qa-test-plan

name	qa-test-plan
description	Author, instantiate, and execute agentic QA test case plans for Elodin releases. Use when the user asks to create a QA plan, test case plan, or release test checklist, add or edit test cases, or run/execute a QA test plan for a release.

QA Test Plan

An agentic QA plan is a markdown document that replaces the traditional QA spreadsheet. Each test case carries machine-actionable steps and objective pass criteria so an agent can execute it autonomously; the filled-out document is both the checklist and the report.

Everything for this skill lives in this directory (.cursor/skills/qa-test-plan/):

• Reusable template for new plans: template.md
• Ready-to-run plan — examples smoke/feature test: examples/test-plan.md (24 cases: SDK-001 build + one per examples/ project). Shared helpers live alongside it in examples/ (run_probe.sh, probe.py).
• Ready-to-run plan — Elodin-DB deep suite: elodin-db/test-plan.md (23 cases: generate realistic DBs from the examples — drone, logstream, video-stream, sensor-camera, apollo-lander, rc-jet — then exercise every elodin-db subcommand, serving mode, replication, exports, and clients on them). Helper: elodin-db/serve_probe.py; reuses the examples probes.
• Ready-to-run plan — Elodin Editor deep suite: elodin-editor/test-plan.md (19 cases: release build, live/recorded DB connect, screenshot gallery across examples covering feature-catalog §16–17, --kdl preload, inspector feature check; helpers elodin-editor/capture.sh). Visual cases use ELODIN_SCREENSHOT* (see elodin-editor-dev).
• Dated run reports and instantiated plans live under gitignored ai-context/qa-test-plan/<yyyy-mm-dd>-<release>/ (not in this skill folder).

Source files are never the report. Do not write Results, Evidence, Notes, Summary ticks, or Plan Header run metadata into template.md, examples/test-plan.md, elodin-db/test-plan.md, or elodin-editor/test-plan.md. Those keep AUTHOR-VALIDATED baselines and blank Results. Every execution (and every new custom plan) works on a dated copy under ai-context/.

Agent entry point

• "Run/execute the examples QA plan" (or "smoke-test the examples for a release") → copy examples/test-plan.md into a dated folder (see Executing a Plan), then fill the copy's header and run cases top-to-bottom using that document's Execution Rules. It is self-contained and every agent case has an AUTHOR-VALIDATED baseline. Run from the repo root inside nix develop. Note the two hard-won prerequisites baked into examples/run_probe.sh: live-run cases bind port 2240 exclusively (never parallelize them), and tearing a run down requires a process-group kill (the s10 child restarts on a plain kill).
• "Run/execute the Elodin-DB QA plan" (or "put elodin-db through its paces") → copy elodin-db/test-plan.md the same way, then execute the copy. It first generates a stable of realistic DBs under /tmp/qa-db/ from the examples, then runs the full elodin-db command surface over them; its Hard-won operational rules section (group-kill teardown, the tcp+1 asset-server port collision) is required reading before touching live servers.
• "Run/execute the Elodin Editor QA plan" (or "screenshot / visual-regression the editor") → copy elodin-editor/test-plan.md the same way, then execute the copy. Prefer a warm target/release/elodin (EDITOR-100). Never parallelize live-editor cases (port 2240). For agent+visual criteria, Read the PNG — file existence alone is insufficient. Stale video-stream-db / voyager DB dirs must be deleted before those captures (handled by elodin-editor/capture.sh).
• "Create/author a new plan for <release>" → follow Instantiating a Plan for a Release below (copy template.md into ai-context/qa-test-plan/).
• "Add/edit a test case" → follow Authoring Test Cases below and the case anatomy rules. Persist new cases on the ready-to-run plan and/or , not on a dated run report.

There are three workflows: authoring test cases (edit sources), instantiating a custom plan from template.md (dated copy), and executing a ready-to-run suite (dated copy of that suite). The execution rules themselves live inside the plan so a copy is self-contained.

Authoring Test Cases

Anatomy of a case

Every case is a markdown block with these fields (see template for exact layout):

Field	Purpose
Checkbox + ID + name	#### - [ ] AREA-NNN — Short name
Priority	P0 release-blocking smoke / P1 core functionality / P2 nice-to-have
Mode	agent, agent+visual, or manual
Requires	Case IDs that must PASS first (keep chains shallow; most cases require only SDK-001)
Description	One or two sentences: what behavior this verifies and why it matters
Expected duration	Lets the executor set command timeouts sensibly
Steps	Exact shell commands, one per line
Pass criteria	Objective checklist; every item must be verifiable from command output or artifacts
Result / Evidence / Notes	Filled in during execution, left blank when authoring

Rules for agent-executable cases

1. One behavior per case. If a case verifies two unrelated things, split it.
2. Steps are exact commands, run from repo root inside the Nix shell (nix develop --command ...). Never write prose steps like "open the editor and check it works".
3. Commands must terminate. Beware: elodin run <sim.py> and elodin editor <sim.py> keep serving the database even after the sim reaches max_ticks — they never exit on their own. The terminating form is bench mode: uv run python <sim.py> bench --ticks N (honors ELODIN_DB_PATH). For servers, background them and kill them in the same case.
4. Pass criteria are objective: exit codes, specific output strings, file existence, row counts, screenshot contents. If a criterion can't be checked mechanically or from a screenshot, the case belongs in manual mode.
5. Cases are independent. No case may rely on another case's side effects except through the declared Requires line. Use /tmp/qa-run/<case-id>/ for scratch state and clean it up.
6. Deterministic where possible: fixed seeds, fixed tick counts, tolerance ranges for anything timing-dependent.
7. Never pipe the command under test (cmd | tail reports the pipe's exit code, not cmd's). Redirect to a file in the artifacts directory and inspect that instead.
8. Background processes must be managed inside one wrapper command: capture the PID, probe, kill by PID, and exit with the probe's code (see DB-002 in the template).

ID and area conventions

IDs are AREA-NNN, stable across releases — never renumber or reuse an ID; retired cases keep their number forever and new cases append. Current areas:

Prefix	Area
SDK	Python SDK build/install
SIM	Simulation runtime (headless)
DB	Elodin-DB
EDITOR	Elodin Editor
RUST, LINT	Build area: workspace tests, CI checks
ALEPH	Flight computer (usually manual — needs hardware)

Add new areas as needed; record them in this table so IDs stay consistent.

Execution modes

Mode	Meaning
agent	Fully autonomous, shell-only
agent+visual	Agent runs it but verification needs a display/screenshot; BLOCKED on headless machines
manual	A human must perform it (hardware, subjective judgment); agent marks it SKIPPED and reports it

Instantiating a Plan for a Release

Use this when the user wants a new custom plan (not one of the ready-to-run suites). Copy template.md into gitignored ai-context/, never edit it in place:

PLAN_DIR="ai-context/qa-test-plan/$(date +%F)-<release>"
mkdir -p "$PLAN_DIR"
cp .cursor/skills/qa-test-plan/template.md "$PLAN_DIR/test-plan.md"

1. Fill the copy's Plan Header: release name, git rev-parse --short HEAD, git branch --show-current, date, environment (note whether a display is available), executor.
2. Scope the copy: delete cases irrelevant to this release, add release-specific cases following the authoring rules. Keep the Summary table in sync with the case blocks — same IDs, same order.
3. If new cases were added that future releases should keep, also add them to template.md (and the relevant ready-to-run suite) so the sources stay the source of truth.

Executing a Plan

First action: dated copy. Do not skip this. Ready-to-run suites (examples/, elodin-db/, elodin-editor/) and template.md are templates. Filling Results into them is a bug.

# <suite> is examples | elodin-db | elodin-editor
# <release> is a short slug the user named, or the suite name if they did not
PLAN_DIR="ai-context/qa-test-plan/$(date +%F)-<release>"
mkdir -p "$PLAN_DIR"
cp ".cursor/skills/qa-test-plan/<suite>/test-plan.md" "$PLAN_DIR/test-plan.md"

Work only on $PLAN_DIR/test-plan.md. Leave the source plan's Status, Summary Results, and case Result/Evidence blank (AUTHOR-VALIDATED notes stay on the source).

The binding rules are in the copied plan itself ("Execution Rules" section) — read them first. Operationally:

1. On the copy, set the header Status to IN PROGRESS (commit, branch, date, environment, executor).
2. Work through cases strictly in Summary-table order, one at a time. For each case: check Requires, run the steps, verify every pass criterion, write Evidence (exit codes, matching output lines, artifact paths), then set Result in the case block and mirror it in the Summary row.
3. Long builds are normal (SDK-001 up to 30 min, RUST-001 up to 40 min) — use the case's Expected duration to size timeouts instead of assuming a hang.
4. On FAIL, save output to <artifacts>/<case-id>-fail.log, diagnose briefly in Notes, and move on. Never fix code mid-run; a QA run measures the release as it is.
5. When all cases have a result: fill the Run Summary counts, list notable issues and follow-ups, set Status to COMPLETE, and report to the user — lead with FAIL/BLOCKED cases and anything a human must do (manual cases marked SKIPPED). Point them at the dated copy path, not the source suite.

Example: well-formed vs poor case

Poor (not agent-executable):

Steps: Open the editor and load a simulation. Check that everything looks right.

Well-formed: see SIM-001 in template.md — exact command, bounded runtime, three mechanical pass criteria (exit code, summary block present, no traceback/panic).