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How to Use Chromatic for Visual Testing in Storybook

Set up Chromatic for Storybook visual testing, run and review your first snapshots, automate builds in CI, and enable TurboSnap carefully.
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To use Chromatic for visual testing, connect your Storybook project, run a Chromatic build, and review the captured stories against their baselines. The first build establishes those baselines; later builds flag visual differences for your team to accept when intentional or fix when unexpected. Start with the default workflow, then add CI automation and consider TurboSnap only after the basics are stable.

What Chromatic visual testing checks

A Storybook story represents a component state or variation. Chromatic renders stories in a cloud browser, captures visual snapshots, and compares new captures with the accepted baseline. A difference is a signal to review—not proof by itself that something is broken. A deliberate redesign can produce a valid difference; an unintended layout or styling change may need a code fix. See Chromatic’s visual testing documentation.

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Visual snapshots are distinct from accessibility and interaction tests. Chromatic supports multiple UI test types and configuration dimensions, and each test can create multiple snapshots when run across browsers, devices, themes, or viewports. See Chromatic’s snapshot documentation.

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Set up Chromatic and run your first build

  1. Create a Chromatic project. Follow the Chromatic Quickstart to connect your Storybook project and obtain its project token. Treat the token as a secret, especially in CI.
  2. Install or invoke the CLI. Add Chromatic to your project as described in the Quickstart, or use the CLI invocation there. The CLI uses your project’s build-storybook script by default. If your Storybook build depends on custom settings, make sure the build command Chromatic runs includes equivalent settings. See the CLI documentation.
  3. Run a build. The CLI builds and uploads Storybook to Chromatic, then triggers UI tests. The first build establishes the initial baselines; it is the comparison point for later builds.
  4. Review the results. Inspect the reported differences in Chromatic. Accept changes that are deliberate and correct the code for unexpected changes. Subsequent builds compare their snapshots with the current accepted baselines. See the visual testing workflow.

Run visual tests from Storybook’s UI

If you want to start and inspect visual tests from Storybook rather than relying only on the CLI, use Chromatic’s Visual Tests addon. Its setup guide currently specifies Storybook 7.6 or higher as a requirement; check the addon documentation for current compatibility details.

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  1. Install the Visual Tests addon using the documented setup for your Storybook.
  2. Authenticate it to the relevant Chromatic project.
  3. Run tests from the addon’s Storybook sidebar.
  4. Inspect the highlighted differences, fix unexpected changes, and accept intentional ones so the baseline can sync.

Automate Chromatic builds in CI

CI makes visual checks part of the change workflow: when your configured job invokes Chromatic, it builds and uploads the Storybook for testing. Follow the current Chromatic CI guide for your provider and workflow syntax.

  1. Store the project token as a CI secret, available to the job as CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN. Do not commit the token to source control.
  2. Add the Chromatic package and command to the project and invoke that command in a CI job.
  3. Ensure the job’s Storybook build uses the required settings and can access the files and dependencies it needs.
  4. Review the resulting changes in Chromatic and accept only the updates your team intends to make.

Keep stories representative and deterministic: unstable content makes comparisons harder to interpret. A visual diff does not decide whether a change is a defect; that judgment belongs to the reviewer.

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Use TurboSnap to limit recaptures

TurboSnap uses Git changes and a Webpack or Vite dependency graph to select stories affected by a change. It can copy snapshots for unaffected stories rather than recapturing them. Chromatic recommends learning the default behavior first, since complex configuration can make debugging difficult or cause missed UI changes. See the TurboSnap overview.

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Check prerequisites before enabling it

Chromatic’s setup guide lists CLI 10.0 or later, Storybook 6.5 or later or Vitest 4 or later, Git 2.28.0 or later, and ten successful CI builds among the prerequisites. Confirm the current requirements in the TurboSnap setup guide before changing your configuration.

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Enable and validate TurboSnap

Choose the setting for your integration: the CLI --only-changed option, the GitHub Action onlyChanged option, or onlyChanged: true in chromatic.config.json. The setup guide explains the correct configuration for each method.

Pay particular attention to static assets and files outside the normal dependency graph; a prebuilt Storybook may need stats output. Check that CLI output identifies changed files and affected stories. If expected stats are missing, Chromatic may fall back to an unoptimized build rather than using TurboSnap.

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Understand snapshot usage

Chromatic’s undated billing documentation, accessed in 2026, describes usage in billed snapshots. These figures are billing units, not prices:

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Snapshot outcome Billed snapshots
Captured snapshot 1
Copied TurboSnap snapshot 0.2
Bypassed snapshot 0

Actual usage depends on the number of tests and builds and on the browsers and modes in your test matrix; accessibility snapshots also contribute. Estimate against your own configuration and current plan details using Chromatic’s billing documentation.

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Troubleshoot common setup problems

  • The build cannot authenticate: confirm that the token belongs to the intended project and is available to the CLI or CI job. In CI, check the secret’s name and job access without printing its value.
  • The uploaded Storybook does not reflect local build settings: compare the build settings used by your usual build-storybook command with those available to Chromatic’s CLI, which uses that script by default.
  • The addon is unavailable or fails to set up: verify that your Storybook meets the addon guide’s stated minimum version and follow its current installation steps.
  • TurboSnap does not identify expected stories: inspect the changed-file and affected-story output, then check dependency graph coverage, static assets, and stats output for a prebuilt Storybook. Missing expected stats can trigger an unoptimized fallback.
  • A visual difference appears without an obvious code change: inspect the story state and test configuration, including browser, device, theme, or viewport dimensions. Determine whether the change is expected before accepting a new baseline.

Or skip the browser setup

Chromatic tests Storybook stories; ScreenshotNeo is a separate screenshot API and MCP server for capturing web pages. One GET request can return a screenshot or PDF. For example, capture a page as WebP with cURL:

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for options and response details. ScreenshotNeo removes cookie banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before the shot; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. Its MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots. The Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card, and paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots. Learn about ScreenshotNeo or sign up free.

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