How do I install the Fix Flaky Test skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add tmj-90/fix-flaky-test in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Fix Flaky Test safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Fix Flaky Test?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Fix Flaky Test free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Fix Flaky Test?

tmj-90 (@tmj-90) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Fix Flaky Test by tmj-90 — Agent Skill

Name: Fix Flaky Test
Author: tmj-90

Fix Flaky Test

Use when a ticket reports an intermittently failing test — passes sometimes, fails others, or fails in CI but not locally. Invoke for "this test is flaky", "fix the intermittent failure in X", or "the suite is non-deterministic". Fix the root cause, never paper over it with a retry.

tmj-90 13d80e5 2.0 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Fix a flaky test

A flaky test fails non-deterministically. The job is to find the source of non-determinism and remove it — not to retry until it passes.

Steps

Reproduce the flakiness. Run the named test repeatedly (a loop, or the runner's repeat flag) and, where relevant, in randomised order. Capture a failing run; you can't fix what you can't observe.
Locate the non-determinism. It's almost always one of: timing (sleeps, races, unawaited async), test order / shared mutable state (leaked globals, DB rows, singletons), unseeded randomness, real clock/timezone, or network/external calls. Read the failure to narrow which.
Fix the root cause. Await async properly and wait on conditions not timeouts; isolate state with proper setup/teardown; seed randomness and fake the clock; stub the external boundary. Do not add a retry, increase a sleep, or mark the test skipped — those hide the bug.
Prove stability. Re-run the test many times (and in random order) and confirm it passes every time. Then run the full suite (run-tests) to confirm no regression.
Evidence: the repeated-run command and a clean streak, plus the fix summary. Then use the record-evidence skill to record test_output against the AC and submit for review.

Rules

Fix the cause (timing/order/shared state/randomness), never add a retry or longer sleep.
Never skip or delete the test to make the suite green.
Demonstrate stability with many repeated passes, not a single run.
If the flake reveals a real product bug, note it; fix only what the ticket scopes.
Run on a branch (the create-branch skill), never a protected branch.

---name: fix-flaky-testdescription: Use when a ticket reports an intermittently failing test — passes sometimes, fails others, or fails in CI but not locally. Invoke for "this test is flaky", "fix the intermittent failure in X", or "the suite is non-deterministic". Fix the root cause, never paper over it with a retry.---# Fix a flaky testA flaky test fails non-deterministically. The job is to find the source ofnon-determinism and remove it — not to retry until it passes.## Steps1. **Reproduce the flakiness.** Run the named test repeatedly (a loop, or the runner's repeat flag) and, where relevant, in randomised order. Capture a failing run; you can't fix what you can't observe.2. **Locate the non-determinism.** It's almost always one of: timing (sleeps, races, unawaited async), test order / shared mutable state (leaked globals, DB rows, singletons), unseeded randomness, real clock/timezone, or network/external calls. Read the failure to narrow which.3. **Fix the root cause.** Await async properly and wait on conditions not timeouts; isolate state with proper setup/teardown; seed randomness and fake the clock; stub the external boundary. Do **not** add a retry, increase a sleep, or mark the test skipped — those hide the bug.4. **Prove stability.** Re-run the test many times (and in random order) and confirm it passes every time. Then run the full suite (`run-tests`) to confirm no regression.5. **Evidence:** the repeated-run command and a clean streak, plus the fix summary. Then use the `record-evidence` skill to record `test_output` against the AC and submit for review.## Rules- Fix the cause (timing/order/shared state/randomness), never add a retry or longer sleep.- Never skip or delete the test to make the suite green.- Demonstrate stability with many repeated passes, not a single run.- If the flake reveals a real product bug, note it; fix only what the ticket scopes.- Run on a branch (the `create-branch` skill), never a protected branch.

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