What are the core objects in Kiwi TCMS, and how do they relate?

A test plan describes one area of testing and targets a product and a version. Test cases describe scenarios, and one case can sit in several plans. For each build you test, you create a test run from a plan. The run holds test executions, and each execution links a case to its status, comments and bugs for that build. Say that last part clearly: the result lives on the execution, not on the test case.

You try to add a test case to a test run and it will not go in. Why?

Only confirmed cases can be added to a run. Any case can sit in a plan, but a run only takes cases whose status counts as confirmed, which is where the peer review step comes in. The default case statuses are PROPOSED, CONFIRMED, DISABLED and NEED_UPDATE, and since version 8.9 an admin can change them. Knowing this shows you have used the tool, not just read about it.

What test execution statuses does Kiwi TCMS ship with?

Eight: IDLE, RUNNING, PAUSED, PASSED, FAILED, BLOCKED, ERROR and WAIVED. Each has a weight that puts it in one of three groups. PASSED and WAIVED are positive, IDLE, PAUSED and RUNNING are neutral, and BLOCKED, ERROR and FAILED are negative. Admins can change the list, but Kiwi TCMS needs at least one status in each group. WAIVED is the one to explain: the test was skipped on purpose.

How do products, versions and builds fit together?

A product is what you test, a version belongs to a product, and a build belongs to a version. Test plans point at a product and a version. Test runs point at a build, so every result is tied to the exact build it ran against. When a new release starts, create the version first, then its builds, then the runs.

How do you get pytest results into Kiwi TCMS?

Use the official plugin. Install kiwitcms-pytest-plugin, put the server URL and an API user in ~/.tcms.conf, and run pytest -p tcms_pytest_plugin --kiwitcms. Environment variables decide where results land: TCMS_RUN_ID reports into an existing run, and TCMS_PLAN_ID creates new runs under a known plan. The same pattern works for the JUnit XML, JUnit 5, Robot Framework, TAP, Django and PHPUnit plugins.

What does the Kiwi TCMS API look like?

It is RPC, not REST. The same methods are served over XML-RPC at /xml-rpc/ and JSON-RPC at /json-rpc/. The docs strongly advise using tcms-api, the official Python client, instead of calling those methods directly. Filter methods wrap Django QuerySets, so they accept lookups like summary__startswith. If an interviewer asks for the REST endpoints, say plainly that the API is RPC.

A test fails. Does Kiwi TCMS file the bug for you?

Not by itself. A tester opens the failed test execution and uses the one-click bug report. Kiwi TCMS tries to create the issue through the tracker's API, and if that fails it opens a browser window with the fields pre-filled where possible. When you link an existing bug to an execution, Kiwi TCMS comments on that bug so the link goes both ways. Out of the box it supports Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure Boards, Bugzilla, Redmine and its own bug tracker.

How would you import 2,000 test cases from spreadsheets?

With a script, because Kiwi TCMS deliberately has no spreadsheet importer. Its docs say it does not and will not support import or export to Excel, XML or CSV, since only you know what your columns mean. Map each row to a test case with tcms-api, create it, then add it to the right plan. Kiwi TCMS collects community scripts in its api-scripts repository on GitHub.

Community Edition or a paid subscription: how do you choose?

Start with who will run it, not with the code. All of Kiwi TCMS is open source under the GPL, add-ons included. The subscriptions sell convenience and lower risk. The Community Edition container is free of charge to download, but it tracks the latest release with no warranty, so upgrades, backups and security are yours. Subscriptions range from version-tagged self-hosted builds to a hosted Private Tenant, Enterprise inside your own network and fully managed hosting, priced per instance or tenant rather than per seat. Kiwi TCMS itself says running the Community Edition is not zero cost: you pay in engineering time.

How would you run the same test cases across several browsers or environments?

Use parameters and environments instead of copying cases. Since version 11.0 a test case can carry parameters and a test run can use environments, and Kiwi TCMS combines their values into several executions of the same case. The default is the full combination, with pairwise as the option when that grows too big. The catch: executions are only generated when a run is created or cloned, not for cases added afterwards.

How do you keep a large Kiwi TCMS case library maintainable?

Keep the review step, so a case is only confirmed once someone has checked it, and move stale cases to NEED_UPDATE or DISABLED. Disable old test plans instead of deleting them, because deleting loses the testing history. Nest related plans as parents and children so a big product stays navigable. Tag plans, cases and runs, and since version 16.1 executions too, so you can slice results later.

How do permissions work in Kiwi TCMS?

Through Django users, groups and permissions. Two groups exist by default: Administrator, with every permission, and Tester for day-to-day work. Object-level permissions, bound to a single record, exist too, but the API layer ignores them, so never rely on them to stop a script. When someone leaves, untick Active on their account instead of deleting it, because deleting a user removes every database record connected to them.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS / kiwi-tcms

Kiwi TCMS Interview Questions

Kiwi TCMS is an open-source test management system that grew out of Nitrate, which Red Hat started in 2009. These are the questions a team that runs it will ask, with answers checked against the official documentation, and an AI interviewer to practice them out loud.

Answer a Free Question

No account needed · Scored in under a minute against a senior rubric

What do interviewers ask about Kiwi TCMS?

Few interviews ask about Kiwi TCMS by name. It comes up when the team already runs it, and then the questions get specific quickly. Expect the object model first: a test plan targets a product and version, a test run belongs to one plan and one build, and every result is a test execution inside that run. Then automation: official plugins report results from pytest, JUnit XML, Robot Framework and other frameworks, and scripts talk to the XML-RPC or JSON-RPC API, usually through the tcms-api Python client. Bug trackers come next, where a good answer makes clear that filing a bug is a one-click action by a tester, not something a failing test does by itself. Senior rounds add the hosting decision, from running the Community Edition container yourself to a Kiwi TCMS subscription, and how you keep a large case library healthy.

What do Kiwi TCMS interviewers ask at junior, mid and senior level?

The same tool, three different interviews. Find your row before you prepare.

Kiwi TCMS interview questions by level: junior, mid-level and senior
Level	What interviewers probe	Typical question
Junior	What interviewers probeProducts, versions and builds, how a test run turns confirmed cases into test executions, and what each execution status means.	Typical questionWhy would a test case not go into a test run when you try to add it?
Mid-level	What interviewers probeReporting automated results through the official plugins and tcms-api, the XML-RPC and JSON-RPC API, and one-click bug reports to the team's tracker.	Typical questionHow would you integrate a pytest suite with Kiwi TCMS so results appear per run?
Senior	What interviewers probeRunning the Community Edition container yourself versus a Kiwi TCMS subscription, permissions, and keeping a large plan tree and case library maintainable.	Typical questionWhat would make you pay for a hosted Kiwi TCMS subscription instead of running the Community Edition yourself?

Which Kiwi TCMS topics come up most?

Key areas interviewers evaluate when asking about kiwi tcms.

Plans, Runs & Executions

Products, versions and builds, and how a test run turns confirmed cases into executions that hold the result.

Statuses & Case Review

Proposed versus confirmed cases, the default execution statuses, and the three weight groups they fall into.

Plugins & API

Official plugins for pytest, JUnit XML, Robot Framework and more, tcms-api, and the XML-RPC and JSON-RPC API.

Bug-Tracker Integration

One-click bug reports from a test execution to Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure Boards, Bugzilla or Redmine.

Telemetry

Status breakdowns, the execution dashboard, matrix and trends, and test case health.

Hosting & Administration

Community Edition versus subscriptions, groups and permissions, and keeping plans and cases maintainable.

What are common Kiwi TCMS interview questions and answers?

Each answer is the shape of a strong response, not a script to memorise. Read it, then say it out loud in your own words.

01
Junior
What are the core objects in Kiwi TCMS, and how do they relate?
A test plan describes one area of testing and targets a product and a version. Test cases describe scenarios, and one case can sit in several plans. For each build you test, you create a test run from a plan. The run holds test executions, and each execution links a case to its status, comments and bugs for that build. Say that last part clearly: the result lives on the execution, not on the test case.
02
Junior
You try to add a test case to a test run and it will not go in. Why?
Only confirmed cases can be added to a run. Any case can sit in a plan, but a run only takes cases whose status counts as confirmed, which is where the peer review step comes in. The default case statuses are PROPOSED, CONFIRMED, DISABLED and NEED_UPDATE, and since version 8.9 an admin can change them. Knowing this shows you have used the tool, not just read about it.
03
Junior
What test execution statuses does Kiwi TCMS ship with?
Eight: IDLE, RUNNING, PAUSED, PASSED, FAILED, BLOCKED, ERROR and WAIVED. Each has a weight that puts it in one of three groups. PASSED and WAIVED are positive, IDLE, PAUSED and RUNNING are neutral, and BLOCKED, ERROR and FAILED are negative. Admins can change the list, but Kiwi TCMS needs at least one status in each group. WAIVED is the one to explain: the test was skipped on purpose.
04
Junior
How do products, versions and builds fit together?
A product is what you test, a version belongs to a product, and a build belongs to a version. Test plans point at a product and a version. Test runs point at a build, so every result is tied to the exact build it ran against. When a new release starts, create the version first, then its builds, then the runs.
05
Mid-level
How do you get pytest results into Kiwi TCMS?
Use the official plugin. Install kiwitcms-pytest-plugin, put the server URL and an API user in ~/.tcms.conf, and run pytest -p tcms_pytest_plugin --kiwitcms. Environment variables decide where results land: TCMS_RUN_ID reports into an existing run, and TCMS_PLAN_ID creates new runs under a known plan. The same pattern works for the JUnit XML, JUnit 5, Robot Framework, TAP, Django and PHPUnit plugins.
06
Mid-level
What does the Kiwi TCMS API look like?
It is RPC, not REST. The same methods are served over XML-RPC at /xml-rpc/ and JSON-RPC at /json-rpc/. The docs strongly advise using tcms-api, the official Python client, instead of calling those methods directly. Filter methods wrap Django QuerySets, so they accept lookups like summary__startswith. If an interviewer asks for the REST endpoints, say plainly that the API is RPC.
07
Mid-level
A test fails. Does Kiwi TCMS file the bug for you?
Not by itself. A tester opens the failed test execution and uses the one-click bug report. Kiwi TCMS tries to create the issue through the tracker's API, and if that fails it opens a browser window with the fields pre-filled where possible. When you link an existing bug to an execution, Kiwi TCMS comments on that bug so the link goes both ways. Out of the box it supports Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Azure Boards, Bugzilla, Redmine and its own bug tracker.
08
Mid-level
How would you import 2,000 test cases from spreadsheets?
With a script, because Kiwi TCMS deliberately has no spreadsheet importer. Its docs say it does not and will not support import or export to Excel, XML or CSV, since only you know what your columns mean. Map each row to a test case with tcms-api, create it, then add it to the right plan. Kiwi TCMS collects community scripts in its api-scripts repository on GitHub.
09
Senior
Community Edition or a paid subscription: how do you choose?
Start with who will run it, not with the code. All of Kiwi TCMS is open source under the GPL, add-ons included. The subscriptions sell convenience and lower risk. The Community Edition container is free of charge to download, but it tracks the latest release with no warranty, so upgrades, backups and security are yours. Subscriptions range from version-tagged self-hosted builds to a hosted Private Tenant, Enterprise inside your own network and fully managed hosting, priced per instance or tenant rather than per seat. Kiwi TCMS itself says running the Community Edition is not zero cost: you pay in engineering time.
10
Senior
How would you run the same test cases across several browsers or environments?
Use parameters and environments instead of copying cases. Since version 11.0 a test case can carry parameters and a test run can use environments, and Kiwi TCMS combines their values into several executions of the same case. The default is the full combination, with pairwise as the option when that grows too big. The catch: executions are only generated when a run is created or cloned, not for cases added afterwards.
11
Senior
How do you keep a large Kiwi TCMS case library maintainable?
Keep the review step, so a case is only confirmed once someone has checked it, and move stale cases to NEED_UPDATE or DISABLED. Disable old test plans instead of deleting them, because deleting loses the testing history. Nest related plans as parents and children so a big product stays navigable. Tag plans, cases and runs, and since version 16.1 executions too, so you can slice results later.
12
Senior
How do permissions work in Kiwi TCMS?
Through Django users, groups and permissions. Two groups exist by default: Administrator, with every permission, and Tester for day-to-day work. Object-level permissions, bound to a single record, exist too, but the API layer ignores them, so never rely on them to stop a script. When someone leaves, untick Active on their account instead of deleting it, because deleting a user removes every database record connected to them.

Answers checked against these official sources in October 2026:

Go Deeper on Kiwi TCMS

Practice is free. These are the guides and project packs that turn the answers into working skills.

QA Interview Vault

800+ Q&A · 50 Coding · 10 Cheatsheets

$35

Read a free lesson

Manual to Automation Mastery

Zero to Pro · Capstone Project · Job-Ready

$17

Read a free lesson

Playwright Project Pack

103 Tests · Zero to Portfolio

$23

Read a free lesson

Browse all products →

How does AssertHired help you practice Kiwi TCMS questions?

Three steps. No fluff. Designed specifically for QA engineers.

Step 01

Pick Your Focus

Choose from 6 QA-specific categories. Select your role, target company, and difficulty level to customize the experience.

Step 02

Interview with AI

Answer 5 realistic interview questions from an AI that understands QA workflows, test architecture, and engineering culture.

Step 03

Get Scored

Receive instant feedback scored across 4 dimensions: Technical Accuracy, Communication, Examples, and Depth of Knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Kiwi TCMS?

Kiwi TCMS is an open-source test management system for manual and automated testing. It grew out of Nitrate, which Red Hat started in 2009, and has been called Kiwi TCMS since 2017. Teams use it to hold test plans, cases and runs, record results per build, pull in automated results through plugins and link failures to their bug tracker.

Is Kiwi TCMS free?

All of Kiwi TCMS is open source under the GPL-2.0 license, add-ons included, and the source code is always public. The Community Edition container is available to download free of charge, and you host it yourself. The paid subscriptions sell convenience and risk mitigation, such as version-tagged builds, a hosted Private Tenant and fully managed hosting, priced per instance or tenant rather than per seat.

Does Kiwi TCMS work with test automation?

Yes. Official plugins report results from pytest, JUnit XML, JUnit 5, Robot Framework, TAP, the Django test runner and PHPUnit. Anything else can use the XML-RPC or JSON-RPC API, usually through the tcms-api Python client.

Do interviewers really ask about Kiwi TCMS?

Rarely by name. It comes up when the team already runs it, or when your CV mentions it. Most test management questions transfer between tools, so if you understand the object model and how automated results get in, you can answer them for Kiwi TCMS, TestRail or anything similar.

Can I practice Kiwi TCMS questions on AssertHired?

Yes. The AI interviewer asks test management questions with follow-ups and scores your answers across four dimensions. The concepts on this page carry over to whichever tool the team uses.