Cypress v4.2.0 — Release Notes & Engineering Impact

Source available — automated, not human-reviewed

Component: cypress · Channel: stable. Automated analysis, not a compatibility certification. How this works.

Analysis updated: 2026-11-01.

Compatibility not verified — check source notes

📄 .MD

✨ Features 2 🔧 Bug Fixes 6

⚡ Executive Summary (TL;DR)

Cypress v4.2.0. Source highlight: *Released 3/16/2020*

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Who Does This Impact? (Role-Based Analysis)

💻 Software Engineers & Devs

Check the source notes against the package and APIs you use before upgrading.

📊 Product & Engineering Leads

Use the documented changes to assess relevance to your product; release frequency alone is not a quality measure.

⚙️ DevOps & Security

Verify the target version, runtime requirements and rollback procedure in the official documentation.

✨ New Features & Capabilities (2)

We added types for `Cypress.sinon`. Addresses #6720.
We've added the foundational work required to support experimental features in the Test Runner. Addresses #6257.

🔧 Bug Fixes & Patches (6)

We fixed a regression in 3.8.3 where HTTPS requests could experience slowdown. Fixes #6659.
We now detect some installations of Firefox that were previously undetected. Fixes #6669.
We fixed a race condition where an asynchronous error could fail to be caught when running the plugins file process. Fixes #6570.
We now more thoroughly ensure the parent of an element exists when recursively calling actionability checks in order to prevent some maximum call stack errors. Fixes #6707.
Specfiles containing `&` or `%` characters now correctly run instead of erroring. Fixes #4210.
We added support for running tests on Jira plugins even when Jira scripts were not minified. Fixes #1436.

📄 View Raw Release Notes (Original Developer Log)

*Released 3/16/2020* **Features:** - Videos can now be recorded when running Electron in `--headed` mode. Addresses [#1767](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/1767). - [`cypress cache list`](https://on.cypress.io/command-line#cypress-cache-list) now prints the last time the cached binary was accessed for each version present. Addresses [#6682](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6682). **Bugfixes:** - We fixed a regression in [3.8.3](https://on.cypress.io/changelog-3-8-3) where HTTPS requests could experience slowdown. Fixes [#6659](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6659). - We now detect some installations of Firefox that were previously undetected. Fixes [#6669](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6669). - We fixed a race condition where an asynchronous error could fail to be caught when running the plugins file process. Fixes [#6570](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6570). - We now more thoroughly ensure the parent of an element exists when recursively calling actionability checks in order to prevent some maximum call stack errors. Fixes [#6707](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6707). - Specfiles containing `&` or `%` characters now correctly run instead of erroring. Fixes [#4210](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/4210). - We added support for running tests on Jira plugins even when Jira scripts were not minified. Fixes [#1436](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/1436). - We fixed a bug causing specs to hang after rerunning tests during `cypress open` when there was an exception if thrown in an `after` hook. Fixes [#6619](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6619). - [`cypress verify`](https://on.cypress.io/command-line#cypress-verify) no longer incorrectly prints messaging about this being the first time using that Cypress version. Fixes [#6607](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6607). - Screenshots no longer fail to be taken in Electron when Cypress `DEBUG` logs are enabled. Fixes [#6662](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6662). **Misc:** - A warning is now printed when setting the reserved key `CYPRESS_INTERNAL_ENV` to a non-production value. Addresses [#6436](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6436). - When DEBUG logs are printed from `cypress:launcher`, they now print a clearer log during browser detection for easier reading. Addresses [#6700](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6700). - The Test Runner now renders ANSI colors when there is a syntax error in the spec file. Addresses [#6533](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6533). - The Test Runner now has an icon indicating whether the specs list parent folder is collapsed. Addresses [#6277](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6277). - There's better type information for [`.click`](https://on.cypress.io/click), [`.dblclick`](https://on.cypress.io/dblclick), and [`.rightclick`](https://on.cypress.io/rightclick) command's `position` argument. Addresses [#6341](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6341). - There's a more robust type signature for [`.its()`](https://on.cypress.io/its) and [`.invoke()`](https://on.cypress.io/invoke). Addresses [#6431](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6431). - Using [`Cypress.dom.isDetached`](https://on.cypress.io/dom#Is-detached) no longer throws a type error in TypeScript projects. Addresses [#4408](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/4408). - Using [`cy.clearLocalStorage({ log:false })`](https://on.cypress.io/clearlocalstorage) no longer throws a type error in TypeScript projects. Addresses [#6615](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6615). - We added types for [`Cypress.sinon`](https://on.cypress.io/sinon). Addresses [#6720](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6720). - We've added the foundational work required to support experimental features in the Test Runner. Addresses [#6257](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/issues/6257). **Dependency Updates** - Upgraded Chrome browser version used during `cypress run` and when selecting Electron browser in `cypress open` from `78` to `80`. Addressed in [#6555](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/pull/6555). - Upgraded `electron` from `7.1.13` to `8.1.1`. This bumps the bundled Chromium to 80.0.3987.141 and the bundled Node to 12.13.0. Addressed in [#6555](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/pull/6555). - Upgraded `@ffmpeg-installer/ffmpeg` from `1.0.19` to `1.0.20`. Addressed in [#6686](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/pull/6686). - Upgraded `minimist` from `1.2.0` to `1.2.2`. Addressed in [#6726](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/pull/6726). - Replaced deprecated `request` with `cypress-io/request`. Addressed in [#6679](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/pull/6679).

← Older Version Cypress v4.1.0 Newer Version → Cypress v4.3.0