testing-workflow

name	testing-workflow
description	Use when deciding which website test suite to run, picking the Jest client vs server vs integration env, or triaging a failing `make test-*` run — unit, e2e, visual, mutation, memory-leak, or load. Triggers on "which test should I run", "test-unit-client", "test-unit-server", "TEST_ENV", "test-e2e failing", "visual snapshot diff", "Stryker survivor", "Memlab", "K6 load test".

Testing Workflow

Pick the right suite, run it through the matching make target, and triage failures to a cause before editing. This skill orchestrates suite selection and triage across the whole test surface; it does not teach how to write a spec — route the actual Jest/RTL or Playwright authoring to ../frontend-testing-workflow/SKILL.md.

When to use

• You changed code and need to know which layer(s) actually exercise it.
• A make test-* run failed and you need to isolate app logic vs test data vs mock state vs snapshot drift before touching anything.
• You need the Jest env (client, server, or integration) for a spec.

For per-gate fix detail (ESLint, tsc, markdownlint, dependency-cruiser, Prettier, and the per-suite recovery steps) defer to ../ci-workflow/reference/failure-recovery.md. The coverage contract — scenario classes, skip justifications, regression rule — lives in the root agents.md; this skill assumes it.

Test routing

Match the change to the layer(s) it reaches. One change often needs more than one row.

What changed	Suite	Command
Components, hooks, pure client logic	Client unit (jsdom)	make test-unit-client
Apollo resolvers, server-side logic	Server unit (node)	make test-unit-server
Both unit layers at once	All unit	make test-unit-all
Cross-layer API/flow wiring	Integration	make test-integration
A user-facing flow, end to end	E2E (Playwright + Mockoon)	make test-e2e
Rendered UI or styling	Visual regression	make test-visual
Reviewed UI change, refresh baselines	Visual snapshots	make test-visual-update
Strength of existing assertions	Mutation (Stryker)	make test-mutation
Makefile / CI shell flows	Bats	make test-bats
Memory growth across interactions	Memory leak (Memlab)	make test-memory-leak
Traffic / throughput	Load (K6)	make test-load
Performance, a11y, and best practices	Lighthouse	make lighthouse-desktop

Second variants and the CI-phase aliases (make ci-test, make ci-test-prod, …) are in reference/suite-selection.md.

Jest env selection

The three unit-style suites share one Jest install and switch on TEST_ENV:

• TEST_ENV=client — jsdom env for components, hooks, and pure client logic. Specs: src/test/testing-library/**/*.test.tsx and src/test/unit/**/*.test.ts.
• TEST_ENV=server — node env for Apollo resolvers and server-side logic. Specs: src/test/apollo-server/**/*.test.ts.
• TEST_ENV=integration — jsdom env with the real Fetch API (via tests/integration/jsdom-fetch.environment.js) for the cross-layer integration suite under tests/integration.

Use the make targets above rather than setting TEST_ENV by hand; they wire it for you. Unit suites run locally WITHOUT Docker when prefixed with CI=1 (for example CI=1 make test-unit-client). E2E, visual, memory-leak, load, and Lighthouse run against the Docker prod stack the targets bring up.

Triage

1. Re-run the smallest failing unit, e.g. CI=1 TEST_ENV=client bun x jest src/test/unit/email-validation.test.ts.
2. Read the first real failure before editing anything downstream of it.
3. Classify the cause: app logic, test data (Faker builder), mock state (Mockoon fixture or Apollo mock), visual snapshot drift, or environment drift.
4. Fix the cause, not the symptom. For a bug fix, add the regression test that fails before the fix and passes after it (agents.md, Step 4).
5. Re-run the focused suite, then make format and make lint.

Per-suite classification cues (snapshot drift vs real diff, surviving mutants, Mockoon flake) are in reference/triage.md.

Behavior-first

Assertions must reflect what a user perceives, not implementation details. Query with getByRole, getByLabelText, getByAltText, and getByText; use Playwright user-facing locators in e2e; assert localized t() output, not hardcoded English. Treat snapshots and screenshots as a supplement that guards appearance — the load-bearing assertions check behavior. The authoring patterns live in ../frontend-testing-workflow/SKILL.md.

Verification

make format                  # Prettier (run before lint)
CI=1 make test-unit-client   # Client unit suite (jsdom, no Docker)
CI=1 make test-unit-server   # Server unit suite (node, no Docker)
make test-e2e                # User-facing flows (for behavior changes)
make test-visual             # Visual regression (for UI or styling changes)
make lint                    # ESLint + tsc + markdownlint + dependency-cruiser

Run only the suites the change affects, but never skip one that applies. If a reviewed UI change makes baselines stale, regenerate with make test-visual-update and review the diff before committing.

Related guides

Confirm the task against ../AI-AGENT-GUIDE.md and ../SKILL-DECISION-GUIDE.md, then route to:

• ../frontend-testing-workflow/SKILL.md — writing Jest/RTL and Playwright specs, fixtures, and scenario coverage.
• ../ci-workflow/SKILL.md — the full lint/test gate order and per-gate recovery.

Supporting files

• reference/suite-selection.md — full target surface, second variants, CI-phase aliases, and local vs Docker.
• reference/triage.md — failure classification and per-suite cues.
• examples/routing-scenarios.md — worked change-to-suite walkthroughs.