testing

name	testing
description	Guidelines for determining how to test a project based on its contents.

Testing Projects

When asked to "test" a project, you must first inspect the repository to determine what testing frameworks or build tools it uses. The correct command depends heavily on the files present in the root directory.

Use the following rules to figure out the correct test command(s). Note that some projects can be "polyglot" (e.g. they contain a Java backend and a TypeScript frontend, or they use Nix), so you may need to run multiple of these.

Nix

If the project contains a ./flake.nix at its root:

• Run nix flake check

Java - Maven

If the project contains a pom.xml:

• Run mvn test

Java/Kotlin - Gradle

If the project smells of Gradle (contains build.gradle, build.gradle.kts, settings.gradle, or gradlew):

• Run gradle check (or ./gradlew check if the wrapper is present)

JavaScript/TypeScript

If the project contains a package.json, you need to figure out whether to use npm, bun, or another package manager based on the lockfile present:

• If bun.lockb or bun.lock is present: run bun install && bun test
• If package-lock.json is present: run npm install && npm test
• If yarn.lock is present: run yarn install && yarn test
• If pnpm-lock.yaml is present: run pnpm install && pnpm test
• If no lockfile is present, default to npm install && npm test (or ask the user).