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---
title: Runs
---
# What is a run?
One `uatu test` invocation. Fresh install, spec-driven exploration, then the trace lands in `runs/<timestamp>/`. Typically minutes to hours, not seconds.
A run is not analogous to a unit test. A closer framing is: boot a fuzzer for an hour and see what breaks. Violations are recorded in the trace and exploration continues, so one run can surface many bugs.
## Lifecycle
```
uatu test --spec spec.ts --bundle-id com.example.app --avd Pixel_7 --duration 30m
│
├── uninstall and reinstall the app (clean slate, every run)
├── boot the sidecar, connect the agent socket
├── bundle the spec, load it into goja
│
├── step 0..N: pause, capture state, evaluate properties, pick action, resume, dispatch
│
└── terminate when --duration elapses (or SIGINT)
└── trace written to ./runs/<timestamp>/
├── trace.jsonl
├── screenshots/
└── meta.json
```
## Why runs are long and linear
uatu does not restart the app every N steps. Each restart throws away two things.
**Novelty and coverage signal.** The exploration strategy weights actions by whether they reach previously unseen state. Restarting resets that history.
**Deep app states.** Many screens take many actions to reach: nested settings, a loaded cart, post-checkout flows. A 50-step prefix to reach "cart with 3 items" does not happen if every run starts cold.
Long-linear trajectories find bugs that restart-based testing structurally cannot.
## Setup cost amortizes
Preconditions (login, onboarding, consent dialogs) are written as weighted action generators gated on extractors. See [writing specs](./writing-specs.html#pattern-preconditions-login-onboarding). They fire only when applicable, so login happens once per run, not per step.
| Run length | Login cost | % of run |
|---|---|---|
| 5 min | ~15s | 5% |
| 30 min | ~15s | 0.8% |
| 1 hour | ~15s | 0.4% |
| CI: 3 seeds × 10 min | ~45s total | 2.5% |
At any non-trivial run length, preconditions are a rounding error.
## Session state
Session tokens, keychain, shared prefs, cookies, and other app-managed persistence survive the full run. If the app logs the user out mid-run, the `doLogin` generator re-fires automatically because its gating extractor (`onLoginScreen`) becomes true again. No retry logic. No special-casing.
## Termination
A run ends when either of these happens.
- `--duration` elapses.
- The process is interrupted (SIGINT).
The trace is written incrementally, so an interrupted run is still fully inspectable.
Additional termination conditions (`--max-steps`, `--exit-on-violation`, hard crash handling) land in [v0.1.0](https://github.com/priyanshujain/uatu/issues/4).