--- name: test-patterns description: Write and run tests across languages and frameworks. Use when setting up test suites, writing unit/integration/E2E tests, measuring coverage, mocking dependencies, or debugging test failures. Covers Node.js (Jest/Vitest), Python (pytest), Go, Rust, and Bash. metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"🧪","requires":{"anyBins":["node","python3","go","cargo","bash"]},"os":["linux","darwin","win32"]}} ---

Test Patterns

Write, run, and debug tests across languages. Covers unit tests, integration tests, E2E tests, mocking, coverage, and TDD workflows.

When to Use

• Setting up a test suite for a new project
• Writing unit tests for functions or modules
• Writing integration tests for APIs or database interactions
• Setting up code coverage measurement
• Mocking external dependencies (APIs, databases, file system)
• Debugging flaky or failing tests
• Implementing test-driven development (TDD)

Node.js (Jest / Vitest)

Setup

# Jest
npm install -D jest
# Add to package.json: "scripts": { "test": "jest" }

# Vitest (faster, ESM-native)
npm install -D vitest
# Add to package.json: "scripts": { "test": "vitest" }

Unit Tests

// math.js
export function add(a, b) { return a + b; }
export function divide(a, b) {
  if (b === 0) throw new Error('Division by zero');
  return a / b;
}

// math.test.js
import { add, divide } from './math.js';

describe('add', () => {
  test('adds two positive numbers', () => {
    expect(add(2, 3)).toBe(5);
  });

  test('handles negative numbers', () => {
    expect(add(-1, 1)).toBe(0);
  });

  test('handles zero', () => {
    expect(add(0, 0)).toBe(0);
  });
});

describe('divide', () => {
  test('divides two numbers', () => {
    expect(divide(10, 2)).toBe(5);
  });

  test('throws on division by zero', () => {
    expect(() => divide(10, 0)).toThrow('Division by zero');
  });

  test('handles floating point', () => {
    expect(divide(1, 3)).toBeCloseTo(0.333, 3);
  });
});

Async Tests

// api.test.js
import { fetchUser } from './api.js';

test('fetches user by id', async () => {
  const user = await fetchUser('123');
  expect(user).toHaveProperty('id', '123');
  expect(user).toHaveProperty('name');
  expect(user.name).toBeTruthy();
});

test('throws on missing user', async () => {
  await expect(fetchUser('nonexistent')).rejects.toThrow('Not found');
});

Mocking

// Mock a module
jest.mock('./database.js');
import { getUser } from './database.js';
import { processUser } from './service.js';

test('processes user from database', async () => {
  // Setup mock return value
  getUser.mockResolvedValue({ id: '1', name: 'Alice', active: true });

  const result = await processUser('1');
  expect(result.processed).toBe(true);
  expect(getUser).toHaveBeenCalledWith('1');
  expect(getUser).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
});

// Mock fetch
global.fetch = jest.fn();

test('calls API with correct params', async () => {
  fetch.mockResolvedValue({
    ok: true,
    json: async () => ({ data: 'test' }),
  });

  const result = await myApiCall('/endpoint');
  expect(fetch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('/endpoint', expect.objectContaining({
    method: 'GET',
  }));
});

// Spy on existing method (don't replace, just observe)
const consoleSpy = jest.spyOn(console, 'log').mockImplementation();
// ... run code ...
expect(consoleSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('expected message');
consoleSpy.mockRestore();

Coverage

# Jest
npx jest --coverage

# Vitest
npx vitest --coverage

# Check coverage thresholds (jest.config.js)
# coverageThreshold: { global: { branches: 80, functions: 80, lines: 80, statements: 80 } }

Python (pytest)

Setup

pip install pytest pytest-cov

Unit Tests

# calculator.py
def add(a, b):
    return a + b

def divide(a, b):
    if b == 0:
        raise ValueError("Division by zero")
    return a / b

# test_calculator.py
import pytest
from calculator import add, divide

def test_add():
    assert add(2, 3) == 5

def test_add_negative():
    assert add(-1, 1) == 0

def test_divide():
    assert divide(10, 2) == 5.0

def test_divide_by_zero():
    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Division by zero"):
        divide(10, 0)

def test_divide_float():
    assert divide(1, 3) == pytest.approx(0.333, abs=0.001)

Parametrized Tests

@pytest.mark.parametrize("a,b,expected", [
    (2, 3, 5),
    (-1, 1, 0),
    (0, 0, 0),
    (100, -50, 50),
])
def test_add_cases(a, b, expected):
    assert add(a, b) == expected

Fixtures

import pytest
import json
import tempfile
import os

@pytest.fixture
def sample_users():
    """Provide test user data."""
    return [
        {"id": 1, "name": "Alice", "email": "[email protected]"},
        {"id": 2, "name": "Bob", "email": "[email protected]"},
    ]

@pytest.fixture
def temp_db(tmp_path):
    """Provide a temporary SQLite database."""
    import sqlite3
    db_path = tmp_path / "test.db"
    conn = sqlite3.connect(str(db_path))
    conn.execute("CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT, email TEXT)")
    conn.commit()
    yield conn
    conn.close()

def test_insert_users(temp_db, sample_users):
    for user in sample_users:
        temp_db.execute("INSERT INTO users VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
                       (user["id"], user["name"], user["email"]))
    temp_db.commit()
    count = temp_db.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users").fetchone()[0]
    assert count == 2

# Fixture with cleanup
@pytest.fixture
def temp_config_file():
    path = tempfile.mktemp(suffix=".json")
    with open(path, "w") as f:
        json.dump({"key": "value"}, f)
    yield path
    os.unlink(path)

Mocking

from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock, AsyncMock

# Mock a function
@patch('mymodule.requests.get')
def test_fetch_data(mock_get):
    mock_get.return_value.status_code = 200
    mock_get.return_value.json.return_value = {"data": "test"}

    result = fetch_data("https://api.example.com")
    assert result == {"data": "test"}
    mock_get.assert_called_once_with("https://api.example.com")

# Mock async
@patch('mymodule.aiohttp.ClientSession.get', new_callable=AsyncMock)
async def test_async_fetch(mock_get):
    mock_get.return_value.__aenter__.return_value.json = AsyncMock(return_value={"ok": True})
    result = await async_fetch("/endpoint")
    assert result["ok"] is True

# Context manager mock
def test_file_reader():
    with patch("builtins.open", MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(
        read=MagicMock(return_value='{"key": "val"}'),
        __enter__=MagicMock(return_value=MagicMock(read=MagicMock(return_value='{"key": "val"}'))),
        __exit__=MagicMock(return_value=False),
    ))):
        result = read_config("fake.json")
        assert result["key"] == "val"

Coverage

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=mypackage --cov-report=term-missing

# HTML report
pytest --cov=mypackage --cov-report=html
# Open htmlcov/index.html

# Fail if coverage below threshold
pytest --cov=mypackage --cov-fail-under=80

Go

Unit Tests

// math.go
package math

import "errors"

func Add(a, b int) int { return a + b }

func Divide(a, b float64) (float64, error) {
    if b == 0 {
        return 0, errors.New("division by zero")
    }
    return a / b, nil
}

// math_test.go
package math

import (
    "testing"
    "math"
)

func TestAdd(t *testing.T) {
    tests := []struct {
        name     string
        a, b     int
        expected int
    }{
        {"positive", 2, 3, 5},
        {"negative", -1, 1, 0},
        {"zeros", 0, 0, 0},
    }
    for _, tt := range tests {
        t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
            got := Add(tt.a, tt.b)
            if got != tt.expected {
                t.Errorf("Add(%d, %d) = %d, want %d", tt.a, tt.b, got, tt.expected)
            }
        })
    }
}

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