Test quarantine quick reference

Quarantine temporarily removes flaky or broken tests from CI execution while preserving them for fixing. It’s not about getting a green pipeline—it’s about reducing noise so new failures aren’t missed. Quarantine is always temporary: tests must be fixed, removed, or moved to a lower test level.

Tests can either enter quarantine via a merge request being raised manually, or the semi automated process.

This process is part of Phase 1 of the quarantine improvement initiative.

Assigned a quarantine merge request

If you have been assigned a quarantine MR, you have been identified as an appropriate DRI to review the quarantine for the failing test. When you’re assigned an automated quarantine merge request:

1. Review within 48 hours.
2. Decide the best approach:
   • Fix immediately: If the root cause is clear and fixable within 2 weeks.
   • Delete the test: If it’s low-value or redundant.
   • Convert to lower level: If it can be tested more reliably at unit or integration level.
   • Quarantine: If investigation takes longer than 2 weeks.
3. Take action within 2 weeks:
   • Merge the merge request (test enters quarantine), OR
   • Fix the test and close the merge request, OR
   • Provide feedback on why it shouldn’t be quarantined.

If no action is taken:

• The merge request is approved by the Pipeline DRI after 2 weeks.
• The test enters long-term quarantine.
• The 3-month deletion countdown begins.

Your responsibilities after merging:

• Investigate the root cause.
• Update the issue with progress weekly.
• Resolve or remove within 3 months.

For more information, see the detailed quarantine process.

How tests become quarantined

The test was identified as flaky from the associated Test Failure Issue, which tracked its repeated failure.

This started a semi-automated process of raising a quarantine merge request, so teams can action the test.

Dequarantine a test

Before dequarantining:

• Verify the test passes consistently.
• Ensure the root cause is identified and fixed.
• Commit to monitoring for 1 week after dequarantine.

Steps:

1. Create a merge request:
   • Remove the quarantine: metadata attached to the spec.
   • Include evidence of verification.
2. After merge, monitor for 1 week:
   • Watch #master-broken for failures.
   • Check test failure issues.
   • Re-quarantine immediately if it fails again.
3. After 1 week of stable runs, close the quarantine issue.

Related topics

• Detailed quarantine process
• Quarantine improvement initiative epic: Full context

Get help

• Process questions: #g_test_governance - Test Governance Group
• General questions: #s_developer_experience - Developer Experience Stage
• Technical help: #development - General development help
• Urgent issues: #master-broken - Immediate pipeline issues

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