đź’ˇ The Spark: Why I Wanted AL-Go to Test Itself
We’ve all watched AL-Go evolve into a developer’s best friend — automating builds, signing apps, deploying to sandboxes, and releasing to production.
But something was missing: confidence.
Sure, your pipeline compiles, publishes, and runs automated tests.
But can it open a Business Central page, create an invoice, and click “Post” just like a user would?
Until recently, that answer was “no.”
That’s when Microsoft quietly dropped a game-changer: the Page Scripting Tool and its sidekick, bc-replay.
⚙️ The Breakthrough: Business Central Gets a UI Brain
In the 2024 release wave, Microsoft introduced the ability to record Business Central user actions as YAML scripts.
Then in 2025, they made the magic happen — you can now replay those scripts inside your CI/CD pipelines.
Think about it:
“Your AL-Go pipeline doesn’t just build your extension.
It acts like a user and validates your business flow — automatically.”
This is made possible by @microsoft/bc-replay, a Node.js package that runs your recorded UI scripts via Playwright.
Official source:
👉 Run page scripts in pipelines for automated testing
🧱 My Mission: Teaching AL-Go to Test Itself
I wanted to push AL-Go beyond build validation — into true process validation.
The idea: wire bc-replay as a post-CI workflow that replays a page script inside GitHub Actions.
That’s how “Teaching AL-Go to Test Itself” was born.
🧰 Step 1 – Bootstrapping the Playground
I started with a fresh repository from the official AL-Go PTE Template.
After the usual setup, I had a working CI/CD pipeline ready to run.
Then came the tools:
npm install -g @microsoft/bc-replay
npx replay --help
And just like that, Business Central had a test automation bridge between its UI and my GitHub pipeline.
🧑‍💻 Step 2 – Recording the “Human” Test
I opened my Business Central sandbox, switched on Page Scripting, and recorded a scenario every consultant knows by heart:
Creating and posting a Sales Invoice.
When I hit “Stop Recording,” BC handed me a YAML file — a perfectly scripted playbook of my clicks and inputs.
That file became:
/tests/pageScripts/post-sales-invoice.yml
I committed it, smiled, and moved to the fun part.
Make sure you have the necessary permission sets.
🔄 Step 3 – Wiring the Replay into AL-Go
Here’s the magic workflow that made it all real:
name: Run page scripts (post AL-Go CI)
on:
workflow_run:
workflows: [" CI/CD"]
types: [completed]
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
replay-ui:
runs-on: windows-latest
if: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success' }}
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: '20'
- run: npm install @microsoft/bc-replay --save
- run: npx playwright install
- run: New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path ".\\tests\\pageScripts\\results" -Force
- name: Replay Test
env:
BC_URL: ${{ secrets.BC_URL }}
BC_USER: ${{ secrets.BC_USER }}
BC_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.BC_PASSWORD }}
run: >
npx @microsoft/bc-replay replay
-Tests ".\\tests\\pageScripts\\post-sales-invoice.yml"
-StartAddress "$env:BC_URL"
-Authentication AAD
-UserNameKey BC_USER
-PasswordKey BC_PASSWORD
-ResultDir ".\\tests\\pageScripts\\results"
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: playwright-report
path: tests/pageScripts/results/playwright-report
This workflow triggers automatically after AL-Go finishes the CI/CD build — it’s the “afterparty test.”
🧩 Step 4 – The Secrets Behind the Scenes
For security, I stored my connection details as GitHub Secrets:
BC_URLBC_USERBC_PASSWORD
Even on a public repo, GitHub Secrets remain encrypted and safe.
The workflow retrieves them at runtime — nothing leaks, nothing breaks.
✅ Step 5 – The Moment of Truth
When I pushed the workflow, I watched GitHub Actions come alive:
- AL-Go built and published the app.
- bc-replay launched Chrome.
- The pipeline logged into BC and posted an invoice — just like me.
- The results zipped into an artifact:
playwright-report.
It felt like watching a colleague run user acceptance testing — except faster, repeatable, and 100% automated.
And once the job completed, the invoice is now posted in Business Central
🧠What This Means for Business Central DevOps
This isn’t just another testing trick.
This is the first time Business Central pipelines can validate real user behavior — right after code is deployed.
AL-Go + bc-replay transforms your pipeline into a digital tester:
- âś… Verifies UI flows
- ✅ Ensures updates don’t break key processes
- ✅ Makes partners’ QA efforts continuous
As Microsoft noted:
“In 2024 release wave 2, we added standalone page script replayer support for CI/CD pipelines.”
— Microsoft Learn, 2024 Wave 2 Release Notes
🌍 Where It’s Going
Microsoft already confirmed that deeper AL-Go integration is on the way — and you can feel it.
Imagine a future where your pull requests automatically spin up a sandbox, run UI scripts, and comment “All tests passed” before you even merge.
We’re closer than ever.
🧾 Conclusion: From Code to Confidence
So here’s the truth:
AL-Go was already powerful — but bc-replay made it human.
If you want your pipeline to think like a tester, act like a user, and never miss a step — this is your next evolution.
I’ve shared the full repo and documentation here:
👉 GitHub Repo
And if you try this setup, tag me — I’d love to see how you make your pipelines “click.”
