What is meant by local integration?

What is the added value of using FitNesse or Cucumber for integration tests?

• So far the feedback from fellow developers is that using either of these tools for integration tests only brings one unnecessary step which is specifying them as requirements. I tend to agree with it because they are essentially meant for acceptance testing. Still, seems like there are plenty of people out there using them for integration testing but I cannot understand the benefit they see.

• Answer:

  One of the core values of Agile is to bring technology and business people together. The mentioned tools build a layer of abstraction on top of underlying technical tests in visual English-like formats. So the business people can contribute to scenarios coverage as well interpret results as they don't have to look at code/API calls rather a representation they comfortable with. Building a layer of abstraction is time consuming. So, it must not be overdone. I have heard some discussions about converting every test to be represented using these tools. That would be an overkill.