Shaktra tdd

Shaktra TDD — Testing & Coding Knowledge

This skill provides the knowledge base for writing tests and production code. It is loaded by agents during the TDD pipeline — it does not orchestrate any workflow.

Boundary

This skill defines: HOW to write tests (practices, patterns, anti-patterns) and HOW to write production code (implementation patterns, security, observability, resilience).

shaktra-quality defines: HOW to evaluate code and tests (checks, review dimensions, gate logic).

shaktra-reference defines: WHAT severity levels mean (severity-taxonomy.md), WHAT quality principles apply (quality-principles.md), and WHAT the handoff state machine looks like (schemas/handoff-schema.md).

This skill never restates severity definitions, quality dimensions, or schema structures — it references them.

Sub-Files

File	Purpose
testing-practices.md	12 core testing principles — behavioral testing, TDD cycle, isolation, mocking, edge cases
coding-practices.md	Implementation patterns, error handling, security, observability, resilience essentials
resilience-practices.md	Retry with backoff+jitter, timeouts by operation type, circuit breaker, fallback hierarchy, failure mode table
concurrency-practices.md	Idempotency patterns (3 types), optimistic locking, atomic operations, concurrent test harness
refactoring-smells.md	24 code smells in 6 categories with AI-detectable patterns and transform mappings
refactoring-transforms.md	20 refactoring techniques in 5 categories with atomic protocol and reliability ratings
api-design-practices.md	RESTful contracts, error envelopes, versioning, pagination, idempotency — 6 AI-enforceable checks (AC-01 through AC-06)
schema-design-practices.md	Schema design, indexing, migration safety, validation layers — 6 AI-enforceable checks (SD-01 through SD-06)
service-boundary-practices.md	Bounded contexts, data ownership, communication patterns, failure isolation — 5 AI-enforceable checks (SB-01 through SB-05)
performance-practices.md	Algorithmic complexity, N+1 queries, caching, connection pooling, pagination, profiling — 8 AI-enforceable checks (PG-01 through PG-08)
data-layer-practices.md	Query optimization, transaction management, batch processing, cache invalidation, data access patterns — 8 AI-enforceable checks (DL-01 through DL-08)
threat-modeling-practices.md	STRIDE framework, trust boundaries, data classification, threat model deliverable — 5 AI-enforceable checks (TM-01 through TM-05)
security-practices.md	OWASP Top 10 aligned — injection, auth, access control, crypto, SSRF, logging — 12 AI-enforceable checks (SE-01 through SE-12)
architecture-governance-practices.md	Layer dependency rules, module boundaries, dependency direction enforcement per settings.project.architecture

How Agents Use This Skill

sw-engineer loads this skill to inform implementation and test planning:

• Reads testing-practices.md for test strategy guidance
• Reads coding-practices.md for pattern selection during plan creation
• Reads performance-practices.md and data-layer-practices.md for data/performance-aware planning
• In refactoring-plan mode: reads refactoring-smells.md for smell detection

test-agent loads this skill to write behavioral tests:

• Follows testing-practices.md for test structure, naming, assertions
• References edge case strategy and mocking boundaries
• In characterization mode: writes behavior-preserving tests for refactoring safety

developer loads this skill to write production code:

• Follows coding-practices.md for implementation patterns
• Applies security-practices.md for OWASP-aligned secure coding
• Applies performance-practices.md and data-layer-practices.md for efficient data access
• References resilience-practices.md for retry, timeout, circuit breaker, and fallback patterns
• References concurrency-practices.md for idempotency, locking, and atomic operations
• In refactor mode: follows refactoring-transforms.md atomic protocol

architect loads this skill for design-first engineering:

• Reads api-design-practices.md for API contract design
• Reads schema-design-practices.md for data model design
• Reads service-boundary-practices.md for service decomposition
• Reads threat-modeling-practices.md for STRIDE-based threat modeling

References

• shaktra-reference/quality-principles.md — 10 core principles guiding all code
• shaktra-reference/severity-taxonomy.md — severity definitions (never duplicated here)
• shaktra-reference/schemas/handoff-schema.md — TDD state machine phases