SmartBear adds sources & workflows to BearQ quality system

SmartBear has added Sources and Workflows to its BearQ quality assurance system, extending the product beyond test automation into broader quality management across software delivery.

The update gives BearQ access to information from requirements, bug tracking and existing test assets. It also lets teams set up sequences of quality assurance tasks that run automatically or with human approval. SmartBear said the additions are designed to fit into the testing tools software teams already use.

Broader view

With Sources, BearQ now connects with Atlassian Jira, as well as SmartBear Reflect and SmartBear Zephyr. This allows the system to assess what should be tested, which bugs have already been recorded, and what manual or automated test coverage is already in place.

The broader context is intended to help teams identify coverage gaps and reduce duplicate testing. More source integrations are planned.

Workflows adds a separate layer for coordinating quality assurance activity. Teams can use schedules, BearQ events or external systems such as CI/CD pipelines to trigger actions including preparing environments, running targeted or regression tests, and updating connected systems.

This positions BearQ not only as a tool for individual tests, but also as a way to manage the sequence of tasks that follows testing decisions. Teams can decide how much autonomy the system has at each stage.

Trust issue

SmartBear linked that control model to broader caution among software teams over autonomous testing. It said users can start with human review and approval before allowing more tasks to run automatically as confidence grows.

The company cited a recent survey that found trust is the biggest barrier to adopting autonomous testing among software professionals. BearQ includes review steps and focus areas that let teams define guardrails around its operation.

Atlassian said the connection with Jira reflects the role work-tracking tools play in quality assurance decisions.

"Jira is where teams plan, track, and manage work. But those tasks are just part of what QA helps reconcile - there's also bug reports, and existing manual and automated tests," said Alan Braun, Head of Product Ecosystem at Atlassian. "Tools like BearQ that bring together information help identify and test what actually matters."

Autonomy shift

The announcement highlights a broader shift in software testing as development teams adopt more AI-generated code and face a growing volume of application changes. In that environment, test automation alone may not answer questions about priorities, existing coverage and coordination between systems.

SmartBear said BearQ's new functions are intended to connect application behaviour with intended requirements and existing tests within an organisation. That approach supports a gradual move towards more autonomous quality assurance, rather than a single jump to fully automated operation.

"Autonomous testing is the first step. The bigger opportunity is connecting everything that informs software quality - how an application behaves, what teams intend it to do, and the testing that already exists," said Bridges Smith, Vice President of Product Management for AI at SmartBear. "With Sources and Workflows, we're bringing those pieces together so teams can build on their existing testing investments and progressively introduce more autonomy into how they manage quality. That's the next step in our vision for BearQ: moving beyond autonomous testing toward autonomous quality, with humans defining the guardrails and level of control."

SmartBear said it serves 32,000 organisations. Its portfolio includes Swagger, TestComplete, Reflect, QMetry and Zephyr.