Assertion Troubleshooting

Assertion Troubleshooting

Use this when assertions fail unexpectedly, revert with OutOfGas, or never execute.

When to Use

• Tests show "Expected 1 assertion to be executed, but 0 were executed".
• Assertions revert with OutOfGas or unknown reasons.
• Call inputs appear empty or duplicate.

When NOT to Use

• You need invariant design. Use designing-assertions.
• You need implementation details. Use implementing-assertions.
• You need test strategy or fuzzing. Use testing-assertions.

Quick Start

1. Confirm the registered V2 trigger matches the intended target path: registerFnCallTrigger, registerTxEndTrigger, registerErc20ChangeTrigger, cumulative flow trigger, or storage trigger.
2. Ensure cl.assertion() is immediately before the monitored external call; the next monitored call consumes it.
3. Check if the target call reverted before assertions ran.
4. Verify ph.* calls are used in assertion functions, not constructors.
5. Remember internal Solidity calls are not traced; triggers only fire on external entrypoints.
6. Use pcl test -vvvv for full traces and gas diagnostics.
7. Confirm FOUNDRY_PROFILE=assertions when running pcl test.
8. Use pcl test for assertion behavior; use forge test only for regular protocol tests or compile-only checks.
9. If the failure is CreateContractSizeLimit, split assertions into smaller contracts.
10. If the failure is an empty revert or ABI decode panic, re-check whether the API returns raw calldata with selector (ph.callinputAt) or args-only data.
11. If ph.context() reverts, the assertion was not triggered by registerFnCallTrigger.
12. If a rolling-window breaker does not fire, confirm the watched token, threshold bps, window duration, and adopter balance source.

Rationalizations to Reject

• "The assertion should have run." Verify triggers and call order first.
• "It is probably a test issue." Validate the target call succeeds without assertions.
• "Gas is fine." Happy path often consumes the most gas.
• "The old fork-switching example should be enough." Prefer current V2 fork-aware reads for new assertions.

References

• Common Errors and Fixes