Testing strategies

Testing Strategies

When to use this skill

• New project: define a testing strategy
• Quality issues: bugs happen frequently
• Before refactoring: build a safety net
• CI/CD setup: automated tests

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Test Pyramid

       /\
      /E2E\          ← few (slow, expensive)
     /______\
    /        \
   /Integration\    ← medium
  /____________\
 /              \
/   Unit Tests   \  ← many (fast, inexpensive)
/________________\

Ratio guide:

• Unit: 70%
• Integration: 20%
• E2E: 10%

Step 2: Unit testing strategy

Given-When-Then pattern:

describe('calculateDiscount', () => {
  it('should apply 10% discount for orders over $100', () => {
    // Given: setup
    const order = { total: 150, customerId: '123' };

    // When: perform action
    const discount = calculateDiscount(order);

    // Then: verify result
    expect(discount).toBe(15);
  });

  it('should not apply discount for orders under $100', () => {
    const order = { total: 50, customerId: '123' };
    const discount = calculateDiscount(order);
    expect(discount).toBe(0);
  });

  it('should throw error for invalid order', () => {
    const order = { total: -10, customerId: '123' };
    expect(() => calculateDiscount(order)).toThrow('Invalid order');
  });
});

Mocking strategy:

// Mock external dependencies
jest.mock('../services/emailService');
import { sendEmail } from '../services/emailService';

describe('UserService', () => {
  it('should send welcome email on registration', async () => {
    // Arrange
    const mockSendEmail = sendEmail as jest.MockedFunction<typeof sendEmail>;
    mockSendEmail.mockResolvedValueOnce(true);

    // Act
    await userService.register({ email: '[email protected]', password: 'pass' });

    // Assert
    expect(mockSendEmail).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
      to: '[email protected]',
      subject: 'Welcome!',
      body: expect.any(String)
    });
  });
});

Step 3: Integration Testing

API endpoint tests:

describe('POST /api/users', () => {
  beforeEach(async () => {
    await db.user.deleteMany();  // Clean DB
  });

  it('should create user with valid data', async () => {
    const response = await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send({
        email: '[email protected]',
        username: 'testuser',
        password: 'Password123!'
      });

    expect(response.status).toBe(201);
    expect(response.body.user).toMatchObject({
      email: '[email protected]',
      username: 'testuser'
    });

    // Verify it was actually saved to the DB
    const user = await db.user.findUnique({ where: { email: '[email protected]' } });
    expect(user).toBeTruthy();
  });

  it('should reject duplicate email', async () => {
    // Create first user
    await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send({ email: '[email protected]', username: 'user1', password: 'Pass123!' });

    // Attempt duplicate
    const response = await request(app)
      .post('/api/users')
      .send({ email: '[email protected]', username: 'user2', password: 'Pass123!' });

    expect(response.status).toBe(409);
  });
});

Step 4: E2E Testing (Playwright)

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';

test.describe('User Registration Flow', () => {
  test('should complete full registration process', async ({ page }) => {
    // 1. Visit homepage
    await page.goto('http://localhost:3000');

    // 2. Click Sign Up button
    await page.click('text=Sign Up');

    // 3. Fill out form
    await page.fill('input[name="email"]', '[email protected]');
    await page.fill('input[name="username"]', 'testuser');
    await page.fill('input[name="password"]', 'Password123!');

    // 4. Submit
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]');

    // 5. Confirm success message
    await expect(page.locator('text=Welcome')).toBeVisible();

    // 6. Confirm redirect to dashboard
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('http://localhost:3000/dashboard');

    // 7. Confirm user info is displayed
    await expect(page.locator('text=testuser')).toBeVisible();
  });

  test('should show error for invalid email', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('http://localhost:3000/signup');
    await page.fill('input[name="email"]', 'invalid-email');
    await page.fill('input[name="password"]', 'Password123!');
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]');

    await expect(page.locator('text=Invalid email')).toBeVisible();
  });
});

Step 5: TDD (Test-Driven Development)

Red-Green-Refactor Cycle:

// 1. RED: write a failing test
describe('isPalindrome', () => {
  it('should return true for palindrome', () => {
    expect(isPalindrome('racecar')).toBe(true);
  });
});

// 2. GREEN: minimal code to pass the test
function isPalindrome(str: string): boolean {
  return str === str.split('').reverse().join('');
}

// 3. REFACTOR: improve the code
function isPalindrome(str: string): boolean {
  const cleaned = str.toLowerCase().replace(/[^a-z0-9]/g, '');
  return cleaned === cleaned.split('').reverse().join('');
}

// 4. Additional test cases
it('should ignore case and spaces', () => {
  expect(isPalindrome('A man a plan a canal Panama')).toBe(true);
});

it('should return false for non-palindrome', () => {
  expect(isPalindrome('hello')).toBe(false);
});

Output format

Testing strategy document

## Testing Strategy

### Coverage Goals
- Unit Tests: 80%
- Integration Tests: 60%
- E2E Tests: Critical user flows

### Test Execution
- Unit: Every commit (local + CI)
- Integration: Every PR
- E2E: Before deployment

### Tools
- Unit: Jest
- Integration: Supertest
- E2E: Playwright
- Coverage: Istanbul/nyc

### CI/CD Integration
- GitHub Actions: Run all tests on PR
- Fail build if coverage < 80%
- E2E tests on staging environment

Constraints

Required rules (MUST)

1. Test isolation: each test is independent
2. Fast feedback: unit tests should be fast (<1 min)
3. Deterministic: same input → same result

Prohibited items (MUST NOT)

1. Test dependencies: do not let test A depend on test B
2. Production DB: do not use a real DB in tests
3. Sleep/Timeout: avoid time-based tests

Best practices

1. AAA pattern: Arrange-Act-Assert
2. Test names: "should ... when ..."
3. Edge Cases: boundary values, null, empty values
4. Happy Path + Sad Path: both success/failure scenarios

References

• Test Pyramid
• Jest
• Playwright
• Testing Best Practices

Metadata

Version

• Current version: 1.0.0
• Last updated: 2025-01-01
• Compatible platforms: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Related skills

• backend-testing
• code-review

Tags

#testing #test-strategy #TDD #unit-test #integration-test #E2E #code-quality

Examples

Example 1: Basic usage

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Example 2: Advanced usage

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