# Go Tests

> Enforces idiomatic Go testing — table-driven cases with subtests, the standard library over assertion frameworks, t.Cleanup for teardown, httptest for HTTP, golden files, fuzzing, and benchmarks that measure. Use when writing or reviewing Go tests, and when the user mentions table tests, t.Run, t.Parallel, testify, testdata, golden files, httptest, go test -race, coverage, benchmarks, fuzz, or asks "how do I test this in Go".

- Skill: `caslubbers/go-tests` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add caslubbers/go-tests`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/caslubbers/go-tests/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: CasLubbers (https://skillmd.com/u/caslubbers)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/caslubbers/go-tests

---


# Go tests

## Table-driven is the default

One test function, a slice of cases, a subtest per case. Adding coverage means adding a struct literal.

```go
func TestParseDuration(t *testing.T) {
    tests := map[string]struct {
        in      string
        want    time.Duration
        wantErr bool
    }{
        "seconds":      {in: "30s", want: 30 * time.Second},
        "compound":     {in: "1h30m", want: 90 * time.Minute},
        "zero":         {in: "0", want: 0},
        "empty":        {in: "", wantErr: true},
        "bad unit":     {in: "5x", wantErr: true},
    }

    for name, tc := range tests {
        t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
            t.Parallel()
            got, err := ParseDuration(tc.in)
            if tc.wantErr {
                if err == nil { t.Fatal("want error, got nil") }
                return
            }
            if err != nil { t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err) }
            if got != tc.want { t.Errorf("got %v, want %v", got, tc.want) }
        })
    }
}
```

A map keys cases by name and randomises order, which surfaces inter-case dependencies. Name cases after the behaviour, not `case1`. `t.Run` gives each one its own line in the output and lets you run one with `-run TestParseDuration/bad_unit`.

## Failure messages carry the values

The reader is looking at CI output, not your screen.

```go
// Good
t.Errorf("ParseDuration(%q) = %v, want %v", tc.in, got, tc.want)

// Bad — tells you nothing
t.Error("wrong result")
```

`t.Error` continues so you see every failure in the table; `t.Fatal` stops when continuing would panic or cascade. Use `cmp.Diff` from `github.com/google/go-cmp` for structs and slices — comparing large values by eye is wasted time:

```go
if diff := cmp.Diff(want, got); diff != "" {
    t.Errorf("mismatch (-want +got):\n%s", diff)
}
```

## Standard library first

`testing` plus `go-cmp` covers nearly everything. An assertion framework buys `assert.Equal` and costs a dependency, a second vocabulary, and worse failure output for composite types. If a project already uses `testify`, match it — consistency wins over relitigating the choice.

## Cleanup with t.Cleanup

Registers teardown next to setup, runs even when the test fails, and works inside helpers where `defer` would fire too early.

```go
func newTestStore(t *testing.T) *Store {
    t.Helper()
    dir := t.TempDir()          // removed automatically
    s, err := Open(dir)
    if err != nil { t.Fatalf("open store: %v", err) }
    t.Cleanup(func() { s.Close() })
    return s
}
```

`t.Helper()` makes failures report the caller's line, not the helper's. `t.TempDir` and `t.Setenv` handle their own cleanup — `t.Setenv` also blocks `t.Parallel`, by design.

## Parallel tests

`t.Parallel()` is a signal that the test shares no mutable state — no global config, no fixed port, no shared temp file. Add it deliberately, and run with `-race`, which is where parallelism pays off by exposing real races.

## HTTP with httptest

No real ports, no sleeps.

```go
func TestHandler(t *testing.T) {
    req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/orders/42", nil)
    rec := httptest.NewRecorder()

    NewHandler(fakeStore{}).ServeHTTP(rec, req)

    if rec.Code != http.StatusOK {
        t.Fatalf("status = %d, want 200", rec.Code)
    }
}
```

For outbound calls, `httptest.NewServer` gives a real URL backed by your own handler.

## Golden files

For large output — rendered templates, generated code, formatted reports — store the expected value in `testdata/` and regenerate behind a flag.

```go
var update = flag.Bool("update", false, "update golden files")

golden := filepath.Join("testdata", name+".golden")
if *update {
    os.WriteFile(golden, got, 0o644)
}
want, err := os.ReadFile(golden)
```

`testdata/` is ignored by the go tool, so anything can live there. Review golden diffs like code — a regenerated golden that nobody read is a test that asserts nothing.

## Test the exported surface

Prefer package `foo_test` (an external test package) so tests exercise the API a caller sees. Drop into the internal package only for logic genuinely unreachable from outside — and consider whether that logic wants extracting instead.

## Fuzzing and benchmarks

Fuzz anything that parses untrusted input; the corpus lives in `testdata/fuzz` and grows with every crash found.

```go
func FuzzParse(f *testing.F) {
    f.Add("30s")
    f.Fuzz(func(t *testing.T, s string) {
        _, _ = ParseDuration(s) // must not panic
    })
}
```

Benchmarks loop to `b.N` and must not be optimised away — assign to a package-level sink. Use `b.ReportAllocs()`, and compare runs with `benchstat` rather than eyeballing one number.

## What CI runs

```
go test -race -count=1 ./...
```

`-count=1` defeats the test cache when you need a true rerun. Coverage is a map of untested code, not a target — chasing a percentage produces tests that assert nothing.