How To Do Regression Testing in Agile?

Agile software development is all about moving fast. Quick iterations, faster releases, constant feedback: it’s a model designed for speed and flexibility. Teams love it because it lets them ship features faster and respond to changes without getting bogged down. But here’s the catch: every time you move fast, there’s a risk you’ll break something.

That’s where regression testing comes in. And if you’re not careful, it can become the bottleneck that Agile was supposed to avoid.

The regression testing dilemma

In theory, every new feature should be built, tested, and shipped all within a sprint. But reality looks different. Agile sprints are short. Developers are juggling multiple stories. Features land in the main branch quickly. Suddenly, there’s a lot of moving parts, and someone has to make sure new changes don’t accidentally break old functionality.

Regression testing does exactly that. It checks whether existing features still behave as expected after a new change is introduced. But if done manually, it's time-consuming, repetitive, and impossible to scale. As your codebase grows, so does your regression suite. Without the right strategy, it becomes overwhelming.

📚 Read More: A Complete Guide on Regression Testing

How to embed regression testing into agile development?

1. Start early: Shift left with collaborative testing

Testing isn’t something to tack on at the end of a sprint. It needs to be baked in from day one. That means involving QA during backlog grooming, sprint planning, and technical design. The goal is to catch potential test gaps early and build coverage into the sprint plan, not scramble for it later. In other words, adopt shift left testing.

Cross-functional alignment is key here. Developers, testers, and business analysts should work together to identify what’s likely to break, where the risk lies, and how new features could impact existing functionality. When everyone’s on the same page early, regression coverage becomes proactive, not reactive.

Insights: Acceptance tests become regression tests once features go live. Treat test creation as part of story completion.

2. Prioritize based on risk, not size

Trying to regression test everything in every sprint isn’t sustainable. Instead, take a risk-based approach. Start by categorizing test cases:

• High risk: Core user flows, payment processing, anything customer-facing or defect-prone

• Medium risk: Integration points, data boundaries, unusual edge cases

• Low risk: Rarely touched backend logic, internal tools, less volatile code

This kind of triage ensures your regression suite stays lean, while still covering the areas that matter most. Less time wasted, fewer critical bugs slipping through.

3. Treat automation as a first-class citizen

Manual regression testing just doesn’t scale with Agile velocity. If you're still running everything by hand at the end of every sprint, you're already behind. Automation is the right way to move fast without breaking things.

Katalon makes this easier. It supports no-code, low-code, and full-code test development, so your whole team can contribute regardless of skill level. You can schedule tests, manage test suites centrally, integrate with CI/CD, and run across any environment, from local machines to the cloud. Add in TrueTest’s AI-driven test impact analysis, and you can focus your efforts exactly where they’re needed most.

Insights: Regression tests should run nightly against the develop branch. Automate what’s repeatable; leave humans for exploratory testing.

Best practices for agile regression testing

• Automate with intent: Don’t automate everything at once. Start with high-risk paths and gradually expand coverage. Refactor as needed. Your regression suite should evolve just like your codebase.

• Keep test suites clean: After every sprint, prune your regression packs. Retire outdated cases, add new ones. A well-maintained suite saves more time than it takes.

• Avoid chasing 100% automation: It’s a myth. Aim for 70–90%. The rest should be covered by exploratory testing, especially for complex or visual scenarios.

• Make testing part of “Done”: Build test planning and execution into your Definition of Done. That way, nothing ships without QA buy-in, and teams avoid last-minute crunch.

• Use regression packs by scope: Create modular test bundles: 1-day, 3-day, full-suite options, and pick based on release scope and risk tolerance. This keeps expectations realistic and testing manageable.

Insights: Know what you’re not testing and articulate the risk. This opens doors with stakeholders for realistic QA timelines.

The bottom line

Regression testing in Agile is non-negotiable. It’s the safety net that keeps your releases stable and your users happy. But it can’t be an afterthought. It has to be part of the sprint, part of the code, part of the team’s mindset.

With the right tools and a little strategic thinking, you don’t have to choose between speed and quality. You can have both.

Katalon makes it easier to get there, no matter where your team is starting from.