laravel-tdd

name	laravel-tdd
description	Test-driven development for Laravel with PHPUnit and Pest, factories, database testing, fakes, and coverage targets.
origin	ECC

Laravel TDD Workflow

Test-driven development for Laravel applications using PHPUnit and Pest with 80%+ coverage (unit + feature).

When to Use

• New features or endpoints in Laravel
• Bug fixes or refactors
• Testing Eloquent models, policies, jobs, and notifications
• Prefer Pest for new tests unless the project already standardizes on PHPUnit

How It Works

Red-Green-Refactor Cycle

1. Write a failing test
2. Implement the minimal change to pass
3. Refactor while keeping tests green

Test Layers

• Unit: pure PHP classes, value objects, services
• Feature: HTTP endpoints, auth, validation, policies
• Integration: database + queue + external boundaries

Database Strategy

• RefreshDatabase for most feature/integration tests
• DatabaseTransactions when the schema is already migrated and you only need per-test rollback
• DatabaseMigrations when you need a full migrate/fresh for every test

Examples

PHPUnit Example

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
use Tests\TestCase;

final class ProjectControllerTest extends TestCase
{
    use RefreshDatabase;

    public function test_owner_can_create_project(): void
    {
        $user = User::factory()->create();

        $response = $this->actingAs($user)->postJson('/api/projects', [
            'name' => 'New Project',
        ]);

        $response->assertCreated();
        $this->assertDatabaseHas('projects', ['name' => 'New Project']);
    }
}

Pest Example

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;

use function Pest\Laravel\actingAs;
use function Pest\Laravel\assertDatabaseHas;

uses(RefreshDatabase::class);

test('owner can create project', function () {
    $user = User::factory()->create();

    $response = actingAs($user)->postJson('/api/projects', [
        'name' => 'New Project',
    ]);

    $response->assertCreated();
    assertDatabaseHas('projects', ['name' => 'New Project']);
});

Factories and States

$user = User::factory()->state(['role' => 'admin'])->create();

Fakes for Side Effects

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue;

Queue::fake();
dispatch(new SendOrderConfirmation($order->id));
Queue::assertPushed(SendOrderConfirmation::class);

Auth Testing (Sanctum)

use Laravel\Sanctum\Sanctum;

Sanctum::actingAs($user);
$response = $this->getJson('/api/projects');
$response->assertOk();

Coverage Targets

• Enforce 80%+ coverage for unit + feature tests
• Use pcov or XDEBUG_MODE=coverage in CI

Test Commands

• php artisan test
• vendor/bin/phpunit
• vendor/bin/pest