testing-trophy

name	testing-trophy
description	Kent C. Dodds' Testing Trophy: write more integration tests, fewer unit tests, confidence over coverage. Covers React (Storybook + play functions), Cloudflare Workers (vitest-pool-workers + D1), and Swift (XCTest UI + snapshot). Use when deciding test strategy, writing new tests, or reviewing test quality.
dependsOn	["jonmumm/skills@workers-integration-testing","jonmumm/skills@storybook-play-testing","jonmumm/skills@expo-testing"]

Testing Trophy

You follow Kent C. Dodds' Testing Trophy philosophy. The trophy shape means:

        🏆
      E2E Tests        ← Few, slow, high confidence
    Integration Tests   ← MOST tests live here
   Unit Tests           ← Some, for complex logic only
 Static Analysis        ← TypeScript, ESLint, tsc

The key insight: Write tests that give you confidence your app works for users. Integration tests hit the sweet spot — they test real behavior through real boundaries without the brittleness of E2E or the false confidence of isolated unit mocks.

Core Principles

1. Test behavior, not implementation. Assert on what the user sees or what the API returns — not internal state.
2. Don't mock what you own. Mock external services (Stripe, Expo Push), not your own modules.
3. One test > ten mocks. A single integration test through the real stack catches more bugs than ten unit tests with mocked dependencies.
4. The more your tests resemble how your software is used, the more confidence they give you.
5. Coverage is a side effect, not a goal. High coverage with bad tests is worse than moderate coverage with good tests.

When to Use Each Level

Level	When	Example
Static	Always — it's free	tsc --noEmit, ESLint, Zod schemas
Unit	Complex pure logic, algorithms, state machines	Scoring functions, parsers, reducers
Integration	Default for everything else	API routes with real D1, React components with real state
E2E	Critical user journeys, smoke tests	"User can create a game and invite players"

React: Storybook + Play Functions as Integration Tests

Storybook play functions ARE integration tests. They render real components, interact with real DOM, and assert on real behavior — in a real browser.

Pattern: Component Integration via Play Functions

// CastButton.stories.tsx
import type { Meta, StoryObj } from '@storybook/react';
import { within, userEvent, expect } from '@storybook/test';
import { CastButton } from './CastButton';
import { CastProvider } from '@open-game-system/cast-kit-react';

const meta: Meta<typeof CastButton> = {
  component: CastButton,
  decorators: [
    (Story) => (
      <CastProvider>
        <Story />
      </CastProvider>
    ),
  ],
};
export default meta;

type Story = StoryObj<typeof CastButton>;

// Story IS the test — play function exercises real behavior
export const ShowsCastAvailable: Story = {
  play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
    const canvas = within(canvasElement);

    // Real component renders with real provider
    const button = await canvas.findByRole('button', { name: /cast/i });
    await expect(button).toBeVisible();

    // Interact like a user
    await userEvent.click(button);

    // Assert on what the user sees
    await expect(canvas.getByText(/available/i)).toBeVisible();
  },
};

export const ConnectedState: Story = {
  parameters: {
    // Mock the bridge state, not the component internals
    castState: {
      isAvailable: true,
      session: { status: 'connected', deviceName: 'Living Room TV' },
    },
  },
  play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
    const canvas = within(canvasElement);
    await expect(canvas.getByText(/connected/i)).toBeVisible();
    await expect(canvas.getByText(/Living Room TV/i)).toBeVisible();
  },
};

Why This Beats Unit Tests

// ❌ BAD: Unit test with mocks — tests implementation, not behavior
test('CastButton calls dispatch with SHOW_CAST_PICKER', () => {
  const mockDispatch = vi.fn();
  vi.mock('~/hooks/useCastDispatch', () => ({ useCastDispatch: () => mockDispatch }));
  render(<CastButton />);
  fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button'));
  expect(mockDispatch).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ type: 'SHOW_CAST_PICKER' });
});

// ✅ GOOD: Integration test via Storybook play — tests real behavior
export const TapShowsPicker: Story = {
  play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
    const canvas = within(canvasElement);
    await userEvent.click(canvas.getByRole('button'));
    // Assert on what appears, not what was called
    await expect(canvas.getByText(/select a device/i)).toBeVisible();
  },
};

Running Storybook Tests in CI

# Build Storybook, then run all play functions as tests
npx storybook build
npx test-storybook --ci

Reference: Use with /react-composable-components and /dont-use-use-effect skills.

Cloudflare Workers: vitest-pool-workers + Real D1

@cloudflare/vitest-pool-workers runs tests inside the real Workers runtime with real bindings. No mocks needed for D1, KV, R2.

Pattern: Full-Stack Integration Test

// test/integration/notifications.test.ts
import { env, SELF } from "cloudflare:test";
import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from "vitest";

describe("Notification Flow — Full Integration", () => {
  beforeEach(async () => {
    // Real D1 — clean between tests
    await env.DB.prepare("DELETE FROM devices").run();
  });

  it("registers device, sends notification end-to-end", async () => {
    // Step 1: Register device (real D1 insert)
    const registerRes = await SELF.fetch("https://api.test/api/v1/devices/register", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        ogsDeviceId: "device-1",
        platform: "ios",
        pushToken: "ExponentPushToken[xxx]",
      }),
    });
    expect(registerRes.status).toBe(200);
    const { deviceToken } = await registerRes.json();

    // Verify in real D1
    const device = await env.DB.prepare(
      "SELECT * FROM devices WHERE ogs_device_id = ?"
    ).bind("device-1").first();
    expect(device.push_token).toBe("ExponentPushToken[xxx]");

    // Step 2: Send notification (real auth + real D1 lookup)
    const sendRes = await SELF.fetch("https://api.test/api/v1/notifications/send", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        Authorization: "Bearer test-api-key",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        deviceToken,
        notification: { title: "Game Starting!", body: "Join now" },
      }),
    });

    // Push provider may fail in test env — that's fine
    // What matters: auth passed, D1 lookup worked, request reached the provider
    expect([200, 502]).toContain(sendRes.status);
  });
});

Setup: vitest.integration.config.mts

import { cloudflareTest } from "@cloudflare/vitest-pool-workers";
import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    cloudflareTest({
      wrangler: { configPath: "./wrangler.toml" },
      miniflare: {
        bindings: {
          OGS_JWT_SECRET: "test-secret",
        },
      },
    }),
  ],
  test: {
    globals: true,
    include: ["test/integration/**/*.test.ts"],
    setupFiles: ["./test/integration/setup.ts"],
  },
});

Setup: Apply D1 Schema

// test/integration/setup.ts
import { env } from "cloudflare:test";

const schema = `
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS devices (...);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS api_keys (...);
`;

for (const stmt of schema.split(";").filter(s => s.trim())) {
  await env.DB.prepare(stmt).run();
}

// Seed test data
await env.DB.prepare(
  "INSERT OR IGNORE INTO api_keys (key, game_id, game_name) VALUES (?, ?, ?)"
).bind("test-api-key", "test-game", "Test Game").run();

Why This Beats Mocked Unit Tests

// ❌ BAD: Mocked D1 — doesn't test real SQL, real bindings
const mockDB = { prepare: vi.fn(() => ({ bind: vi.fn(() => ({ first: vi.fn() })) })) };
const res = await app.request("/api/v1/devices/register", {}, { DB: mockDB });
expect(mockDB.prepare).toHaveBeenCalled(); // Tests mock wiring, not behavior

// ✅ GOOD: Real Workers runtime, real D1
const res = await SELF.fetch("https://api.test/api/v1/devices/register", { ... });
const row = await env.DB.prepare("SELECT * FROM devices WHERE ...").first();
expect(row.push_token).toBe("ExponentPushToken[xxx]"); // Tests real behavior

Reference: Use with /workers-integration-testing, /seam-tester, and /workers-best-practices skills.

Swift: XCTest UI Tests as Integration Tests

Swift's equivalent of Storybook play functions is XCTest UI Testing combined with SwiftUI Previews + Snapshot Tests.

Pattern: XCTest UI Integration Tests

// GameSetupUITests.swift
import XCTest

final class GameSetupUITests: XCTestCase {
    let app = XCUIApplication()

    override func setUpWithError() throws {
        continueAfterFailure = false
        app.launchArguments = ["--ui-testing"]
        app.launch()
    }

    func testCastButtonAppearsWhenDeviceAvailable() throws {
        // Navigate to game setup
        app.buttons["Create Game"].tap()

        // Cast button should appear (real UI, real state)
        let castButton = app.buttons["Cast to TV"]
        XCTAssertTrue(castButton.waitForExistence(timeout: 5))
        XCTAssertTrue(castButton.isEnabled)
    }

    func testCastButtonShowsDevicePicker() throws {
        app.buttons["Create Game"].tap()
        app.buttons["Cast to TV"].tap()

        // Device picker sheet should appear
        let picker = app.sheets["Select a device"]
        XCTAssertTrue(picker.waitForExistence(timeout: 3))
        XCTAssertTrue(picker.staticTexts["Living Room TV"].exists)
    }
}

Pattern: SwiftUI Preview + Snapshot Testing

// Using swift-snapshot-testing (pointfreeco)
import SnapshotTesting
import SwiftUI

final class CastButtonSnapshotTests: XCTestCase {
    func testCastButtonStates() {
        // Available state
        assertSnapshot(
            of: CastButton(state: .available(deviceCount: 2)),
            as: .image(layout: .fixed(width: 200, height: 44))
        )

        // Connected state
        assertSnapshot(
            of: CastButton(state: .connected(deviceName: "Living Room TV")),
            as: .image(layout: .fixed(width: 200, height: 44))
        )

        // Connecting state
        assertSnapshot(
            of: CastButton(state: .connecting),
            as: .image(layout: .fixed(width: 200, height: 44))
        )
    }
}

Testing Trophy for Swift

Level	Tool	What
Static	SwiftLint, Swift compiler	Type safety, conventions
Unit	XCTest	Pure logic: scoring, parsing, state machines
Integration	XCTest UI Tests	Real app, real navigation, real state
E2E	XCTest UI + real backend	Full user journeys with real API

React Native (Expo) Equivalent: Detox

For React Native apps, Detox is the integration test layer:

// e2e/cast-flow.test.ts
import { by, device, element, expect, waitFor } from 'detox';

describe('Cast Flow', () => {
  beforeAll(async () => {
    await device.launchApp({ newInstance: true });
  });

  it('shows cast button when Chromecast is available', async () => {
    await element(by.text('Trivia Jam')).tap();
    await waitFor(element(by.id('castButton')))
      .toBeVisible()
      .withTimeout(10000);
  });

  it('opens device picker on cast button tap', async () => {
    await element(by.id('castButton')).tap();
    await expect(element(by.text('Select a device'))).toBeVisible();
  });
});

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

1. Testing Implementation Details

// ❌ Tests mock wiring, not behavior
expect(mockDispatch).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ type: 'START_CASTING' });

// ✅ Tests what the user sees
await expect(canvas.getByText('Connected to Living Room TV')).toBeVisible();

2. Excessive Mocking

// ❌ Everything is mocked — test proves nothing
vi.mock('./database');
vi.mock('./auth');
vi.mock('./notifications');
const result = await handler(mockReq);
expect(mockDB.insert).toHaveBeenCalled();

// ✅ Real stack, real assertions
const res = await SELF.fetch("https://api.test/...", { ... });
const row = await env.DB.prepare("SELECT ...").first();
expect(row).toBeTruthy();

3. Testing Library Internals

// ❌ Testing that React rendered correctly
expect(wrapper.find('CastButton').props().isAvailable).toBe(true);

// ✅ Testing that the button is visible to the user
await expect(screen.getByRole('button', { name: /cast/i })).toBeVisible();

4. Snapshot Abuse

// ❌ Giant snapshot that breaks on every CSS change
expect(component).toMatchSnapshot();

// ✅ Targeted snapshot of specific states
assertSnapshot(of: CastButton(state: .connected("TV")), as: .image(...));

Related Skills

• /seam-tester — Integration tests at system boundaries
• /workers-integration-testing — Cloudflare Workers with vitest-pool-workers
• /mutation-testing — Verify test quality after writing integration tests
• /tdd — Red-green-refactor with integration-first approach
• /e2e-testing-patterns — Playwright/Cypress for the top of the trophy
• /react-composable-components — Components that are easy to integration-test
• /dont-use-use-effect — Cleaner React = easier to test
• /expo-testing — Detox for React Native integration tests
• /design-principle-enforcer — SOLID code is testable code

Recommended Test Distribution

For a typical web app with API + frontend:

Static:      TypeScript strict + ESLint          (free, always on)
Unit:        ~15% of tests                       (complex business logic only)
Integration: ~70% of tests                       (API routes, components, flows)
E2E:         ~15% of tests                       (critical user journeys)

This gives maximum confidence with minimum maintenance burden.