SerenityBDD parallel test execution is not working

Question

I am unable to run serenityBDD tests in parallel. Project is with 3 modules with standard steps(test/java/steps) and feature files(test/java/resources/feature_files) locations for api and ui modules. Everything works fine but with given pom file I am expecting tests to run parallel at feature files level but tests are being executed serially. I have referred this blog any help please?

• api
• common
• ui

main pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <artifactId>demo-automation</artifactId>
  <description>demo-automation</description>
  <groupId>demo-automation</groupId>
  <name>demo-automation</name>
  <packaging>pom</packaging>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <modules>
    <module>common</module>
    <module>api</module>
    <module>ui</module>
  </modules>

  <parent>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <relativePath/>
    <version>2.7.5</version> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
  </parent>

  <properties>
    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
    <java.version>1.8</java.version>
    <junit.jupiter.version>5.8.2</junit.jupiter.version>
    <junit.vintage.version>5.8.2</junit.vintage.version>
    <maven.compiler.plugin.version>3.8.1</maven.compiler.plugin.version>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
    <maven.failsafe.plugin.version>3.0.0-M5</maven.failsafe.plugin.version>
    <maven.surefire.plugin.version>3.0.0-M5</maven.surefire.plugin.version>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <rest.version>4.2.1</rest.version>
    <selenium.version>4.1.1</selenium.version>
    <serenity.cucumber.version>3.2.3</serenity.cucumber.version>
    <serenity.version>3.2.3</serenity.version>
    <tags/>
    <version>${project.version}</version>
  </properties>
  <pluginRepositories>
    <pluginRepository>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>bintray-plugins</name>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <url>https://jcenter.bintray.com</url>
    </pluginRepository>
  </pluginRepositories>

  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>central</id>
      <name>bintray</name>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <url>https://jcenter.bintray.com</url>
    </repository>
    <repository>
      <id>maven_central</id>
      <name>Maven Central</name>
      <url>https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <version>3.8.1</version>
      </plugin>

      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <skip>true</skip>
        </configuration>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <version>${maven.surefire.plugin.version}</version>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <includes>
            <include>**/TestRunner*.java</include>
          </includes>
          <systemPropertyVariables>
            <tags/>
            <webdriver.base.url/>
          </systemPropertyVariables>
          <parallel>methods</parallel>
          <threadCount>4</threadCount>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>integration-test</goal>
              <goal>verify</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <version>${maven.failsafe.plugin.version}</version>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>serenity-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <reports>single-page-html</reports>
          <tags>${tags}</tags>
        </configuration>
        <dependencies>
          <dependency>
            <artifactId>serenity-single-page-report</artifactId>
            <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
            <version>${serenity.version}</version>
          </dependency>
        </dependencies>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>aggregate</goal>
            </goals>
            <id>serenity-reports</id>
            <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <groupId>net.serenity-bdd.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <version>${serenity.version}</version>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>test-jar</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>

    <resources>
      <resource>
        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
        <filtering>true</filtering>
      </resource>
    </resources>

  </build>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
      <optional>true</optional>
    </dependency>
    <!-- JUnit 5 -->
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${junit.jupiter.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>junit-vintage-engine</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.junit.vintage</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${junit.vintage.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Serenity -->
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-core</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-cucumber</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${serenity.cucumber.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-junit</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <type>maven-plugin</type>
      <version>3.0.0-M5</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>spring-retry</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.springframework.retry</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>1.2.5.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-spring</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>3.5.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-test</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>httpcore</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>4.4.15</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-rest-assured</artifactId>
      <exclusions>
        <exclusion>
          <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
          <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
        </exclusion>
      </exclusions>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
      <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
      <version>${rest.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>xml-path</artifactId>
      <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
      <version>${rest.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>json-path</artifactId>
      <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
      <version>${rest.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>json-schema-validator</artifactId>
      <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
      <version>${rest.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
      <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
      <version>7.2.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
      <exclusions>
        <exclusion>
          <artifactId>android-json</artifactId>
          <groupId>com.vaadin.external.google</groupId>
        </exclusion>
      </exclusions>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>spring-rabbit</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.springframework.amqp</groupId>
      <version>2.4.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
      <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
      <version>1.2.10</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
      <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
      <version>2.13.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
      <version>2.13.1</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
      <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>3.22.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/commons-cli/commons-cli -->
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>commons-cli</artifactId>
      <groupId>commons-cli</groupId>
      <version>1.5.0</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

</project>

And ui pox.xml,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <name>ui</name>
  <artifactId>ui</artifactId>
  <parent>
    <artifactId>demo-automation</artifactId>
    <groupId>demo-automation</groupId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
  </parent>

  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>test-jar</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <version>2.19.1</version>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <source>1.8</source>
          <target>1.8</target>
        </configuration>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <version>3.8.1</version>
      </plugin>

      <plugin>
        <artifactId>jsonschema2pojo-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <sourceDirectory>${basedir}/src/test/resources/schema</sourceDirectory>
          <sourceType>json</sourceType>
          <targetPackage>demo.ui</targetPackage>
          <useCommonsLang3>true</useCommonsLang3>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <goals>
              <goal>generate</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <groupId>org.jsonschema2pojo</groupId>
        <version>0.4.34</version>
      </plugin>

      <plugin>
        <artifactId>build-helper-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <configuration>
              <sources>
                <source>>${basedir}/target/java-gen</source>
              </sources>
            </configuration>
            <goals>
              <goal>add-source</goal>
            </goals>
            <id>test</id>
            <phase>generate-sources</phase>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <version>1.4</version>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
    <resources>
      <resource>
        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
        <filtering>true</filtering>
      </resource>
    </resources>
  </build>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>common</artifactId>
      <groupId>demo-automation</groupId>
      <version>${project.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-screenplay</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-screenplay-webdriver</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <artifactId>serenity-ensure</artifactId>
      <groupId>net.serenity-bdd</groupId>
      <scope>test</scope>
      <version>${serenity.version}</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

Answer 1

Looks like you are indirectly running Serenity through the junit-vintage-engine. When executed this way, parallel execution is simply not supported.

To be exact you are running your tests through Surefire -> JUnit 5 -> JUnit Vintage -> JUnit 4 -> Serenity -> Cucumber.

You'd have to wait for JUnit Vintage to support parallel execution or get rid of JUnit 5 from your depencies so Surefire can run JUnit 4 directly.

However given that you are also using Spring you may not be able to get rid of JUnit 5.

You could ask Serenity to support JUnit 5 but I suspect they will be unable too. They have never bothered to contribute the extension points they'd need upstream. Instead they have hacked their stuff into Cucumber.