Testing Essentials

Testing Essentials

Canonical FP bar: docs/fcis-engineering-rules.md — Functional Core, Imperative Shell: pure domain modules; side effects at edges. Prefer testing pure core without Repo; use DataCase only for true persistence boundaries.

RULES — Follow these with no exceptions

1. Follow the project's existing test setup patterns — don't inline DataCase/ConnCase boilerplate that the project already abstracts away 2. Use async: true only when safe — avoid for DB contexts with shared rows, LiveView, Application.put_env, and external services 3. Define test data in fixtures (test/support/) — never build it inline across multiple tests 4. Use has_element?/2 and element/2 for LiveView assertions — not html =~ "text" for structure checks 5. Always test the unauthorized case for any protected resource 6. Never hardcode dates — use relative timestamps to prevent flaky tests

FCIS at this boundary

Prefer unit-testing pure core without the database. Use DataCase for true persistence; use plain ExUnit for pure modules.

❌ Bad: every pure calculation goes through Repo

test "discount" do
  order = insert(:order)
  assert Orders.apply_discount(order.id, 10).total == 90
end

✅ Good: pure core test is side-effect free

test "discount" do
  assert Pricing.with_discount(100, 10) == 90
end

Workflow: Writing a New Test File

Follow these steps in order, with explicit validation at each checkpoint:

1. Check existing fixtures — inspect test/support/fixtures/ for relevant fixtures before creating new ones
2. Create fixture if needed — add to the appropriate fixtures module (see Fixture Pattern below)
3. Verify compilation — run mix test to confirm the fixture compiles before writing any tests
4. Write the failing test — implement the test case; run mix test path/to/file_test.exs and confirm it fails with a meaningful message (not a compile error)
5. Verify the failure message — the failure should describe a missing behaviour, not a setup problem
6. Implement the feature
7. Verify the test passes — re-run mix test path/to/file_test.exs and confirm green

See assets/tdd_checklist.md for a copy-paste RED/GREEN/REFACTOR checklist and pre-commit quality gate.

Test Module Setup

See assets/spec_templates.md for copy-paste DataCase, ConnCase, LiveView, isolated-LiveView, and ChannelCase test templates.

DataCase — for context and schema tests

defmodule MyApp.AccountsTest do
  use MyApp.DataCase, async: true

  alias MyApp.Accounts
  import MyApp.AccountsFixtures
end

ConnCase — for LiveView and controller tests

defmodule MyAppWeb.UserLiveTest do
  use MyAppWeb.ConnCase, async: true

  import Phoenix.LiveViewTest
  import MyApp.AccountsFixtures
end

Fixture Pattern

Define all test data in test/support/fixtures/:

defmodule MyApp.AccountsFixtures do
  def user_fixture(attrs \\ %{}) do
    {:ok, user} =
      attrs
      |> Enum.into(%{
        email: "user#{System.unique_integer([:positive])}@example.com",
        password: "hello world!"
      })
      |> MyApp.Accounts.register_user()

    user
  end
end

Context Test Skeleton

describe "create_post/1" do
  test "with valid attrs creates a post" do
    assert {:ok, %Post{} = post} = Blog.create_post(%{title: "Hello"})
    assert post.title == "Hello"
  end

  test "with invalid attrs returns error changeset" do
    assert {:error, %Ecto.Changeset{} = changeset} = Blog.create_post(%{})
    assert %{title: ["can't be blank"]} = errors_on(changeset)
  end
end

LiveView Test Skeleton

describe "index" do
  test "lists posts", %{conn: conn} do
    post = post_fixture()
    {:ok, _lv, html} = live(conn, ~p"/posts")
    assert html =~ post.title
  end

  test "unauthorized user is redirected", %{conn: conn} do
    {:error, {:redirect, %{to: path}}} = live(conn, ~p"/admin/posts")
    assert path == ~p"/login"
  end
end

describe "create" do
  test "saves post with valid attrs", %{conn: conn} do
    {:ok, lv, _html} = live(conn, ~p"/posts/new")

    lv
    |> form("#post-form", post: %{title: "New Post"})
    |> render_submit()

    assert has_element?(lv, "p", "Post created")
  end

  test "shows errors with invalid attrs", %{conn: conn} do
    {:ok, lv, _html} = live(conn, ~p"/posts/new")

    lv
    |> form("#post-form", post: %{title: ""})
    |> render_submit()

    assert has_element?(lv, "p.alert", "can't be blank")
  end
end

Changeset Test Skeleton

describe "changeset/2" do
  test "valid attrs" do
    assert %Ecto.Changeset{valid?: true} = Post.changeset(%Post{}, %{title: "Hello"})
  end

  test "requires title" do
    changeset = Post.changeset(%Post{}, %{})
    assert %{title: ["can't be blank"]} = errors_on(changeset)
  end
end

Setup Chaining

Use setup [:func1, :func2] to compose reusable setup functions:

defmodule MyAppWeb.PostLiveTest do
  use MyAppWeb.ConnCase, async: true

  import MyApp.AccountsFixtures
  import MyApp.BlogFixtures

  setup [:register_and_log_in_user, :create_post]

  test "owner can edit post", %{conn: conn, post: post} do
    {:ok, lv, _html} = live(conn, ~p"/posts/#{post}/edit")
    assert has_element?(lv, "#post-form")
  end

  defp create_post(%{user: user}) do
    %{post: post_fixture(user_id: user.id)}
  end
end

Timestamp Testing

❌ Bad — hardcoded date will eventually be in the past:

assert post.published_at == ~U[2026-01-15 12:00:00Z]

✅ Good — relative to now:

now = DateTime.utc_now(:second)
assert DateTime.diff(post.inserted_at, now, :second) < 5

✅ Good — build relative dates for filtering/sorting:

past = DateTime.add(DateTime.utc_now(:second), -7, :day)
future = DateTime.add(DateTime.utc_now(:second), 7, :day)
old_post = post_fixture(published_at: past)
new_post = post_fixture(published_at: future)
assert Blog.list_published_posts() == [old_post]

Troubleshooting Common Failures

When Not to Use

Do not invoke this skill for: pure-function unit tests with no DB/external side effects (use plain ExUnit), property-based testing (property-based-testing skill), benchmarking (benchee-profiling skill), Mox patterns for external services, or LiveView streams (liveview-streams skill).

Common Pitfalls

Integration

Companion skills: property-based-testing, benchee-profiling, tdd, code-quality.