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Use spotlight testing to test your workspace changes in your repository’s root directory. Spotlight testing

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Enabling spotlight testing

Spotlight testing is experimental. To enable it, go to Settings -> Experimental and toggle on “Use spotlight testing”. If you run into any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected]!

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Spotlighting a workspace

When you have changes ready to test in a workspace, use the spotlight button in the Conductor UI to copy the changes back to your repository’s root directory. You’ll then have access to a terminal in your repository root directory in the Conductor UI. Use this terminal to test your application. When you turn spotlight mode off, your original state in your repository root will be restored. Spotlight testing

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Hot reloading

Enabling spotlight mode adds a file watcher to your workspace. Whenever changes are detected, Conductor will create a checkpoint commit of your workspace and check it out in your repository root. If your development server supports hot reloading, you’ll see workspace changes reflected without having to take any manual action.

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Why spotlight?

Spotlight testing is a great fit for:
  • Directory-dependent applications - Spotlight runs your app in your repository’s root directory, so you don’t have to build workarounds if your application has assumptions about what directory on a machine it runs from.
  • Long initial builds - If your first build takes a long time but subsequent incremental builds are fast, spotlight testing enables reuse of build artifacts that already exist by running from one location.
  • External resource dependencies - If your app depends on a single external resource (like a database or a specific port), spotlight testing leverages your existing resource setups in the repository root.