Feature request: test deployed app which is not in test mode

[bersbersbers]

I would like to make sure that the app we deployed on a Shiny Server behaves the same we intend it too - continuously. This may also help ensure that system/package updates do not cause incompatibilities, that we are not running outdated packages on that server, etc.

I have started working on this and solved a number of issues already:

• connecting to an existing instance (based on https://github.com/rstudio/shinytest/pull/348)
• working behind HTTP auth (see https://github.com/rstudio/shinytest/pull/348#issuecomment-972828720)
• working behind a proxy (patches still local)
• working on target port 443/80 (patches still local)
• adding many wait_ = FALSE to my tests because the remote Shiny instance is not in test mode, hence not responding when output values don't change (see bottom section in https://rstudio.github.io/shinytest/articles/in-depth.html#setting-inputs-with-appsetinputs)

I am now seeing 404 errors at $url/session/.../dataobj/shinytest?..., probably due to https://github.com/rstudio/shiny/blob/b52b9e4520ad8d1e976299d5dec5e4ba3096bd04/R/shiny.R#L472-L474

Is there a way around that?

1. Can I run shinytest without the remote dataobj/shinytest (probably not)?
2. Can I activate test mode remotely (probably not)?
3. Can I safely activate test mode on our public Shiny instance, or is there any downside (probably yes if 2 is a no)