ch-3-test

name	ch-3-test
description	Execute the test phase by writing failing tests for all [TEST] tasks defined in tasks.md. No implementation code is written.
argument-hint	Optional task filter or guidance
compatibility	Requires spec-kit project structure with .specify/ directory
metadata	{"author":"github-spec-kit","source":"custom"}
user-invocable	true
disable-model-invocation	false

User Input

$ARGUMENTS

You MUST consider the user input before proceeding (if not empty).

Pre-Execution Checks

Check for extension hooks (before test phase):

• Check if .specify/extensions.yml exists in the project root.
• If it exists, read it and look for entries under the hooks.before_test key
• If the YAML cannot be parsed or is invalid, skip hook checking silently and continue normally
• Filter out hooks where enabled is explicitly false. Treat hooks without an enabled field as enabled by default.
• For each remaining hook, do not attempt to interpret or evaluate hook condition expressions:
  • If the hook has no condition field, or it is null/empty, treat the hook as executable
  • If the hook defines a non-empty condition, skip the hook and leave condition evaluation to the HookExecutor implementation
• When constructing slash commands from hook command names, replace dots (.) with hyphens (-). For example, speckit.git.commit → /speckit-git-commit.
• For each executable hook, output the following based on its optional flag:
  • Optional hook (optional: true):

    ## Extension Hooks
    
    **Optional Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Command: `/{command}`
    Description: {description}
    
    Prompt: {prompt}
    To execute: `/{command}`
    

  • Mandatory hook (optional: false):

    ## Extension Hooks
    
    **Automatic Pre-Hook**: {extension}
    Executing: `/{command}`
    EXECUTE_COMMAND: {command}
    
    Wait for the result of the hook command before proceeding to the Outline.
    

• If no hooks are registered or .specify/extensions.yml does not exist, skip silently

Outline

1. Run .specify/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh --json --require-tasks --include-tasks from repo root and parse FEATURE_DIR and AVAILABLE_DOCS list. All paths must be absolute.

2. Load implementation context:

   • REQUIRED: Read tasks.md — identify all unchecked [TEST] tasks (- [ ] lines containing [TEST])
   • REQUIRED: Read plan.md — tech stack, architecture, file structure
   • REQUIRED: Read .specify/memory/constitution.md — approved test stack (§2) and CI check commands (§12); this project's constitution.md is human-customized, so section numbers may not match — locate by heading text if they've drifted
   • REQUIRED: Read .specify/memory/test-principles.md — authoritative quality bar for all tests written in this phase
   • IF EXISTS: Read data-model.md for entities and relationships
   • IF EXISTS: Read contracts/ for API specifications and acceptance criteria
   • IF EXISTS: Read spec.md for user stories and acceptance criteria

3. If no unchecked [TEST] tasks exist in tasks.md, print:

   [ch-3-test] All [TEST] tasks already complete. Run /ch-3-test-critic, then /ch-3-test-quality-review, to validate.
   

   and stop.

4. Execute the test phase — for each unchecked [TEST] task in tasks.md, in dependency order:

   For each [TEST] task: a. Write the failing test file(s) for this behaviour only.

   • Tests must encode the acceptance criteria from spec.md for this unit of behaviour.
   • No implementation code under any circumstances — test files only.
   • If the test file already exists (from a prior interrupted run), read it first. b. Run the test suite targeting the new test file, using the command declared for that check in constitution §12 (CI Requirements), scoped to the new file. c. Confirm the test FAILS for the expected reason:
   • ACCEPTABLE failures: assertion failure (Expected X, received Y), "not implemented" error, "cannot find module/export" error when the code does not yet exist.
   • UNACCEPTABLE failures: syntax errors in the test file, import errors from the test file itself (not from missing implementation). Fix these before recording output.

Constraints

• No implementation code: This phase writes test files only. If you find yourself writing implementation logic, stop immediately.
• No [IMPL] tasks: Only process tasks labelled [TEST] in tasks.md. Leave all [IMPL] tasks untouched.
• test-principles.md is mandatory context: Read it before writing any test. All tests must conform to the principles defined there.
• Red before recording: Never record a green test as a red-output artifact. If a test passes without implementation, flag it rather than falsify the artifact.