Testing strategy

Testing Strategy

Testing approach: unit/integration/e2e split, what to test, test structure (AAA pattern), mocking strategies, and coverage targets.

Testing Pyramid

Follow the testing pyramid — more unit tests, fewer integration tests, even fewer e2e tests:

        /  E2E  \           ~5%   — Critical user journeys
       /----------\
      / Integration \       ~20%  — Module boundaries, API contracts
     /----------------\
    /    Unit Tests     \   ~75%  — Functions, components, utilities
   /____________________\

Level	Speed	Scope	Quantity
Unit	Fast (ms)	Single function/component	Many
Integration	Medium (seconds)	Module interactions, DB, API	Some
E2E	Slow (seconds-minutes)	Full user flows	Few

What to Test

Always Test

• Business logic and calculations
• Data transformations and mappings
• Validation rules
• Error handling paths
• Edge cases: empty inputs, boundary values, null/undefined
• Public API of modules (exported functions)
• State transitions (reducers, state machines)
• Critical user journeys (e2e)

Don't Test

• Third-party library internals
• Simple getters/setters with no logic
• Framework boilerplate (constructor, lifecycle method existence)
• Implementation details (private methods, internal state shape)
• Constants and configuration values
• CSS styling (use visual regression tools instead)

Test Structure — AAA Pattern

Every test should follow Arrange, Act, Assert:

describe("OrderService", () => {
  describe("calculateTotal", () => {
    it("applies percentage discount to subtotal", () => {
      // Arrange
      const items = [
        { name: "Widget", price: 25.00, quantity: 2 },
        { name: "Gadget", price: 15.00, quantity: 1 },
      ];
      const discount = { type: "percentage", value: 10 };

      // Act
      const total = calculateTotal(items, discount);

      // Assert
      expect(total).toBe(58.50); // (50 + 15) * 0.90
    });
  });
});

Naming Rules

1. Describe blocks name the unit — describe("OrderService"), describe("calculateTotal")
2. Test names describe the behavior — it("applies percentage discount to subtotal")
3. Use the pattern: it("<expected behavior> when <condition>")
4. Don't start with "should" — it("returns null for invalid input") not it("should return null...")

Structure Rules

1. One assertion per test (conceptual, not literal — multiple expect calls are fine if testing one behavior)
2. No logic in tests — no if, for, or switch in test code
3. No test interdependencies — each test sets up and tears down its own state
4. Use beforeEach for shared setup, not beforeAll — isolation matters more than speed
5. Group related tests with nested describe blocks

Mocking Strategies

When to Mock

Mock	Don't Mock
External APIs and services	The unit under test
Database calls (in unit tests)	Simple utility functions
File system access	Data transformations
Timers and dates	Pure functions
Network requests	Collaborators (in integration tests)
Third-party services	Standard library methods

Mocking Hierarchy

Prefer lighter mocking techniques when possible:

1. Stubs — return a fixed value: jest.fn().mockReturnValue(42)
2. Spies — observe calls without changing behavior: jest.spyOn(service, 'save')
3. Fakes — lightweight in-memory implementation: new InMemoryUserRepository()
4. Mocks — full behavior replacement: jest.mock('./database')

Rules

1. Mock at the boundary — mock the database client, not the repository method
2. Don't mock what you don't own — wrap third-party APIs in your own adapter, mock the adapter
3. Reset mocks between tests — use afterEach(() => jest.restoreAllMocks())
4. Verify interactions sparingly — prefer asserting on output over asserting mock was called

// Good — mock at the boundary
const mockDb = { query: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([{ id: 1, name: "Alice" }]) };
const repo = new UserRepository(mockDb);
const user = await repo.findById(1);
expect(user.name).toBe("Alice");

// Bad — mocking the unit under test
jest.spyOn(repo, "findById").mockResolvedValue({ id: 1, name: "Alice" });

Test Doubles for Common Scenarios

// Fixed time
beforeEach(() => {
  jest.useFakeTimers();
  jest.setSystemTime(new Date("2025-06-15T12:00:00Z"));
});
afterEach(() => jest.useRealTimers());

// API responses
const mockFetch = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({
  ok: true,
  json: async () => ({ data: { id: 1 } }),
});
global.fetch = mockFetch;

// Environment variables
const originalEnv = process.env;
beforeEach(() => {
  process.env = { ...originalEnv, API_KEY: "test-key" };
});
afterEach(() => {
  process.env = originalEnv;
});

Integration Tests

1. Test module boundaries — service calls repository, repository calls database
2. Use a real (test) database — SQLite in-memory or Docker containers
3. Test API endpoints end-to-end — use supertest or similar
4. Seed data in beforeEach — don't rely on database state from other tests
5. Test error paths — connection failures, timeouts, constraint violations

describe("POST /api/users", () => {
  it("creates a user and returns 201", async () => {
    const response = await request(app)
      .post("/api/users")
      .send({ email: "[email protected]", name: "Test User" })
      .expect(201);

    expect(response.body.data).toMatchObject({
      email: "[email protected]",
      name: "Test User",
    });
    expect(response.body.data.id).toBeDefined();
  });

  it("returns 400 for invalid email", async () => {
    const response = await request(app)
      .post("/api/users")
      .send({ email: "not-an-email", name: "Test User" })
      .expect(400);

    expect(response.body.error.code).toBe("VALIDATION_ERROR");
  });
});

E2E Tests

1. Test critical user journeys only — sign up, purchase, core workflow
2. Use realistic data — not "test123" or "foo bar"
3. Use data-testid attributes — data-testid="submit-button", not CSS selectors
4. Handle async operations explicitly — wait for elements, not fixed timeouts
5. Run in CI against a staging environment
6. Keep under 10 minutes total

Coverage Targets

Metric	Target	Notes
Line coverage	80%+	Higher for critical modules
Branch coverage	75%+	Ensures conditional paths are tested
Function coverage	85%+	All public functions tested
Critical paths	100%	Payment, auth, data integrity

Rules

1. Coverage is a floor, not a ceiling — don't write bad tests to hit a number
2. Track coverage trends — it should go up or stay flat, never down
3. Enforce in CI — fail the build if coverage drops below the threshold
4. Exclude generated code — don't count auto-generated files, configs, or type definitions

Test File Organization

src/
  services/
    order.service.ts
    order.service.test.ts        # Unit tests colocated
  api/
    routes/
      users.route.ts
tests/
  integration/
    api/
      users.test.ts              # Integration tests separate
  e2e/
    flows/
      checkout.test.ts           # E2E tests separate
  fixtures/
    users.json                   # Shared test data
  helpers/
    test-db.ts                   # Shared test utilities

Anti-patterns

• Testing implementation details — test behavior, not how it's implemented
• Snapshot overuse — snapshots are brittle; use them for serializable output, not UI
• Flaky tests — fix or delete them; a flaky test is worse than no test
• Test setup duplication — extract to helper functions or fixtures
• Ignoring test failures — a skipped test is a known bug you're choosing to keep
• 100% coverage obsession — diminishing returns past 85%; focus on meaningful tests