beads/docs/README_TESTING.md

Testing Strategy

This project uses a two-tier testing approach to balance speed and thoroughness.

Test Categories

Fast Tests (Unit Tests)

• Run on every commit and PR
• Complete in ~2 seconds
• No build tags required
• Located throughout the codebase

go test -short ./...

Integration Tests

• Marked with //go:build integration tag
• Include slow git operations and multi-clone scenarios
• Run nightly and before releases
• Located in:
  • beads_hash_multiclone_test.go - Multi-clone convergence tests (~13s)
  • beads_integration_test.go - End-to-end scenarios
  • beads_multidb_test.go - Multi-database tests

go test -tags=integration ./...

CI Strategy

PR Checks (fast, runs on every PR):

go test -short -race ./...

Nightly (comprehensive, runs overnight):

go test -tags=integration -race ./...

Adding New Tests

For Fast Tests

No special setup required. Just write the test normally.

For Integration Tests

Add build tags at the top of the file:

//go:build integration
// +build integration

package yourpackage_test

Mark slow operations with testing.Short() check:

func TestSomethingSlow(t *testing.T) {
    if testing.Short() {
        t.Skip("skipping integration test")
    }
    // ... slow test code
}

Local Development

During development, run fast tests frequently:

go test -short ./...

Before committing, run full suite:

go test -tags=integration ./...

Performance Optimization

In-Memory Filesystems for Git Tests

Git-heavy integration tests use testutil.TempDirInMemory() to reduce I/O overhead:

import "github.com/steveyegge/beads/internal/testutil"

func TestWithGitOps(t *testing.T) {
    tmpDir := testutil.TempDirInMemory(t)
    // ... test code using tmpDir
}

Platform behavior:

• Linux: Uses /dev/shm (tmpfs ramdisk) if available - provides 20-30% speedup
• macOS: Uses standard /tmp (APFS is already fast)
• Windows: Uses standard temp directory

For CI (GitHub Actions): Linux runners automatically have /dev/shm available, so no configuration needed.

Performance Targets

• Fast tests: < 3 seconds total
• Integration tests: < 15 seconds total
• Full suite: < 18 seconds total