Install latest stable Codeception via Composer:

composer require codeception/codeception --dev

It is easy to setup tests by running bootstrap command:

composer exec codecept bootstrap

This will create tests directory and configuration file codeception.yml. This also prepares 3 suites for testing: acceptance, functional, and unit. You will also need to prepare .env file for testing environment:

cp .env .env.testing

Functional tests allow test application by simulating user actions, this is done by sending requests to framework kernel and checking HTML as a result. Unilke internal tests of Laravel, Codeception doesn't limit you to testing only one request per test. You can test complex interactions involving different actions and controllers. This way you can easily cover your specifictions with functional tests.

To start you need to configure tests/functional.suite.yml to use Laravel5 module:

class_name: FunctionalTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - Laravel5:
            environment_file: .env.testing
        - \AppBundle\Helper\Functional

Codeception will also use Eloquent to cleanup changes to database by wrapping tests into transaction and rolling it back in the end of a test. This makes tests isolated and fast. Laravel5 module allows to access services from DIC container, user authentication methods, fixture generators, check form validations and more.

To create first functional test for Login you should run:

composer exec codecept g:cest functional Login

Codeception is powered by PHPUnit so unit and integration test work in a similar manner. To genereate a plain PHPUnit test for Foo\Bar class

composer exec codecept g:phpunit unit "Foo\Bar"

This generates a standard test inherited from PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase. For integration tests you may use Codeception-enhanced format which allows accessing services from DI container, use Eloquent, Data Factories. To have it create a unit test extending Codeception\Test\Unit class:

composer exec codecept g:test unit "Foo\Bar"

You will need to enable Laravel5 module in unit.suite.yml to have its methods inside $this->tester object.

To test an application in a real environment by using its UI you should use a real browser. Codeception uses Selenium Webdriver and corresponding WebDriver module to interact with a browser. You should configure acceptance.suite.yml to use WebDriver module and a browser of your choice.

class_name: AcceptanceTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - WebDriver:
            url: 'https://localhost/' # put your local url
            browser: firefox
        - \Helper\Acceptance            

Browser can be specified as firefox, chrome, phantomjs, or others.

Acceptance tests will be executed in development environment using real web server, so settings from .env.testing can't be passed to them.

You can also use Eloquent to create data for acceptance tests. This way you can use data factories and models to prepare and cleanup data for tests. You should enable Laravel5 module with ORM part to add ActiveRecord methods:

class_name: AcceptanceTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - WebDriver:
            url: 'https://localhost/' # put your local url
            browser: firefox
        - Laravel5:
            part: ORM
            cleanup: false # can't wrap into transaction
        - \Helper\Acceptance            

Laravel5 module won't be able to wrap test execution in a transaction but methods like haveRecord or haveModel will delete objects they created when test ends.

API Tests are done at functional testing level but instead of testing HTML responses on user actions, they test requests and responses via protocols like REST or SOAP. To create api tests you should create a suite for them

composer exec codecept g:suite api

You will need to enable REST, Laravel5 module in tests/api.suite.yml:

class_name: ApiTester
modules:
    enabled:
        - REST:
            url: /api/v1
            depends: Laravel5
        - \ApiBundle\Helper\Api
    config:
        - Laravel5:
            environment_file: .env.testing

Laravel5 module actions like amOnPage or see should not be available for testing API. This why Laravel5 module is not enabled but declared with depends for REST module. Laravel5 should use testing environment which is specified in config section

If you prefer to describe application with feature files, Codeception can turn them to acceptance or functional tests. It is recommended to store feature files in features directory (like it does Behat) but symlinking it to tests/acceptance/features or tests/functional/features so they can be treated as tests too. For using BDD with acceptance tests you need to run:

ln -s $PWD/features tests/acceptance

Codeception allows to combine tests written in different formats. If are about to wirite a regression test it probably should not be described as a product's feature. That's why feature-files is subset of all acceptance tests, and they are stored in subfolder of tests/acceptance.

There is no standard Gherkin steps built in. By writing your feature files you can get code snippets which should be added to AcceptanceTester class.

composer exec codecept gherkin:snippets

In the same manner features can be set up as functional tests.