What is the difference between Cypress before() hook and it() test

Question

As it follows from Cypress documentation, it is "helpful to set conditions that you want to run before a set of tests". But why do we actually need to have it as a separate unit? We can use any it() for this aim is not it? Does before() have something special which differs it from it()?

Answer 1

before and beforeEach help you set up state and run something before each test. The goal is to not rely on state from a previous it statement. It statements will run but after the it statement concludes, Cypress will clear the cookies/storage/etc. The best example is having a login method and call it before each it block that requires being a logged-in user.

Answer 2

before() runs once before all tests in the block.

I suppose it's the same as writing in the first 'it' test, but 'it' tests can be skipped, removed or can fail, whereas before() will always be there.

https://docs.cypress.io/guides/core-concepts/writing-and-organizing-tests#Hooks