Testing Strategy
Balance unit, integration, end-to-end, visual, and smoke tests for enterprise systems.
Testing strategy should match risk. Enterprise projects need enough confidence to ship safely without turning the pipeline into an obstacle for every small change.
Test Layers
| Layer | Purpose | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | Validate isolated logic | Pure functions, reducers, validators |
| Integration | Validate boundaries | API clients, database flows, package contracts |
| End-to-end | Validate user-critical paths | Login, checkout, admin workflows |
| Visual | Catch UI regressions | Design systems, marketing pages, dashboards |
| Smoke | Confirm deployment health | Production route and API checks |
Risk-Based Coverage
| Risk | Required coverage |
|---|---|
| Revenue or billing | Integration and end-to-end tests |
| Authentication or permission | Integration, e2e, and security review |
| Shared package API | Contract and consumer tests |
| Public marketing route | Build, metadata, visual or smoke check |
| Internal utility | Unit tests when logic is nontrivial |
Test Quality Rules
- Tests should fail for behavior changes, not timing noise.
- Avoid asserting implementation details when user behavior matters.
- Keep fixtures realistic but minimal.
- Make flaky tests visible and owned.
- Run fast checks early and expensive checks closer to release.
Review Checklist
- What customer or business risk does this test protect?
- Would the test catch the likely regression?
- Is the test deterministic in CI?
- Is ownership clear when it fails?