Test Before Ship

Use this skill when implementing a new feature or fixing a bug. Write or update tests before marking the task done. Never consider code complete without verifying it works through automated tests.

aiming-lab Updated

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Test Before Ship

Test pyramid:

  • Unit tests for pure functions and business logic (fast, many).
  • Integration tests for service interactions and DB queries (medium).
  • End-to-end tests for critical user journeys (slow, few).

Test quality checklist:

  • Does the test actually fail when the code is broken?
  • Does it cover the happy path AND the most likely error cases?
  • Is the test name descriptive enough to diagnose a failure from the name alone?

For bug fixes: add a regression test that reproduces the bug before fixing it.

Anti-patterns:

  • Tests that only test the mock, not the real behavior.
  • Skipping tests because "it probably works".

aiming-lab/MetaClaw commit 3437e4e211

Frequently asked questions

npx skillmds@latest add aiming-lab/test-before-ship