feat(tests): manually run functional tests on pr

[nshirley]

Because

• We want to reduce the ci credit usage from running functional tests on every pr push

This pull request

• Gates PR functional tests behind an approval step
• Adds a script to trigger tests locally for a given branch
• Adds a Claude skill to help run the tests as well

Issue that this pull request solves

Closes: FXA-13697

Checklist

Put an x in the boxes that apply

• My commit is GPG signed.
• If applicable, I have modified or added tests which pass locally.
• I have added necessary documentation (if appropriate).
• I have verified that my changes render correctly in RTL (if appropriate).
• I have manually reviewed all AI generated code.

How to review (Optional)

This makes it so the Functional Tests for PR are only run with an approval. As such, there's now a script which you can run manually, or a Claude skill which calls the script. The nice thing about the skill is that we can use it with loop skill to have Claude check if approval is ready and then wait and try again!

Screenshots (Optional)

Please attach the screenshots of the changes made in case of change in user interface.

Other information (Optional)

Any other information that is important to this pull request.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR reduces CircleCI usage by gating PR functional (Playwright) tests behind a pipeline parameter and providing manual triggers (local script + Claude skill) to run them on demand.

Changes:

• Add enable_functional_tests pipeline parameter and move PR functional tests into a separate conditional workflow.
• Add _scripts/trigger-functional-tests.sh to trigger the manual workflow and cancel prior runs on the same branch.
• Add a Claude skill (/run-functional-tests) that guides users through invoking the trigger script.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
.claude/skills/run-functional-tests/SKILL.md	Adds a user-invocable Claude skill documenting how to trigger manual PR functional tests.
.circleci/config.yml	Introduces a new pipeline parameter and conditional workflow for manual functional test runs; removes functional tests from default PR workflow.
_scripts/trigger-functional-tests.sh	Adds a branch-aware CircleCI trigger script that starts a functional-only pipeline and cancels prior functional workflows on the same branch.

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[vbudhram]

@nshirley what are your thoughts on running the functional tests via branch name (ie anything containing ci), or even commit message containing ([run-ci]). That way we don't need a skill or bash script.

Kinda leaning towards commit message since that gives good flexibility.

[nshirley]

@vbudhram I suppose that could work too. I'd be worried we would forget to add the CI in the branch name, and the commit message means we'd have to commit and push a unique message to run tests, then rebase after tests pass and push again, then wait for build/unit/integration again. We still want to 'require' functional tests before merging, just don't want to run them on every single push

This approach just adds an approve button to the circle workflow and the script/skill are just convenience options to trigger the approval without having to go open up Circle.

Here's one that I approved, but that page just shows a button to approve it if it's pending.

[vbudhram]

@nshirley Lets give this a try, just gotta make sure we let folks know they have to manually opt into running the tests.

[dschom]

This is gross. Let's have the user install circleci cli tool. They should have it anyways as there other benefits especially when working with Claude.

[dschom]

We could require the circleci command line utility instead, which I think would be better. Since these command line tools are so helpful, I think we should make them required as part of the development setup. I'll update our internal docs accordingly.

[dschom]

Would it be a big deal to update the script to use the circleci cli tool. I think this will be result in a shorter more robust script.

[nshirley]

@dschom no issue updating this! I have the cli installed too but API felt more flexible, but I'll re-work it to clean it up!

[nshirley]

@dschom, following up here from our thread. The CLI does not provide the ability to approve pending workflows and it appears the majority of functionality is supposed to go through the API. To that, I did my best to clean the script up and make it a bit nicer - it was definitely over engineered