
description = "Only the smoke tests"
extend-includes = ["smoke"]

[profiles.check]
description = "Check the tests without running them"
dry-run = true

robotcode -p smoke run runs the tests tagged smoke, and robotcode -p check run checks all tests for syntax errors and missing keywords without running them. In the Test Explorer of VS Code, both are offered as run profiles, so a click runs the selected tests that way; in PyCharm, Run with Profile... does the same.

A results folder per run

output-dir = { expr = "f'results/{datetime.now():%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S}'" }

Each run writes its results to a folder of its own, such as results/2026-10-18_14-30-05, and the results of earlier runs stay.

Secrets

Passwords and tokens do not belong in a committed robot.toml. On a developer machine, keep them in your .robot.toml, which is not committed:

[extend-env]
SHOP_USER = "jane"
SHOP_PASSWORD = "secret"

On the CI server, let the CI system set them as environment variables. The tests read them with %{SHOP_USER} and %{SHOP_PASSWORD} in both cases.

Settings per operating system

default-profiles = ["os-*"]

[profiles.os-windows]
enabled = { if = "platform.system() == 'Windows'" }
hidden = true

[profiles.os-windows.extend-variables]
DRIVER_PATH = "C:\\drivers"

[profiles.os-linux]
enabled = { if = "platform.system() == 'Linux'" }
hidden = true

[profiles.os-linux.extend-variables]
DRIVER_PATH = "/usr/local/bin"

[profiles.os-macos]
enabled = { if = "platform.system() == 'Darwin'" }
hidden = true

[profiles.os-macos.extend-variables]
DRIVER_PATH = "/opt/homebrew/bin"

default-profiles takes patterns, as -p does, so os-* selects all three profiles, and only the one of the current system applies. The profiles are hidden, because nobody needs to select them on their own. A selection with -p replaces the default profiles, so add the pattern when you select other profiles: robotcode -p staging -p "os-*" run.

A profile for debugging

[profiles.debug]
description = "Detailed log"
precedence = 100
log-level = "TRACE"
console = "verbose"

robotcode -p ci -p debug run runs as on the CI server, but with a detailed log. The high precedence makes debug win, whatever order you select the profiles in.

Test files in another language

languages = ["de"]

Robot Framework then reads section headers and settings in German, such as *** Testfälle ***, in all files, and RobotCode's analysis and completion do the same.