medium

AssertionError: expected true to equal false

A Chai assertion in Cypress failed because the actual value did not match the expected value. This is the most common test failure type.

Common Causes

  1. 1Test expectation doesn't match actual behavior
  2. 2Data changed between test setup and assertion
  3. 3Race condition between API response and DOM update
  4. 4Wrong assertion chainer used

How to Fix

Use should() for auto-retry

// Non-retrying (fails immediately):
cy.get('#count').invoke('text').then(text => {
  expect(Number(text)).to.equal(5);
});

// Auto-retrying (waits up to timeout):
cy.get('#count').should('have.text', '5');

should() retries automatically until the assertion passes or times out. Use it for DOM assertions.

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Related Errors

CypressError: Timed out retrying after 4000ms

A Cypress command timed out while retrying. Cypress automatically retries assertions until the timeout, then fails. The default is 4 seconds.

CypressError: Expected to find element but never found it

Cypress could not find any element matching the selector within the timeout period. The element may not exist, may have a different selector, or may not have been rendered yet.

CypressError: cy.visit() failed

cy.visit() failed to load the target URL. The server may be unreachable, or the response status code indicates an error.

CypressError: element has been detached from the DOM

The element that Cypress was interacting with was removed from the DOM and re-rendered. This is common in React/Vue/Angular apps where components re-render.

CypressError: cy.request() failed

cy.request() failed because the server returned an error, the connection was refused, or the request timed out.