Framework review: Robot
Robot Framework is a test automation framework for acceptance testing (…) it utilises the keyword-driven testing approach. Its testing capabilities can be extended by Python test libraries.
Code
Example of automation at GitHub.
Use cases
Automate end-to-end tests using the UI. You can also use it quite well for contract or API tests (though not as explicit as RestAssured).
Learning curve
You will quickly master the Robot syntax, as it’s close to plain English. The framework “just works” and you don’t need to know much about it.
Language
Tests are written in Robot, and supports Gherkin. Even though it’s easy, it’s yet another syntax your team needs to learn.
Ecosystem
Python. Enough libraries for most use cases. PyCharm as not helpful an IDE, so I used a regular Python text editor like VS Code.
Readability
The keyword-driven approach makes your tests easy to understand. The test report file gives you an overview of the results, yet allows you to drill down to details.
Extensibility
You can create your own keywords to increase the abstraction, or compose them with existing keywords. Not easy to add custom code.
Maintainability
Refactoring keeps the code base understandable, although without a proper IDE it gets cumbersome. Limited debug.
Documentation
The online doc is enough and clear. There are enough examples online. There are also tutorials and courses.
VERDICT: 3.5/5
Good for small or simple projects, otherwise has limitations.