# Review Tests

> Review Terraform AWS Provider acceptance and unit test basics: required _basic and _disappears tests, TestAcc naming, TestCase essentials (PreCheck/ErrorCheck/ProtoV5ProviderFactories/CheckDestroy), random naming, ImportState steps, and regexache. Use when reviewing a PR that changes internal/service/**/*_test.go.

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

---


<!-- Copyright IBM Corp. 2014, 2026 -->
<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0 -->

# Review: Acceptance & Unit Tests

Assume the `@maintainer` persona. Scope: per-resource acceptance test basics. Ephemeral resources, provider functions, and actions are out of scope. See `review-tests-helpers` for Exists/Destroy and data source/list/unit tests. Loaded from `review-pr`.

## Required tests for new resources

- `TestAcc<Service><Resource>_basic` — full happy path, including an `ImportState` step, checking all attributes.
- `TestAcc<Service><Resource>_disappears` — verifies the provider re-creates a resource that's gone out-of-band.

Tag and identity tests are **generated** for resources with `@Tags` and identity annotations. Flag PRs that add hand-written `_tags*` or `_Identity_*` tests for new resources.

## Naming

- Acceptance tests: `TestAcc<Service><Resource>_<scenario>`.
- Data source acceptance tests: `TestAcc<Service><DataSource>DataSource_<scenario>`.
- List resource acceptance tests: `TestAcc<Service><Resource>_List_<scenario>`.
- Unit tests: anything **without** the `TestAcc` prefix; flag any unit test that calls AWS.

## TestCase essentials

Acceptance tests start with `ctx := acctest.Context(t)` and use `acctest.ParallelTest(ctx, t, resource.TestCase{...})`.

The `TestCase` must set:

- `PreCheck` calling `acctest.PreCheck(ctx, t)`, `acctest.PreCheckPartitionHasService(t, names.<Service>EndpointID)`, and the package's `testAccPreCheck(ctx, t)`.
- `ErrorCheck: acctest.ErrorCheck(t, names.<Service>ServiceID)`.
- `ProtoV5ProviderFactories: acctest.ProtoV5ProviderFactories`.
- `CheckDestroy: testAccCheck<Resource>Destroy(ctx, t)`.

Flag missing or replaced versions of any of those.

For tests expected to run more than ~5 minutes, add the long-running guard right after `acctest.Context(t)`:

```go
if testing.Short() {
    t.Skip("skipping long-running test in short mode")
}
```

## Random naming

Use `sdkacctest.RandomWithPrefix(acctest.ResourcePrefix)`. Flag hard-coded names or bare `acctest.RandString(...)`.

## PreCheck pattern

`testAccPreCheck` issues a single cheap List/Describe call and skips on partition/permission errors via `acctest.PreCheckSkipError(err)`. Flag PreChecks that make multiple API calls, return errors instead of calling `t.Skipf`/`t.Fatalf`, or skip `PreCheckSkipError`.

## ImportState step

The `_basic` test's last step verifies import:

```go
{
    ResourceName:      resourceName,
    ImportState:       true,
    ImportStateVerify: true,
}
```

`ImportStateVerifyIgnore` is for write-only fields the AWS API doesn't return (e.g., passwords, `apply_immediately`). Flag broad ignore lists used to paper over genuine drift.

## Disappears test

- Framework: `acctest.CheckFrameworkResourceDisappears(ctx, acctest.Provider, tf<svc>.Resource<Name>, resourceName)`.
- SDKv2: `acctest.CheckResourceDisappears(ctx, acctest.Provider, tf<svc>.Resource<Name>(), resourceName)`.

## Regex and ARN checks

- Use `github.com/YakDriver/regexache`, not stdlib `regexp`. Flag any new test that imports `regexp`.
- For ARN attributes use `acctest.MatchResourceAttrRegionalARN` / `CheckResourceAttrRegionalARN` (or global / alt-region variants). Flag manual ARN assembly via `fmt.Sprintf` with account ID or region.