Nocticas

Nocticas E2E Gate — GitHub Action

Run a pinned Nocticas gate against a target URL on every push/PR, and fail the build on a red verdict. The browser runs on Nocticas's servers — this Action is a thin client that starts the run, polls for the verdict, and maps it to an exit code. No false greens: a harness error is never treated as a pass.

Quickstart

1. Author + pin a flow in Nocticas (agentic run → pin → export the deterministic step script as JSON).
2. Commit the gate to your repo, e.g. .nocticas/checkout-flow.json.
3. Add your key as a repo secret: NOCTICAS_API_KEY.
4. Add the workflow:

# .github/workflows/nocticas.yml
name: Nocticas E2E gate
on: [pull_request, workflow_dispatch]
jobs:
  verify:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest          # standard runner = free on public repos
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4   # so the gate file is available
      - uses: Low-Latency-Labs/nocticas-action@v1
        with:
          api-key: ${{ secrets.NOCTICAS_API_KEY }}
          gate: .nocticas/checkout-flow.json
          target: ${{ vars.PREVIEW_URL }}   # your deployed preview/staging URL

A red verdict fails the job → blocks the PR/merge.

Inputs

| Input | Required | Default | Description | |--|--|--|--| | api-key | yes | — | Your Nocticas API key (store as a secret). | | gate | yes | — | Path to the pinned gate JSON (array of deterministic steps) in your repo. | | target | yes | — | URL to test (e.g. the PR's preview deploy). | | api-base | no | https://app.nocticas.com/api | Nocticas API base. | | timeout-seconds | no | 300 | Max wait for a verdict. | | poll-seconds | no | 3 | Poll interval. | | fail-on-error | no | true | Treat a harness error (not a test fail) as a build failure. An unverified run is never a pass. |

Outputs

| Output | Description | |--|--| | run-id | The Nocticas run id (link it in your logs). | | verdict | passed \| failed \| error \| timeout. |

The gate file

A JSON array of deterministic steps — exactly what Nocticas produces when you pin a passing run. Example in examples/gate.example.json. Keeping it in your repo means your E2E test is version-controlled alongside the code it guards.

Don't commit real credentials. Point the gate at a staging/preview target and use a dedicated test account; Nocticas's built-in test inbox handles OTP/magic-link logins so you don't need to embed secrets in the gate.

Cost

• Publishing this Action: free (public repo, no paid plan).
• Running it (your customers): free on public repos with standard runners; within the monthly free-minutes allowance on private repos. It's a single thin job — seconds of runner time.
• The browser run: billed in Nocticas credits — and deterministic/pinned runs are free within your monthly allowance, so gating every push typically costs nothing in credits.

Other CI systems (the recipe)

Not on GitHub? The same start → poll → exit logic is a portable script — see recipe.sh and examples/gitlab-ci.example.yml. The contract is just JSON over HTTP:

POST {api-base}/runs   { "mode":"deterministic", "target": "...", "script": [ ...gate... ] }   → { "id": "..." }
GET  {api-base}/runs/{id}                                                                       → { "status": "passed|failed|error|..." }

Header: x-nocticas-key: <key>. Exit non-zero unless status == "passed".