exploratory-testing SKILL.md skillA

exploratory-testing from testland/qa is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned

mdr add testland/qa/exploratory-testing@git:20260820.2e2bc4b

Pins git:20260820.2e2bc4b in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade: A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind: SKILL.md skill
Repository: testland/qa
Path: plugins/qa-manual-testing/skills/exploratory-testing/SKILL.md
Versions recorded: 2
Latest version: git:20260820.2e2bc4b, committed Aug 20, 2026
First version recorded: Aug 13, 2026
Size: 13,485 bytes
Repository stars: 13
License: MIT

Plans and runs time-boxed exploratory testing when tester hours are scarce before a release - one tester with two free 45-minute blocks before code freeze, a high-stakes window such as year-end payroll, or a device and environment the scripted suite never touches. Session-based per the Bachs' SBTM: charters (Explore X with Y to discover Z), 60-90 minute sessions, session sheets with TBS metrics, and the PROOF debrief. Bundles the exploration heuristics as references - Whittaker's seven tours…

Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.

What the file says

# exploratory-testing

## Overview

Session-Based Test Management (SBTM) is the dominant framework
for managing exploratory testing as a measurable, accountable
activity. It was developed by Jonathan Bach + James Bach
(1999-2000) and is documented at
[satisfice.com/sbtm](https://www.satisfice.com/exploratory-testing).

The unit of work is a **session** - a time-boxed (60-90 min)
chunk of focused exploratory testing against a mission stated as
a **charter**. Sessions produce **session sheets** that capture
what happened in a structured-enough format for management to
aggregate, while leaving room for the tester to learn freely.

Exploratory testing is not "clicking around". ISTQB defines it as testing
where "tests are simultaneously designed, executed, and evaluated while the
tester learns about the test object"
([ISTQB CTFL Syllabus v4.0.1 §4.4.2, p.44](https://istqb.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ISTQB_CTFL_Syllabus_v4.0.1.pdf)).
Human-driven testing has two modes, and this skill owns one of them:

|  | Scripted manual testing | Exploratory testing |
|---|---|---|
| Designed | Before execution, by someone else | During execution, by the person running it |
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint

mdr add testland/qa/exploratory-testing@sha256:09d0eb5fee9f6e08

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260820.2e2bc4b, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.

Badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_yzrtwtuidcytioop.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_yzrtwtuidcytioop)

2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Aug 13, 2026 and Aug 20, 2026, about one every 7 days.

version	committed	commit	size	audit
git:20260820.2e2bc4b latest	2026-08-20	2e2bc4b	13,485 B	A	view · diff
git:20260813.433e5b8	2026-08-13	433e5b8	13,602 B	A	view

Audit of the latest version

A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.

pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (13485 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag

Source

GitHub

testland/qa · 13 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-30 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_yzrtwtuidcytioop
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=testland/qa/exploratory-testing
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/09d0eb5fee9f6e08324abfb892f6bc0922824f2cc28f5d178fe63368f02426bb

Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.

Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.

More from testland/qa

CLAUDE.md CLAUDE.md file

testland/qa · CLAUDE.md

git:20261011.164aa71 · audit A · 13 stars

a11y-violation-gate SKILL.md skill

testland/qa · plugins/qa-accessibility/skills/a11y-violation-gate/SKILL.md · Builds a CI gate that fails the build on **new** WCAG / a11y violations introduced by a PR while grandfathering…