Unit Testing Expert

Unit Testing Expert

Self-contained unit testing expertise for Vitest/Jest in ANY user project.

Test-Driven Development (TDD)

Red-Green-Refactor Cycle:

// 1. RED: Write failing test
describe('Calculator', () => {
  it('should add two numbers', () => {
    const calc = new Calculator();
    expect(calc.add(2, 3)).toBe(5);
  });
});

// 2. GREEN: Minimal implementation
class Calculator {
  add(a: number, b: number): number {
    return a + b;
  }
}

// 3. REFACTOR: Improve code
class Calculator {
  add(...numbers: number[]): number {
    return numbers.reduce((sum, n) => sum + n, 0);
  }
}

TDD Benefits:

• Better design (testable code)
• Living documentation
• Faster debugging
• Higher confidence

Vitest/Jest Fundamentals

Basic Test Structure

import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, vi } from 'vitest';
import { UserService } from './UserService';

describe('UserService', () => {
  let service: UserService;

  beforeEach(() => {
    service = new UserService();
  });

  afterEach(() => {
    vi.clearAllMocks();
  });

  it('should create user', () => {
    const user = service.create({ name: 'John', email: 'john@test.com' });

    expect(user).toMatchObject({
      id: expect.any(String),
      name: 'John',
      email: 'john@test.com'
    });
  });

  it('should throw for invalid email', () => {
    expect(() => {
      service.create({ name: 'John', email: 'invalid' });
    }).toThrow('Invalid email');
  });
});

Async Testing

it('should fetch user from API', async () => {
  const user = await api.fetchUser('user-123');

  expect(user).toEqual({
    id: 'user-123',
    name: 'John Doe'
  });
});

// Testing async errors
it('should handle API errors', async () => {
  await expect(api.fetchUser('invalid')).rejects.toThrow('User not found');
});

Mocking Strategies

1. Mock Functions

// Mock a function
const mockFn = vi.fn();
mockFn.mockReturnValue(42);
expect(mockFn()).toBe(42);

// Mock with implementation
const mockAdd = vi.fn((a, b) => a + b);
expect(mockAdd(2, 3)).toBe(5);

// Verify calls
expect(mockFn).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
expect(mockFn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expected);

2. Mock Modules

// Mock entire module
vi.mock('./database', () => ({
  query: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue([{ id: 1, name: 'Test' }])
}));

import { query } from './database';

it('should fetch users from database', async () => {
  const users = await query('SELECT * FROM users');
  expect(users).toHaveLength(1);
});

3. Spies

// Spy on existing method
const spy = vi.spyOn(console, 'log');

myFunction();

expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Expected message');
spy.mockRestore();

4. Mock Dependencies

class UserService {
  constructor(private db: Database) {}

  async getUser(id: string) {
    return this.db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?', [id]);
  }
}

// Test with mock
const mockDb = {
  query: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ id: '123', name: 'John' })
};

const service = new UserService(mockDb);
const user = await service.getUser('123');

expect(mockDb.query).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
  'SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?',
  ['123']
);

Test Patterns

AAA Pattern (Arrange-Act-Assert)

it('should calculate total price', () => {
  // Arrange
  const cart = new ShoppingCart();
  cart.addItem({ price: 10, quantity: 2 });
  cart.addItem({ price: 5, quantity: 3 });

  // Act
  const total = cart.getTotal();

  // Assert
  expect(total).toBe(35);
});

Given-When-Then (BDD)

describe('Shopping Cart', () => {
  it('should apply discount when total exceeds $100', () => {
    // Given: A cart with items totaling $120
    const cart = new ShoppingCart();
    cart.addItem({ price: 120, quantity: 1 });

    // When: Getting the total
    const total = cart.getTotal();

    // Then: 10% discount applied
    expect(total).toBe(108); // $120 - $12 (10%)
  });
});

Parametric Testing

describe.each([
  [2, 3, 5],
  [10, 5, 15],
  [-1, 1, 0],
  [0, 0, 0]
])('Calculator.add(%i, %i)', (a, b, expected) => {
  it(`should return ${expected}`, () => {
    const calc = new Calculator();
    expect(calc.add(a, b)).toBe(expected);
  });
});

Test Doubles

Mocks vs Stubs vs Spies vs Fakes

Mock: Verifies behavior (calls, arguments)

const mock = vi.fn();
mock('test');
expect(mock).toHaveBeenCalledWith('test');

Stub: Returns predefined values

const stub = vi.fn().mockReturnValue(42);
expect(stub()).toBe(42);

Spy: Observes real function

const spy = vi.spyOn(obj, 'method');
obj.method();
expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalled();

Fake: Working implementation (simplified)

class FakeDatabase {
  private data = new Map();

  async save(key, value) {
    this.data.set(key, value);
  }

  async get(key) {
    return this.data.get(key);
  }
}

Coverage Analysis

Running Coverage

# Vitest
vitest --coverage

# Jest
jest --coverage

Coverage Thresholds

// vitest.config.ts
export default {
  test: {
    coverage: {
      provider: 'v8',
      reporter: ['text', 'html', 'lcov'],
      lines: 80,
      functions: 80,
      branches: 80,
      statements: 80
    }
  }
};

Coverage Best Practices

✅ DO:

• Aim for 80-90% coverage
• Focus on business logic
• Test edge cases
• Test error paths

❌ DON'T:

• Chase 100% coverage
• Test getters/setters only
• Test framework code
• Write tests just for coverage

Snapshot Testing

When to Use Snapshots

Good use cases:

• UI component output
• API responses
• Configuration objects
• Error messages

it('should render user card', () => {
  const card = renderUserCard({ name: 'John', role: 'Admin' });
  expect(card).toMatchSnapshot();
});

// Update snapshots: vitest -u

Avoid snapshots for:

• Dates/timestamps
• Random values
• Large objects (prefer specific assertions)

Test Organization

File Structure

src/
├── services/
│   ├── UserService.ts
│   └── UserService.test.ts      ← Co-located
tests/
├── unit/
│   └── utils.test.ts
├── integration/
│   └── api.test.ts
└── fixtures/
    └── users.json

Test Naming

✅ GOOD:

describe('UserService.create', () => {
  it('should create user with valid email', () => {});
  it('should throw error for invalid email', () => {});
  it('should generate unique ID', () => {});
});

❌ BAD:

describe('UserService', () => {
  it('test1', () => {});
  it('should work', () => {});
});

Error Handling Tests

// Synchronous errors
it('should throw for negative numbers', () => {
  expect(() => sqrt(-1)).toThrow('Cannot compute square root of negative');
});

// Async errors
it('should reject for invalid ID', async () => {
  await expect(fetchUser('invalid')).rejects.toThrow('Invalid ID');
});

// Error types
it('should throw TypeError', () => {
  expect(() => doSomething()).toThrow(TypeError);
});

// Custom errors
it('should throw ValidationError', () => {
  expect(() => validate()).toThrow(ValidationError);
});

Test Isolation

Reset State Between Tests

let service: UserService;

beforeEach(() => {
  service = new UserService();
  vi.clearAllMocks();
});

afterEach(() => {
  vi.restoreAllMocks();
});

Avoid Test Interdependence

❌ BAD:

let user;

it('should create user', () => {
  user = createUser(); // Shared state
});

it('should update user', () => {
  updateUser(user); // Depends on previous test
});

✅ GOOD:

it('should update user', () => {
  const user = createUser();
  updateUser(user);
  expect(user.updated).toBe(true);
});

Best Practices Summary

✅ DO:

• Write tests before code (TDD)
• Test behavior, not implementation
• One assertion per test (when possible)
• Clear test names (should...)
• Mock external dependencies
• Test edge cases and errors
• Keep tests fast (<100ms each)
• Use descriptive variable names
• Clean up after tests

❌ DON'T:

• Test private methods directly
• Share state between tests
• Use real databases/APIs
• Test framework code
• Write fragile tests (implementation-dependent)
• Skip error cases
• Use magic numbers
• Leave commented-out tests

Quick Reference

Assertions

expect(value).toBe(expected);              // ===
expect(value).toEqual(expected);           // Deep equality
expect(value).toBeTruthy();                // Boolean true
expect(value).toBeFalsy();                 // Boolean false
expect(array).toHaveLength(3);             // Array length
expect(array).toContain(item);             // Array includes
expect(string).toMatch(/pattern/);         // Regex match
expect(fn).toThrow(Error);                 // Throws error
expect(obj).toHaveProperty('key');         // Has property
expect(value).toBeCloseTo(0.3, 5);        // Float comparison

Lifecycle Hooks

beforeAll(() => {});      // Once before all tests
beforeEach(() => {});     // Before each test
afterEach(() => {});      // After each test
afterAll(() => {});       // Once after all tests

Mock Utilities

vi.fn()                           // Create mock
vi.fn().mockReturnValue(x)        // Return value
vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(x)      // Async return
vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(e)      // Async error
vi.mock('./module')               // Mock module
vi.spyOn(obj, 'method')           // Spy on method
vi.clearAllMocks()                // Clear call history
vi.resetAllMocks()                // Reset + clear
vi.restoreAllMocks()              // Restore originals

This skill is self-contained and works in ANY user project with Vitest/Jest.