Tools and Installation

It’s possible to write automated tests with Specflow.Core and Specflow.Selenium using any text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) on Windows, MacOS, or Linux. For ease of managing the example projects and for the sake of this documentation, these instructions cover the use of VisualStudio and VisualStudio Code on Windows and MacOS. There are free versions of all the tools and libraries listed below.

Windows with Visual Studio

1. Download and install Visual Studio
2. Download and install .NET core SDK 3.1.x
3. Install the SpecFlow extension.

Windows with VisualStudio Code

1. Download and install VisualStudio Code
2. Download and install .NET core SDK 3.1.x
3. Open Visual Studio Code and navigate to the extensions tab. It usually appears on the sidebar as a set of small squares.
4. Search for and install the following extensions:
   • C#
   • NuGet Package Manager
   • .NET Core Test Explorer
   • Docker
   • Cucumber (Gherkin) Full Support

MacOS with Visual Studio

1. Download and install Visual Studio for Mac. .NET Core and Mono will be installed as part of the Visual Studio installation process.
2. Open Visual Studio and install the SpecFlow extension.

MacOS with Visual Studio Code

1. Download and install the latest stable Mono package. Alternatively, if you have homebrew installed, you can run brew install mono-libgdiplus in a terminal.
2. Download and install VisualStudio Code
3. Download and install .NET core SDK 3.1.x
4. Open Visual Studio Code and navigate to the extensions tab. It usually appears on the sidebar as a set of small squares.
5. Search for and install the following extensions:
   • C#
   • NuGet Package Manager
   • .NET Core Test Explorer
   • Docker
   • Cucumber (Gherkin) Full Support