golem-skill-harness

name	golem-skill-harness
description	Developing, testing, and running Golem skill tests with the skill test harness. Use when creating new skills, writing scenario YAML files, running skill tests locally, or debugging skill test failures.

Golem Skill Test Harness

The skill test harness lives in golem-skills/tests/harness/. It drives coding agents (Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex) through scenario YAML files, verifying that skills are activated and produce correct results. Skill definitions live in golem-skills/skills/.

Skill Directory Structure

Skills in golem-skills/skills/ are organized by language scope:

golem-skills/skills/
  common/                  # Language-independent skills (included for all languages)
    golem-new-project/
      SKILL.md
  rust/                    # Rust-specific skills (included only for Rust projects)
    golem-add-rust-crate/
      SKILL.md
  ts/                      # TypeScript-specific skills (included only for TS projects)
    golem-add-npm-package/
      SKILL.md
  scala/                   # Scala-specific skills (included only for Scala projects)
  moonbit/                 # MoonBit-specific skills (included only for MoonBit projects)

When golem new creates a project, it embeds the common/ skills plus the language-specific skills into the project's .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/ directories.

Rebuilding After Skill Changes

Skills are embedded in the golem / golem-cli binaries. If you add or modify a skill under golem-skills/skills/, you must recompile the binaries before the changes take effect — including before running the skill test harness.

cargo make build-release-full

Without this step, golem new will still emit the old skill content, and the harness will test against stale skills.

Also regenerate the public How-To Guides

Each SKILL.md is also republished as a How-To Guide on learn.golem.cloud under docs/src/content/how-to-guides/. After adding or editing a skill, regenerate those MDX pages:

cargo make generate-docs-skills

CI's check-docs-skills task will fail any PR that changes golem-skills/skills/ without also updating the generated MDX.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ and npm
• Golem binary pre-built: the harness requires a golem binary in $GOLEM_PATH/target/release/ or $GOLEM_PATH/target/debug/. Build with cargo build -p golem (debug) or cargo build -p golem --release (release). The harness prefers the release build and falls back to debug.
• No pre-running Golem server: the harness starts its own server automatically using golem server run --data-dir <workspaces/golem-server-data> --clean and stops it when done. If a server is already running on port 9881, the harness fails with an error to avoid conflicts.
• Agent CLI installed: one of claude (Claude Code), opencode, or codex
• Filesystem watcher: fswatch on macOS, inotify-tools on Linux
• GOLEM_PATH env var set to the golem repo root. If not set, the harness auto-detects it by walking up from cwd looking for sdks/rust/golem-rust and sdks/ts/packages directories (same markers as golem-cli). If auto-detection also fails, the harness exits with an error. The resolved target directory (target/release or target/debug) is prepended to PATH so all spawned processes — including agent drivers — use the correct golem and golem-cli binaries.
• For Rust skills: cargo-component and wasm32-wasip2 target
• For TS skills: pnpm, wasm-rquickjs-cli, TS SDK built (cargo make build-sdk-ts)
• For MoonBit skills: moon (MoonBit toolchain), wasm-tools

Install and Build

cd golem-skills/tests/harness
npm install
npm run build

The build script runs ESLint then tsc, so lint errors will fail the build.

Linting and Formatting

The harness uses ESLint 9 with typescript-eslint for linting and Prettier for formatting. Configuration files:

• eslint.config.js — ESLint flat config with typescript-eslint recommended rules
• .prettierrc — Prettier config (2-space indent, double quotes, trailing commas, 100 char width)

cd golem-skills/tests/harness

npm run lint            # Check for lint errors
npm run lint:fix        # Auto-fix lint errors
npm run format:check    # Check formatting without changing files
npm run format          # Auto-format all source files

Always run npm run lint:fix and npm run format before committing harness changes. CI enforces both lint (via npm run build) and formatting (via npm run format:check).

Running Unit Tests (harness self-tests)

cd golem-skills/tests/harness
npm test

Running Skill Scenarios

From golem-skills/tests/harness/:

npx tsx src/run.ts [options]

CLI Options

Option	Description	Default
--agent <name>	Agent driver: claude-code, opencode, codex, or all	all
--language <lang>	Language: ts, rust, or all	all
--scenario <name>	Run only the named scenario	all scenarios
--scenarios <dir>	Path to scenario YAML directory	./scenarios
--output <dir>	Results output directory	./results
--timeout <seconds>	Global timeout per step	300
--dry-run	Validate scenarios without executing	false
--resume-from <id>	Resume from a specific step ID	—
--workspace <path>	Override workspace directory	—
--merge-reports <dir>	Merge summary.json files into aggregated report	—

Examples

# Run a single scenario with Claude Code for Rust
npx tsx src/run.ts --agent claude-code --language rust --scenario golem-new-project-rust

# Dry-run to validate YAML
npx tsx src/run.ts --dry-run --scenario golem-db-app-ts

# Resume a failed scenario from a specific step, reusing a previous workspace
npx tsx src/run.ts --agent claude-code --language ts --scenario golem-db-app-ts \
  --resume-from build-and-deploy --workspace ./workspaces/<run-id>/golem-db-app-ts/ts

# Merge reports from multiple CI runs
npx tsx src/run.ts --merge-reports ./ci-results --output ./merged

Workspace Directory

Each harness run generates a unique run ID (UUID). Without --workspace, each scenario gets its own directory at <cwd>/workspaces/<run-id>/<scenario-name>/<language>/. With --workspace, the same structure is created under the specified root: <workspace>/<run-id>/<scenario-name>/<language>/. Workspace directories are never deleted, so you can inspect the results after the run.

Golem Server Lifecycle

The harness manages the Golem server automatically:

1. Startup: Before running scenarios, the harness checks port 9881. If a server is already running, it fails with an error. Otherwise it starts golem server run --data-dir <workspaces/<run-id>/golem-server-data> --clean and waits up to 60 seconds for the healthcheck to pass.
2. Between scenarios: The server is restarted (stopped and started again with --clean) to ensure a fresh state for each scenario.
3. Per-scenario check: Before each scenario, the harness verifies that a local Golem profile exists and the server is still reachable.
4. Teardown: After all scenarios complete (or on Ctrl+C), the harness stops the server process.

Adding a New Skill

1. Create the skill definition

Create the skill under the appropriate subdirectory of golem-skills/skills/:

• common/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — for language-independent skills
• rust/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — for Rust-specific skills
• ts/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — for TypeScript-specific skills
• scala/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — for Scala-specific skills
• moonbit/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — for MoonBit-specific skills

Use YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-new-skill
description: "What the skill does. Use when <trigger conditions>."
---

# Skill Title

Instructions for the agent...

2. (Optional) Link the skill from golem-cli --help

If the skill is relevant to one or more golem-cli subcommands, add a SkillBinding entry so that — when an automated coding agent invokes golem-cli ... --help inside a Golem application that has the skill installed — a Relevant skills: block linking to the skill's SKILL.md is appended to that command's long help.

Edit cli/golem-cli/src/agent_help_hints/builtin_skill_map.rs and add a row to SKILL_BINDINGS:

// Common (language-independent) skill:
SkillBinding {
    cli_path: &["agent", "delete"],
    basename: "golem-delete-agent",
    kind: SkillKind::Common,
    summary: "Delete an agent instance.",
},

// Per-language skill (one variant per listed language; folder is
// `<basename>-<lang>` where lang is rust|ts|scala|moonbit):
SkillBinding {
    cli_path: &["secret", "create"],
    basename: "golem-add-secret",
    kind: SkillKind::PerLanguage(ALL_LANGS),
    summary: "Add a typed secret available to your agents.",
},

Rules:

• cli_path is the chain of subcommand names exactly as they appear in clap's tree (kebab-case, e.g. &["agent", "cancel-invocation"]).
• basename is the skill folder name without any language suffix.
• kind is SkillKind::Common for language-independent skills, or SkillKind::PerLanguage(...) for per-language ones.
• summary is a one-line, language-agnostic description shown above the file links.
• The same cli_path can appear in multiple bindings; they are merged into a single block under that command in source order.
• A skill that is not installed under <app_dir>/.agents/skills/ is silently skipped at runtime, so adding speculative bindings is safe.

Two compile-time tests guard the table:

• every_binding_basename_exists_in_golem_skills_repo — fails if the named skill folder is missing from golem-skills/skills/.
• every_binding_path_resolves_in_clap_tree — fails if cli_path doesn't match a real subcommand (catches CLI renames).

Run them with:

cargo test -p golem-cli --lib -- agent_help_hints

3. Rebuild the binaries

After creating or modifying a skill, recompile so the changes are embedded:

cargo make build-release-full

4. Write a scenario YAML

Create golem-skills/tests/harness/scenarios/<scenario-name>.yaml:

name: "my-scenario"
settings:
  timeout_per_subprompt: 300
  golem_server:
    custom_request_port: 9006
steps:
  - id: "step-one"
    prompt: "Do something using the skill"
    expectedSkills:
      - "my-new-skill"
    verify:
      build: true

5. Run the scenario

npx tsx src/run.ts --agent claude-code --language rust --scenario my-scenario

Scenario YAML Reference

Top-Level Fields

name: "scenario-name"              # Required. Unique scenario identifier.
settings:
  timeout_per_subprompt: 300       # Default timeout for prompt steps (seconds)
  golem_server:
    router_port: 9881              # Golem router port (for healthcheck)
    custom_request_port: 9006      # Sets GOLEM_CUSTOM_REQUEST_PORT env var
  cleanup: true                    # Whether to clean workspace before run
prerequisites:
  env:                             # Extra env vars set during execution
    DATABASE_URL: "postgres://..."
skip_if:                           # Skip entire scenario conditionally
  language: "ts"                   # Skip when language is "ts"
  agent: "codex"                   # Skip when agent is "codex"
  os: "windows"                    # Skip when OS matches (darwin→macos, win32→windows)
steps: [...]                       # Required. At least one step.

Step Types

Every step must have exactly one action field. Common fields available on all steps:

- id: "unique-step-id"             # Optional. Used for --resume-from.
  timeout: 600                     # Override step timeout (seconds)
  expect: { ... }                  # Assertions (see below)
  retry:                           # Retry on failure
    attempts: 3
    delay: 5                       # Seconds between retries
  only_if:                         # Run only when conditions match
    language: "rust"
    agent: "claude-code"
    os: "macos"
  skip_if:                         # Skip when conditions match
    language: "ts"

prompt — Send a prompt to the coding agent

- id: "create-app"
  prompt: "Create a new Golem application called my-app with Rust."
  expectedSkills:                  # Skills that MUST be activated
    - "golem-new-project"
  allowedExtraSkills:              # Extra skills that are OK to activate
    - "golem-db-app-rust"
  strictSkillMatch: false          # If true, ONLY expectedSkills may activate
  continueSession: true            # Continue previous agent session and keep cumulative
                                   # skill tracking for that prompt session.
                                   # Set to false to start a fresh agent session with
                                   # fresh skill tracking.
  verify:
    build: true                    # Run `golem build` after the prompt
    deploy: true                   # Run `golem build` + `golem deploy --yes`

create_project — Create a Golem project directly (without an agent prompt)

Runs golem new <name> --template <language> --yes in the workspace, automatically using the current language as the template. Useful when a scenario needs a pre-existing project without involving the agent.

- id: "setup-project"
  create_project:
    name: "my-app"
  verify:
    build: true
    deploy: true

With language-conditional presets:

- id: "setup-project"
  create_project:
    name: "my-app"
    presets:
      rust: ["some-rust-preset"]
      ts: ["some-ts-preset"]
  verify:
    build: true
    deploy: true

shell — Run a shell command

- id: "check-files"
  shell:
    command: "ls"
    args: ["my-app/golem.yaml"]
    cwd: "subdirectory"            # Relative to workspace
  expect:
    exit_code: 0
    stdout_contains: "golem.yaml"

http — Make an HTTP request

- id: "call-api"
  http:
    url: "http://my-app.localhost:9006/path"
    method: "POST"                 # GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH
    headers:
      Content-Type: "application/json"
    body: '{"key": "value"}'
  expect:
    status: 200
    body_contains: "expected text"
    body_matches: "regex.*pattern"

invoke — Invoke a Golem agent function via CLI

- id: "call-function"
  invoke:
    agent: 'CounterAgent("my-counter")'
    method: "increment"
    args: '"hello"'                # Optional function arguments
  expect:
    stdout_contains: "1"

Use the real method name as it appears in source code, not a kebab-cased external name. For cross-language scenarios, method and args can be language-conditional:

- id: "call-function"
  invoke:
    agent: 'ItemRepositoryAgent("catalog")'
    method:
      rust: "create_item"
      ts: "createItem"
      scala: "createItem"
    args: '{id: "item-1", name: "Hammer"}'

Prompts must use language-appropriate method name casing (snake_case for Rust/MoonBit, camelCase for TypeScript/Scala) — not kebab-case. Invocation steps must also use the source-language method names that the generated code actually exposes.

invoke_json — Invoke with --json output

Same as invoke but requests JSON-formatted CLI output. Supports result_json assertions with JSONPath.

result_json assertions are evaluated against the unwrapped invocation result value, not the full CLI envelope. That means:

• if the method returns a record/object/case class, use paths like $.id
• if the method returns a scalar, assert against $
• if the method returns a list, assert against $ or list element paths like $[0].id

- id: "call-json"
  invoke_json:
    agent: 'MyAgent("test")'
    method: "getData"
  expect:
    result_json:
      - path: "$.name"
        equals: "test"
      - path: "$.items[0]"
        contains: "expected"

Cross-language example:

- id: "create-item"
  invoke_json:
    agent: 'ItemRepositoryAgent("catalog")'
    method:
      rust: "create_item"
      ts: "createItem"
      scala: "createItem"
    args: '{id: "item-1", name: "Hammer"}'
  expect:
    result_json:
      - path: "$.id"
        equals: "item-1"
      - path: "$.name"
        equals: "Hammer"

create_agent — Create a Golem agent

- id: "make-agent"
  create_agent:
    name: 'MyAgent("instance-1")'
    env:
      KEY: "value"
    config:
      setting: "value"

delete_agent — Delete a Golem agent

- id: "remove-agent"
  delete_agent:
    name: 'MyAgent("instance-1")'

trigger — Fire-and-forget agent function call

- id: "trigger-bg"
  trigger:
    agent: 'MyAgent("test")'
    method: "backgroundTask"

Like invoke and invoke_json, trigger.method can be language-conditional when Rust, TypeScript, and Scala use different method casing.

check_file — Assert on file contents

Reads a file relative to the golem project directory and runs assertions against its contents. The file content is treated as stdout for assertion purposes.

- id: "check-output"
  check_file:
    path: "output.txt"
  expect:
    stdout_contains: "expected text"
    stdout_not_contains: "unwanted text"
    stdout_matches: "regex.*pattern"

mcp_call — Call an MCP server method

Initializes an MCP session via the Streamable HTTP transport, then sends a JSON-RPC method call. Session management (initialize + session ID forwarding) is handled automatically.

- id: "list-tools"
  mcp_call:
    url: "http://my-app.localhost:9007/mcp"
    method: "tools/list"
  expect:
    status: 200
    body_contains: "my-tool-name"

With parameters (e.g., calling a tool):

- id: "call-tool"
  mcp_call:
    url: "http://my-app.localhost:9007/mcp"
    method: "tools/call"
    params:
      name: "CounterAgent-increment"
      arguments:
        name: "my-counter"
  expect:
    status: 200
    body_contains: "1"

sleep — Wait for a duration

- id: "wait"
  sleep: 5  # seconds

Assertions (expect)

Available assertion fields:

Field	Applies To	Description
exit_code	shell, invoke	Assert process exit code
stdout_contains	shell, invoke, check_file, mcp_call	Stdout includes substring
stdout_not_contains	shell, invoke, check_file, mcp_call	Stdout must NOT include substring
stdout_matches	shell, invoke, check_file, mcp_call	Stdout matches regex
status	http, mcp_call	HTTP response status code
body_contains	http, mcp_call	Response body includes substring
body_matches	http, mcp_call	Response body matches regex
result_json	invoke_json	JSONPath assertions on parsed JSON result

Regex-based assertions use JavaScript RegExp syntax because the harness evaluates them with Node.js. --dry-run validates that stdout_matches and body_matches compile successfully. Use JavaScript-compatible patterns such as \\d+, (?:...), and [\\s\\S]* for cross-line matches. Do not use PCRE-only inline flags such as (?s).

result_json entries support:

• path: JSONPath expression (e.g., $.name, $.items[0].id)
• equals: Exact match (deep equality)
• contains: Substring match on stringified value

Language-Conditional Fields

prompt, expectedSkills, allowedExtraSkills, verify, create_project, invoke.method, invoke_json.method, trigger.method, invoke.args, invoke_json.args, and trigger.args can be language-conditional:

- id: "create-project"
  prompt:
    ts: "Create a new Golem application with TypeScript."
    rust: "Create a new Golem application with Rust."
  expectedSkills:
    ts: ["golem-new-project", "golem-db-app-ts"]
    rust: ["golem-new-project", "golem-db-app-rust"]

Another common pattern is language-specific invocation naming:

- id: "list-items"
  invoke_json:
    agent: 'ItemRepositoryAgent("catalog")'
    method:
      rust: "list_items"
      ts: "listItems"
      scala: "listItems"
      moonbit: "list_items"

When method arguments contain records or other composite types, use per-language args because golem agent invoke parses arguments using language-specific syntax. Rust uses { field: value } with :, TypeScript uses { field: value } with :, Scala uses TypeName(field = value) with =, and MoonBit uses { field: value } with : (same as Rust):

- id: "create-item"
  invoke_json:
    agent: 'ItemRepositoryAgent("catalog")'
    method:
      rust: "create_item"
      ts: "createItem"
      scala: "createItem"
      moonbit: "create_item"
    args:
      rust: '{ id: "item-1", name: "Hammer" }'
      ts: '{ id: "item-1", name: "Hammer" }'
      scala: 'Item(id = "item-1", name = "Hammer")'
      moonbit: '{ id: "item-1", name: "Hammer" }'

For simple scalar arguments (strings, numbers, booleans), the syntax is the same across all languages, so a plain args string suffices:

    args: '"item-1"'

Scenario Authoring Tips

• Prefer create_project for setup when the scenario is not specifically testing project creation. This keeps skill activation expectations focused on the behavior under test.
• Prefer invoke_json over invoke for behavioral verification. It is more stable for assertions, especially for records, lists, and other structured return values.
• Use language-conditional method fields whenever Rust, TypeScript, Scala, and MoonBit differ in method casing or naming style. MoonBit uses snake_case (same as Rust).
• Prompts MUST use language-appropriate method name casing, not kebab-case. When a prompt mentions method names that the agent should create, use the casing convention for each target language: TypeScript and Scala use camelCase (e.g., createItem, getTag), Rust and MoonBit use snake_case (e.g., create_item, get_tag). If a prompt mentions method names, use per-language prompt syntax even if the rest of the text is identical. Agents (especially Codex) may interpret kebab-case method names literally and generate code with computed property syntax like async ["create-item"](), producing kebab-case WIT exports that don't match the invoke/invoke_json step's expected method names.
• Avoid repetitive per-language prompts beyond method naming. Use language-conditional prompt when the wording genuinely differs between languages (e.g., different method names, file names, or syntax). If the prompt is essentially the same for all languages except for method name casing, still use per-language prompts for correctness. The agent already knows the project language from the AGENTS.md guide and will pick the right REPL language, file extension, etc.
• Helper agents with HTTP APIs for observable side effects: Some skills (atomic blocks, transactions, durability controls) need an external service to observe side effects — e.g., to verify that operations were retried, compensated, or executed in the correct order. The harness does not provide a built-in mock HTTP server, but you can achieve the same effect by prompting the coding agent to create a helper agent that exposes an HTTP API and records events. Configure settings.golem_server.custom_request_port so the app has a known HTTP endpoint, then ask the agent to add a second agent type with an HTTP mount that acts as the "other side." For example, a SideEffectRecorder agent with POST /record (appends an event string to an internal list) and (returns the full event history as JSON). The agent under test then makes HTTP requests to this recorder during its operation. After the invocation, the scenario can use an step to and assert on the recorded sequence. This pattern mirrors how the worker executor tests use a to capture side-effect ordering, but uses a real Golem agent instead — no external infrastructure needed. See for a concrete example where serves this role, recording reserve/charge/refund/release history via HTTP endpoints and exposing a endpoint that the harness asserts against.

Template Variables

Steps support {{variable}} substitution. Built-in variables:

Variable	Value
{{workspace}}	Absolute workspace path
{{scenario}}	Scenario name
{{agent}}	Current agent name
{{language}}	Current language

Skill Activation Detection

The harness detects whether an agent actually read a skill using two mechanisms:

1. Filesystem watcher: fswatch (macOS) or inotifywait (Linux) monitors SKILL.md file access events
2. atime comparison: Snapshots file access times before each step and compares after

Both mechanisms feed into expectedSkills / allowedExtraSkills / strictSkillMatch verification. Skill tracking is scoped to the current prompt session: followup prompts accumulate activations, while the first prompt in a scenario and any prompt with continueSession: false start a fresh tracking session.

Agent Drivers

Agent	CLI Command	Skill Directories	Session Support
claude-code	claude --print --permission-mode bypassPermissions	.claude/skills/	Yes (sessionId)
opencode	opencode run	.claude/skills/, .agents/skills/	No
codex	codex exec --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox	.agents/skills/	Yes (session_id)

The driver copies/symlinks all skills from the --skills directory into the agent's expected skill directories within the workspace.

Failure Classification

Failed steps are automatically classified:

Code	Category	Meaning
SKILL_NOT_ACTIVATED	agent	Expected skill was not read by the agent
SKILL_MISMATCH	agent	Unexpected extra skills were activated
BUILD_FAILED	build	golem build failed
DEPLOY_FAILED	deploy	golem deploy failed
INVOKE_FAILED	deploy	Agent function invocation failed
INVOKE_JSON_FAILED	deploy	JSON agent invocation failed
SHELL_FAILED	infra	Shell command returned non-zero exit
HTTP_FAILED	network	HTTP request failed or timed out
MCP_CALL_FAILED	network	MCP call failed (init, session, or method error)
CREATE_PROJECT_FAILED	infra	golem new project creation failed
CREATE_AGENT_FAILED	infra	golem agent new failed
DELETE_AGENT_FAILED	infra	golem agent delete failed
FILE_CHECK_FAILED	assertion	Could not read file for check_file step
ASSERTION_FAILED	assertion	Output didn't match expect assertions

Output and Reports

Results are written to --output (default ./results/):

• Per-scenario JSON: <agent>-<language>-<scenario-name>.json with step-by-step results
• summary.json: Aggregated pass/fail counts, durations, worst failures
• report.html: Visual HTML report
• GitHub Actions summary: Auto-generated if GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY is set

Existing Skills and Scenarios

Skills in golem-skills/skills/ (see Skill Directory Structure for layout):

• common/golem-new-project — scaffolding with golem new
• rust/golem-add-rust-crate — adding Rust crate dependencies
• ts/golem-add-npm-package — adding npm package dependencies
• scala/golem-add-scala-dependency — adding Scala library dependencies
• moonbit/golem-add-moonbit-package — adding MoonBit mooncakes dependencies

Scenarios in golem-skills/tests/harness/scenarios/:

• create-a-new-project.yaml — project creation, build, deploy, and invoke
• add-third-party-dependency.yaml — add a third-party dependency, use it in code, and verify