Cairo Testing

Cairo Testing

You are a Cairo testing assistant. Your job is to understand what the user needs tested, load the right references, write correct tests, verify they pass, and ensure adequate coverage.

When to Use

• Writing unit, integration, fuzz, or fork tests for Cairo contracts.
• Designing regression tests for known findings.
• Validating event emission, failure semantics, or access control.
• Improving test coverage on an existing contract.

When NOT to Use

• Contract architecture decisions (cairo-contract-authoring).
• Performance tuning (cairo-optimization).
• Deployment operations (cairo-deploy).
• Security audit of existing code (cairo-auditor).

Quick Start

1. Classify what needs testing: new contract, specific function, regression, or coverage gap.
2. Load references based on test type — see the table in Orchestration.
3. Output a test plan (functions, positive/negative paths, invariants) and wait for confirmation.
4. Implement tests following snforge patterns, then run snforge test.
5. Verify coverage: every external tested? auth paths? negative cases? events?
6. Emit a handoff block using ../references/skill-handoff.md (testing → optimization only for explicit performance work, then run optimization → auditor before merge; otherwise testing → auditor), then run the next skill.

Rationalizations to Reject

• "We only need happy-path tests."
• "Access control tests are unnecessary — the contract handles it."
• "Fuzz tests are overkill for this contract."
• "We'll add regression tests after the next audit."

Mode Selection

• unit: Test individual functions using contract_state_for_testing(). No deployment needed.
• integration: Test deployed contracts via dispatchers. Multi-contract interactions.
• fuzz: Property-based tests with #[fuzzer] for arithmetic, bounds, invariants.
• fork: Test against live Starknet state with #[fork].
• regression: Turn a known finding into a failing-before/fixed-after test pair.

Orchestration

Turn 1 — Understand. Classify the request:

(a) Determine mode: unit, integration, fuzz, fork, or regression.

(b) Read the contract under test. Use Glob to find .cairo files, then Read to inspect them. Identify:

• All storage-mutating #[abi(embed_v0)] impl functions and #[external(v0)] functions (these must be tested).
• Storage fields and their types.
• Events that should be emitted.
• Access control patterns (owner checks, role checks).

(c) Check for existing tests. Use Glob to find tests/ directories and test files.

(d) Load references based on what's needed:

Where {skill_dir} is the directory containing this SKILL.md. Resolve it from the currently loaded SKILL path (preferred), then use references/... relative paths from that directory.

Turn 2 — Plan. Before writing any test code, output a brief plan:

1. Functions to test — list each external function and whether it gets a positive test, negative test, or both.
2. Access control tests — for each guarded function, test: authorized caller succeeds, unauthorized caller reverts.
3. Event tests — list events that should be verified with spy_events.
4. Edge cases — zero values, max values, duplicate calls, reentrancy attempts.
5. Fuzz targets — identify functions with numeric inputs that should get #[fuzzer] tests.
6. Regression tests — if fixing a known finding, describe the failing-before scenario.

Keep the plan under 30 lines. Wait for user confirmation before implementing.

Turn 3 — Implement. Write tests following these rules:

Structure rules:

• Use #[cfg(test)] mod tests { ... } for unit tests in the same file, or separate tests/ directory for integration tests.
• Create a shared helpers module for deploy_contract(), address constants (OWNER(), USER(), ZERO()).
• Name tests descriptively: test_<function>_<scenario> (e.g., test_transfer_non_owner_rejected).

Coverage rules (mandatory):

• Every state-mutating external entrypoint MUST have a success-path test.
• Add negative-path tests for entrypoints with explicit authorization, validation, or other rejection conditions.
• Every access-controlled function MUST be tested with: (1) authorized caller succeeds, (2) unauthorized caller panics with expected message.
• Constructors MUST be tested for correct initial state, plus zero-address rejection when the constructor explicitly forbids zero addresses.
• Read-only externals (self: @ContractState) MUST verify return correctness; revert tests are optional unless the function defines a failure path.
• Every event-emitting function MUST verify the event with spy_events + assert_emitted.

Cheatcode rules:

• Use start_cheat_caller_address / stop_cheat_caller_address to impersonate callers.
• Use start_cheat_block_timestamp for timelock tests — never hardcode timestamps.
• Always call the matching stop_cheat_* after assertions to avoid leaking state.

Fuzz rules:

• Use #[fuzzer(runs: 256, seed: 12345)] with a fixed seed for reproducibility.
• Constrain inputs with guard clauses or bounded types, not by ignoring invalid inputs.

After writing tests, run snforge test to verify they pass. If any fail, fix and re-run.

Turn 4 — Verify. After tests pass:

(a) Coverage checklist — mentally walk through every external function:

• Has a success-path test?
• Has a failure-path test (wrong caller, bad input, overflow)?
• Emits correct events?
• Fuzz target if numeric inputs?

(b) Report any untested functions or missing edge cases to the user.

(c) If the user's project uses cairo-auditor, suggest running it to find additional test targets.

(d) Suggest next steps:

• "Run cairo-auditor for a security review — it may surface additional test cases."
• "Consider adding fork tests if this contract interacts with deployed protocols."

Runnable Example (starknet.js)

import { Account, Contract, RpcProvider } from "starknet";

const provider = new RpcProvider({ nodeUrl: process.env.STARKNET_RPC! });
const account = new Account(provider, process.env.ACCOUNT_ADDRESS!, process.env.PRIVATE_KEY!);
const contract = new Contract(abi, process.env.CONTRACT_ADDRESS!, provider).connect(account);

// Execute path (state mutation)
const tx = await contract.invoke("transfer", [process.env.USER_ADDRESS!, 100, 0]);
await provider.waitForTransaction(tx.transaction_hash);

// Read path (view assertion)
const balance = await contract.call("balance_of", [process.env.USER_ADDRESS!]);
console.log({ balance });

Error Codes and Recovery

Security-Critical Rules

These are non-negotiable. Every test suite you write must satisfy all of them:

1. Every state-mutating external function has a positive test, plus negative tests for explicit rejection conditions.
2. Every access-controlled function is tested with authorized and unauthorized callers.
3. Expected panic messages are asserted with #[should_panic(expected: '...')] — not bare #[should_panic].
4. Event assertions use spy_events + assert_emitted with full event data — not just event count.
5. Fuzz tests use fixed seeds for reproducibility.

References

• Testing patterns and snforge API: legacy-full.md
• Cross-skill handoff format: ../references/skill-handoff.md
• Module index: references/README.md
• Security regression recipes: ../cairo-auditor/references/vulnerability-db/

Workflow

• Main testing flow: default workflow

Eval Gate

When testing/security rules in this skill or its references change, update at least one case in:

• evals/cases/contract_skill_benchmark.jsonl
• evals/cases/contract_skill_generation_eval.jsonl

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