| name | writing-acceptance-tests-first |
| description | Use when a story is about to move from acceptance criteria to implementation — in /test's plan-phase deliverable or /change Step S4, before any production code is written — to write a business-readable acceptance test against a Ports-and-Adapters seam with a test-double adapter, and confirm it fails for the right reason before implementation proceeds. [Internal discipline — applied automatically by pipeline agents mid-task; direct use is a power-user path.] |
Writing Acceptance Tests First
Full-stack E2E is the wrong place to ask "did the agent understand the requirement?" — it is slow, flaky, and a failure means log-spelunking through a browser and a server instead of reading one assertion. Matteo Vaccari's fix (Acceptance Tests for AI-Assisted Development) is a fast, business-readable Acceptance Test (AT) layer: business rules on the "inside," I/O on the "outside" via a Ports-and-Adapters seam, so the AT calls business logic directly through an in-process port with a test-double adapter standing in for real I/O. E2E does not go away — it stays as the final full-stack confirming layer — but it stops being the primary acceptance-criteria verification loop. A human reading the AT and understanding the requirement from it is itself the correctness signal: "if it's hard to understand, we probably better iterate until it becomes easy."
The Iron Law
NO IMPLEMENTATION UNTIL AN ACCEPTANCE TEST EXISTS, FAILS FOR THE RIGHT REASON,
AND A HUMAN COULD READ IT AND UNDERSTAND THE REQUIREMENT
Process
- Locate or request the human-provided AT template. This discipline only works well with a concrete example of what an AT looks like in this codebase. Check
specs/test_artefacts/at-template.md (narrative Given/When/Then shape) and its paired concrete example file specs/test_artefacts/at-template.<ext> (extension matching the project's test stack). If found, treat it as binding house style — match its structure exactly. If neither exists, this is the first AT for the codebase: write it using the process below, then stop and flag it explicitly for human confirmation before treating it as the template for subsequent stories. An unreviewed first AT is a draft, not a convention — never silently promote it.
- Identify the Ports-and-Adapters seam. Reuse existing seam-finding machinery rather than inventing a new concept: if
specs/brownfield/seams-<goal-slug>.md already exists for this story's goal, read it and prefer a candidate whose recommended action is extend (a port already exists — add behavior there) or introduce-adapter (no clean port yet — extract one first, then test against it). If no seam file exists yet for this goal, run /seam-finder "<story goal>" before writing the test. For a brand-new greenfield module with nothing to score yet, design the port directly from the story's acceptance criteria — a narrow interface the business logic depends on for I/O — and say explicitly that seam-finder didn't apply rather than forcing a fit. The chosen seam's function/class is the in-process entry point the AT calls directly — never through HTTP, a browser, or a CLI.
- Design the port and its test-double adapter. The real adapter (DB, external API, clock, filesystem) is one implementation of the port; the AT uses a fake/in-memory adapter as the other — fast and deterministic, not flaky. Register the fake at the call site or through small, composable per-adapter registration. Never grow a single monolithic
Create()/setup function that takes every handler, service, and dependency as a parameter — that argument list only grows and is a named antipattern (see Red Flags).
- Write the AT in Given/When/Then form, in language a non-technical stakeholder could follow: concrete example data (a real-looking order, a named user), no framework or transport jargon in the narrative. The test calls the business logic directly through the port, with the fake adapter standing in for I/O.
- Run it. Confirm it fails for the right reason. A red AT that fails because the target function doesn't exist yet, or because the assigned behavior is simply missing, is a legitimate first red — the AT is allowed to define the port's shape before the implementation exists. A red AT that fails on a typo, a bad import, or a setup mistake proves nothing; fix the test, not the assertion, and re-run until it fails for the behavior reason. Once it fails for the right reason, run it through
node .claude/scripts/record-at-red.js --story <story-id> --at-file specs/test_artefacts/acceptance/{story-id}.<ext> --test-cmd "<AT test command>" — this is the mechanical proof-of-process gate (at-first-gate.js, gap G23): a red run appends a receipt that pre-commit later requires before a story's new production files can be committed, while a green run records nothing and exits loudly instead.
- Only now, proceed to implementation. The AT is the acceptance oracle for this story going forward: green means the business logic satisfies the requirement, independent of the full stack. The Playwright E2E layer (generated separately, e.g.
/test Step 5) remains the final full-stack confirmation layer — this AT does not replace it, and its existence does not excuse skipping E2E generation.
- Surface the AT for human readability review. At handoff/PR time, point the reviewer at the AT file specifically and ask whether it reads as a plain description of the requirement. If it's hard to follow, iterate on the test — and if necessary the underlying acceptance criteria — until it's easy, rather than shipping a technically-correct but unreadable AT.
Common Rationalizations
| Excuse | Reality |
|---|
| "E2E already covers this AC" | E2E-as-AT-implementation: slow, flaky, full-stack, and a failure means log-spelunking. It is the final confirming layer, not the primary acceptance loop — write the AT too. |
| "I'll just add another parameter to the setup function for the fake adapter" | Monolithic API-definition function antipattern — a Create/setup call taking every handler and dependency only grows. Register adapters individually and compositionally instead. |
| "The AT passed on the first try, no need to watch it fail" | Green-before-red proves nothing — the same discipline pinning-down-behavior applies to characterization tests. An AT that never failed might be testing nothing. |
| "It's clear to me, that's good enough" | Readability is judged by the intended non-technical reader, not the author. If you can't imagine a stakeholder following it, it isn't done. |
| "No template exists yet, I'll just write whatever and move on" | The first AT on a codebase must be explicitly flagged and confirmed by a human before it is treated as the pattern for every AT after it. |
| "This story is trivial, skip the AT and go straight to code" | Trivial stories are exactly where an AT is cheap and where skipping it first normalizes skipping it everywhere else. |
Red Flags — STOP
- Writing the AT against an HTTP client, browser driver, or full stack when a Ports-and-Adapters seam is available and appropriate (E2E-as-AT-implementation)
- A setup/
Create function accumulating another parameter for every new handler, service, or adapter (monolithic API-definition function)
- An AT that passes against unmodified/unimplemented code
- An AT a non-technical reader could not follow — internal type names, transport jargon, no concrete example data
- Treating an unreviewed first AT as the permanent template without explicit human confirmation
- Implementation started before the AT is written and observed red for the right reason
Checklist
Write the acceptance test first, watch it fail for the right reason, then implement. No exceptions without your human partner's permission.
