Cypress Sessions

One of the most useful features in larger Cypress test suites is cy.session().

It helps solve a common problem: repeating the same setup steps, especially logging in before each test.

cy.session() lets Cypress save and reuse session data like cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage. This means you don’t have to log in every time. Cypress can quickly restore the same browser state.

It also works with Cypress test isolation and can reuse sessions across different spec files when you enable cacheAcrossSpecs.

What is a Cypress session?

A Cypress session is a cached authenticated browser state.

Instead of logging in before every test, Cypress can:

• perform login once

• save the session

• restore it in later tests

This usually means:

• less repeated login code

• faster test execution

• less flakiness

• cleaner, focused tests

A session can store:

• cookies

• local storage

• session storage

Example: UI login with cy.session()

What this does

• cy.session('user', ...) creates a cached session

• the callback runs the real login flow

• Cypress saves the authenticated state

• future tests reuse it instead of logging in again

• cacheAcrossSpecs: true allows reuse across spec files

Using sessions in tests

Before

After

The test becomes shorter and focused on the real behavior.

Using different users

When working with multiple roles (admin, user, etc.), each session should have a unique ID.

Example usage

Benefits of sessions

Use cy.session() when:

• login is slow

• login repeats across many tests

• setup is identical

• many specs use the same user

Main benefits

• faster runs

• less duplicated code

• fewer login-related failures

• better readability

Key rule

Use sessions when login is setup, not the thing you are testing.

When not to use sessions

Avoid sessions when login itself is under test:

• login validation errors

• MFA flows

• password reset

• auth redirects

• “remember me” behavior

In these cases, the login flow should not be skipped.