Testing strategy

Testing Strategy Skill

Objective

Implement comprehensive testing strategy covering unit, integration, and E2E tests using modern tools (Vitest, Playwright) with clear coverage targets and best practices.

When to Use This Skill

Auto-invoke when:

• User mentions "test", "testing", "coverage", "TDD", "E2E"
• Setting up new project
• Adding new features (need tests)
• Debugging test failures
• Improving test coverage

Testing Pyramid

        /\
       /E2E\         Few, slow, expensive
      /------\
     /  Integ \      Some, moderate speed
    /----------\
   / Unit Tests \    Many, fast, cheap
  /--------------\

Distribution:

• 70% Unit Tests - Fast, isolated, cheap
• 20% Integration Tests - Moderate speed, test interactions
• 10% E2E Tests - Slow, expensive, critical user flows

Test Types

1. Unit Tests (Vitest)

What: Test individual functions/components in isolation

Tools: Vitest, React Testing Library

Coverage Target: 80%+

Setup:

npm install -D vitest @vitest/ui @testing-library/react @testing-library/jest-dom

Config (vitest.config.ts):

import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
  test: {
    globals: true,
    environment: 'jsdom',
    setupFiles: './tests/setup.ts',
    coverage: {
      provider: 'v8',
      reporter: ['text', 'json', 'html'],
      exclude: ['node_modules/', 'tests/'],
      thresholds: {
        lines: 80,
        functions: 80,
        branches: 75,
        statements: 80
      }
    }
  }
})

Example (Button.test.tsx):

import { render, screen, fireEvent } from '@testing-library/react'
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest'
import { Button } from './Button'

describe('Button', () => {
  it('renders with text', () => {
    render(<Button>Click me</Button>)
    expect(screen.getByText('Click me')).toBeInTheDocument()
  })

  it('calls onClick when clicked', () => {
    const handleClick = vi.fn()
    render(<Button onClick={handleClick}>Click</Button>)
    fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('Click'))
    expect(handleClick).toHaveBeenCalledOnce()
  })

  it('is disabled when disabled prop is true', () => {
    render(<Button disabled>Disabled</Button>)
    expect(screen.getByRole('button')).toBeDisabled()
  })
})

Commands:

npm run test              # Run all tests
npm run test:watch        # Watch mode
npm run test:ui           # Visual UI
npm run test:coverage     # With coverage

2. Integration Tests (Vitest)

What: Test component interactions, API calls, state management

Example (UserProfile.test.tsx):

import { render, screen, waitFor } from '@testing-library/react'
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest'
import { UserProfile } from './UserProfile'

// Mock API
vi.mock('./api', () => ({
  fetchUser: vi.fn(() => Promise.resolve({
    id: 1,
    name: 'John Doe',
    email: '[email protected]'
  }))
}))

describe('UserProfile Integration', () => {
  it('fetches and displays user data', async () => {
    render(<UserProfile userId="1" />)
    
    expect(screen.getByText('Loading...')).toBeInTheDocument()
    
    await waitFor(() => {
      expect(screen.getByText('John Doe')).toBeInTheDocument()
      expect(screen.getByText('[email protected]')).toBeInTheDocument()
    })
  })
})

3. E2E Tests (Playwright)

What: Test complete user flows in real browser

Tools: Playwright

Coverage Target: Critical paths only

Setup:

npm install -D @playwright/test
npx playwright install

Config (playwright.config.ts):

import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test'

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: './e2e',
  fullyParallel: true,
  forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
  retries: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
  workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
  reporter: 'html',
  use: {
    baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
    trace: 'on-first-retry',
  },
  projects: [
    {
      name: 'chromium',
      use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] },
    },
    {
      name: 'mobile',
      use: { ...devices['iPhone 13'] },
    },
  ],
  webServer: {
    command: 'npm run dev',
    url: 'http://localhost:3000',
    reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
  },
})

Example (e2e/auth.spec.ts):

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

test.describe('Authentication Flow', () => {
  test('user can sign up and log in', async ({ page }) => {
    // Sign up
    await page.goto('/signup')
    await page.fill('[name="email"]', '[email protected]')
    await page.fill('[name="password"]', 'SecurePass123!')
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]')
    
    // Should redirect to dashboard
    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/dashboard/)
    await expect(page.locator('h1')).toContainText('Welcome')
    
    // Log out
    await page.click('[aria-label="User menu"]')
    await page.click('text=Logout')
    
    // Should redirect to home
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('/')
    
    // Log back in
    await page.goto('/login')
    await page.fill('[name="email"]', '[email protected]')
    await page.fill('[name="password"]', 'SecurePass123!')
    await page.click('button[type="submit"]')
    
    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/dashboard/)
  })
})

Commands:

npx playwright test                    # Run all E2E
npx playwright test --ui               # Interactive mode
npx playwright test --headed           # Show browser
npx playwright test --project=chromium # Specific browser
npx playwright show-report             # View last report

Testing Best Practices

AAA Pattern

// Arrange
const user = { id: 1, name: 'John' }
const mockFetch = vi.fn()

// Act
const result = await fetchUser(mockFetch, 1)

// Assert
expect(result).toEqual(user)
expect(mockFetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('/api/users/1')

Test Naming

// Good: descriptive, explains what and when
it('displays error message when API returns 404', () => {})
it('disables submit button when form is invalid', () => {})

// Bad: vague, unclear
it('works', () => {})
it('test 1', () => {})

One Assertion Per Test (Guideline)

// Prefer focused tests
it('renders user name', () => {
  render(<User name="John" />)
  expect(screen.getByText('John')).toBeInTheDocument()
})

it('renders user email', () => {
  render(<User email="[email protected]" />)
  expect(screen.getByText('[email protected]')).toBeInTheDocument()
})

// Over complex tests
it('renders user data', () => {
  // Multiple unrelated assertions
})

Mock External Dependencies

// Mock API calls
vi.mock('./api', () => ({
  fetchUser: vi.fn()
}))

// Mock environment
vi.stubEnv('API_URL', 'http://test-api.com')

// Mock timers
vi.useFakeTimers()
const now = new Date('2024-01-01')
vi.setSystemTime(now)

Coverage Strategy

What to Test

✅ Do Test:

• Business logic
• Edge cases and error handling
• User interactions
• API integration
• State management
• Validation logic
• Critical user flows (E2E)

❌ Don't Test:

• Third-party libraries
• Framework internals
• Constants
• Simple getters/setters
• Generated code

Coverage Targets

Minimum:

• Lines: 80%
• Functions: 80%
• Branches: 75%
• Statements: 80%

Ideal:

• Critical paths: 100%
• Business logic: 95%+
• UI components: 85%+
• Utilities: 90%+

Run Coverage

npm run test:coverage

# View in browser
open coverage/index.html

Testing Workflow

1. TDD Approach (Recommended)

1. Write failing test
2. Write minimal code to pass
3. Refactor
4. Repeat

2. Test-After (Pragmatic)

1. Implement feature
2. Write tests
3. Achieve 80%+ coverage
4. Refactor with confidence

3. Pre-Commit Testing

# Run before every commit
npm run test:quick        # Fast unit tests
npm run lint
npm run typecheck

# Run before push
npm run test             # All unit/integration
npm run test:coverage    # Verify coverage

# Run before deploy
npm run test:e2e         # Full E2E suite

Test Organization

Directory Structure

src/
├── components/
│   ├── Button/
│   │   ├── Button.tsx
│   │   ├── Button.test.tsx      # Co-located
│   │   └── Button.stories.tsx   # Storybook
│   └── ...
tests/
├── setup.ts                      # Test setup
├── utils/                        # Test utilities
│   ├── renderWithProviders.tsx  # Custom render
│   └── mockData.ts              # Test fixtures
└── __mocks__/                   # Global mocks
e2e/
├── auth.spec.ts
├── checkout.spec.ts
└── fixtures/                    # E2E test data

Naming Conventions

• Unit/Integration: *.test.ts or *.test.tsx
• E2E: *.spec.ts
• Setup: setup.ts, vitest.config.ts

Continuous Integration

GitHub Actions Example

name: Tests
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 18
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run typecheck
      - run: npm run test:coverage
      
      - name: Upload coverage
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
        with:
          files: ./coverage/coverage-final.json
  
  e2e:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps
      - run: npm run build
      - run: npx playwright test
      
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        if: always()
        with:
          name: playwright-report
          path: playwright-report/

Debugging Tests

Vitest

# Run single test file
npm run test -- Button.test.tsx

# Run tests matching pattern
npm run test -- --grep "Button renders"

# Debug in VS Code
# Add breakpoint, press F5

Playwright

# Debug mode
npx playwright test --debug

# Specific test
npx playwright test auth.spec.ts --debug

# Trace viewer
npx playwright show-trace trace.zip

Common Testing Patterns

Testing Async Code

it('fetches user data', async () => {
  const { result } = renderHook(() => useUser(1))
  
  await waitFor(() => {
    expect(result.current.data).toEqual({ id: 1, name: 'John' })
  })
})

Testing Error States

it('displays error when fetch fails', async () => {
  vi.mocked(fetchUser).mockRejectedValue(new Error('Network error'))
  
  render(<UserProfile userId="1" />)
  
  await waitFor(() => {
    expect(screen.getByText(/error/i)).toBeInTheDocument()
  })
})

Testing Forms

it('submits form with valid data', async () => {
  const handleSubmit = vi.fn()
  render(<LoginForm onSubmit={handleSubmit} />)
  
  await userEvent.type(screen.getByLabelText('Email'), '[email protected]')
  await userEvent.type(screen.getByLabelText('Password'), 'password123')
  await userEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /submit/i }))
  
  expect(handleSubmit).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
    email: '[email protected]',
    password: 'password123'
  })
})

Integration with Other Skills

• quality-gates - Run tests as quality check
• git-workflow - Tests in pre-commit hooks
• codebase-analysis - Identify untested code

Package.json Scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "test": "vitest",
    "test:watch": "vitest --watch",
    "test:ui": "vitest --ui",
    "test:coverage": "vitest --coverage",
    "test:e2e": "playwright test",
    "test:e2e:ui": "playwright test --ui",
    "test:e2e:headed": "playwright test --headed",
    "test:all": "npm run test:coverage && npm run test:e2e"
  }
}

Version History

• 1.0.0 (2025-01-03): Initial testing strategy with Vitest and Playwright