Smoke tests are not a test suite. They are a truth serum for your release.
A good smoke test list is short, stable, and aligned with critical user paths.
Define the critical paths
Pick three to five user journeys that must never fail. If you cannot list them, the product story is unclear.
Make the tests deterministic
Avoid flaky dependencies. If a test requires external services, mock them or build a stable staging equivalent.
Run them at the right time
Run smoke tests before the release window and immediately after deploy. The goal is fast signal, not exhaustive coverage.
Record the result
Log the results in the release brief or afterparty log. This creates a stable trail for future incidents.
How ReleaseMind helps
ReleaseMind ties smoke test results to the release brief so the signal is visible before you ship.
