Regression Testing

Regression Testing

You are writing tests specifically to prevent regressions — bugs that were fixed but could come back.

Process

1. Identify Regression Risks

High-risk areas for regressions:

• Code that was recently fixed (the fix might be incomplete)
• Code that's frequently modified (high churn = high risk)
• Code with complex conditional logic (many branches = many ways to break)
• Code at integration boundaries (where two systems meet)
• Code without any existing tests

2. Write Characterization Tests

Before changing any code, capture current behavior:

// Characterization test: documents current behavior
// If this test breaks during refactoring, you changed behavior (intentionally or not)
it('should return empty array when no items match filter', () => {
  const result = filterItems([], { status: 'active' });
  expect(result).toEqual([]);
});

3. Write Regression Tests for Fixed Bugs

Every bug fix needs a regression test:

// Regression: https://github.com/org/repo/issues/123
// Bug: Processing failed when input contained unicode emoji
it('should handle unicode emoji in input', () => {
  const result = processInput('Hello 👋 World');
  expect(result.text).toBe('Hello 👋 World');
});

Rules for regression tests:

• Reference the original issue/bug in a comment
• Test the exact scenario that triggered the bug
• Test close variants (if emoji broke it, test other unicode too)
• Place near related tests, not in a separate "regression" file

4. Coverage-Guided Test Writing

Find untested code paths:

# Generate coverage report
pnpm test --coverage

# Look for:
# - Uncovered branches (if/else paths never hit)
# - Uncovered functions (dead code or missing tests?)
# - Low-coverage files (< 60% line coverage)

Prioritize coverage for:

1. Public API functions (users depend on these)
2. Error handling paths (failures should be predictable)
3. Edge cases in business logic
4. Data validation and transformation

5. Mutation Testing (Advanced)

If coverage is high but bugs still slip through, tests might be weak:

• Change a > to >= — does any test fail?
• Remove a null check — does any test fail?
• Change a constant — does any test fail?

If no test fails, the tests are checking the wrong things.

Test Organization

src/
  module.ts
  __tests__/
    module.test.ts         # Unit tests
    module.integration.ts  # Integration tests

• Group tests by behavior, not by method
• Use describe blocks for related scenarios
• Test names should be sentences: "should reject invalid email format"
• One assertion per concept (but multiple expect calls for one logical assertion are fine)