Laravel Tester

Instructions

Models Testing Policy

• DO NOT create unit tests for Laravel Eloquent models.
• Rationale:
  • Laravel's Eloquent ORM is extensively tested by the Laravel team
  • Testing basic CRUD operations, relationships, and standard functionality provides no value
  • Models are excluded from code coverage metrics (see phpunit.xml)
• What NOT to test:
  • Basic relationships (hasOne, hasMany, belongsTo, etc.)
  • Simple CRUD operations (create, update, delete, find)
  • Standard Eloquent functionality
  • Factory creation without custom logic
  • Basic fillable/guarded attributes
  • Standard casting functionality
• Exceptions — What TO test:
  • Custom business logic methods
  • Complex accessors/mutators with business rules
  • Custom scopes with specific logic
  • Observer behavior and side effects
  • Mass assignment protection (if critical)
• Where to test model functionality instead:
  • Feature tests via HTTP endpoints and workflows
  • Integration tests for model interactions
  • Observer tests for event handlers
  • Action/Service tests for business logic

Framework

• Pest PHP - Modern testing framework with BDD-style syntax
• Mutation Testing with Infection for test quality assurance
• Architectural Testing to enforce code structure rules

Test Structure

tests/
├── Feature/          # Integration tests
│   ├── Auth/
│   ├── MentorPrograms/
│   └── Pages/
├── Unit/             # Unit tests
│   ├── Actions/
│   ├── Models/
│   ├── Observers/
│   └── Support/
├── Pest.php         # Pest configuration
└── TestCase.php     # Base test case

Running Tests

All tests must be run in a Docker container. Feature tests do not need to mutate.

With Docker

# Run all tests
docker compose exec app ./vendor/bin/pest

# Run with coverage
docker compose exec app ./vendor/bin/pest --coverage

# Run mutation testing
docker compose exec app ./vendor/bin/pest --mutate --covered-only --parallel --min=100

# Run specific test file
docker compose exec app ./vendor/bin/pest tests/Unit/ExampleTest.php

Local Environment

# Ensure test database is configured in .env.testing
./vendor/bin/pest
./vendor/bin/pest --coverage
./vendor/bin/pest --mutate --covered-only --parallel --min=100

Test Configuration

• Database: Uses RefreshDatabase trait for clean test state
• Environment: Configured in phpunit.xml with testing-specific settings
• Coverage: Reports generated in

  coverage/

  directory
• Memory Limit: 512M for test execution

Writing Tests

Basic Test Structure

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

// For mutation testing (optional)
mutates(YourClass::class);

describe('Feature Description', function (): void {
    beforeEach(function (): void {
        // Setup code
        $this->user = User::factory()->create();
    });

    it('describes what it tests', function (): void {
        $result = someFunction();

        expect($result)->toBe('expected_value');
    });
});

Testing Actions (Laravel Actions Pattern)

it('handles the action correctly', function (): void {
    $action = new YourAction();
    $result = $action->handle($request, $parameters);

    expect($result)
        ->toBeInstanceOf(RedirectResponse::class)
        ->and($result->getTargetUrl())
        ->toBe(route('expected.route'));
});

Architectural Testing

The project enforces architectural rules via

tests/Unit/ArchTest.php

:

• No debugging functions in production code
• Models must extend Eloquent Model
• Page actions must have 'Page' suffix
• Enums must be proper enum classes

Common Commands

# Code quality checks
./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
./vendor/bin/pint --test
./vendor/bin/rector process --dry-run

# Fix code issues
./vendor/bin/pint
./vendor/bin/rector process

# Generate IDE helpers
php artisan ide-helper:generate
php artisan ide-helper:models

# Clear caches
php artisan config:clear
php artisan cache:clear
php artisan view:clear

Code Quality Tools

1. Laravel Pint - Code formatting based on Laravel preset with strict rules
2. PHPStan (Level 5) - Static analysis with Larastan for Laravel-specific checks
3. Rector - Automated code modernization for PHP 8.4 and Laravel 12.0
4. Cognitive Complexity - Limits complexity (class: 85, function: 8)

Development Tools

• Telescope: Laravel debugging assistant (enabled in testing)
• Log Viewer: Web-based log viewing interface
• IDE Helpers: Comprehensive IDE support with auto-generated helpers
• Xdebug: Available in Docker development environment

Pest

Testing

• If you need to verify a feature is working, write or update a Unit / Feature test.

Pest Tests

• All tests must be written using Pest. Use

  php artisan make:test --pest <name>

  .
• You must not remove any tests or test files from the tests directory without approval. These are not temporary or helper files - these are core to the application.
• Tests should test all of the happy paths, failure paths, and weird paths.
• Tests live in the

  tests/Feature

  and

  tests/Unit

  directories.
• Pest tests look and behave like this: <code-snippet name="Basic Pest Test Example" lang="php"> it('is true', function () { expect(true)->toBeTrue(); }); </code-snippet>

Running Tests

• Run the minimal number of tests using an appropriate filter before finalizing code edits.
• To run all tests:

  php artisan test

  .
• To run all tests in a file:

  php artisan test tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php

  .
• To filter on a particular test name:

  php artisan test --filter=testName

  (recommended after making a change to a related file).
• When the tests relating to your changes are passing, ask the user if they would like to run the entire test suite to ensure everything is still passing.

Pest Assertions

• When asserting status codes on a response, use the specific method like

  assertForbidden

  and

  assertNotFound

  instead of using

  assertStatus(403)

  or similar, e.g.: <code-snippet name="Pest Example Asserting postJson Response" lang="php"> it('returns all', function () { $response = $this->postJson('/api/docs', []);

  $response->assertSuccessful(); }); </code-snippet>

Mocking

• Mocking can be very helpful when appropriate.
• When mocking, you can use the

  Pest\Laravel\mock

  Pest function, but always import it via

  use function Pest\Laravel\mock;

  before using it. Alternatively, you can use

  $this->mock()

  if existing tests do.
• You can also create partial mocks using the same import or self method.

Datasets

• Use datasets in Pest to simplify tests which have a lot of duplicated data. This is often the case when testing validation rules, so consider going with this solution when writing tests for validation rules.

<code-snippet name="Pest Dataset Example" lang="php"> it('has emails', function (string $email) { expect($email)->not->toBeEmpty(); })->with([ 'james' => 'james@laravel.com', 'taylor' => 'taylor@laravel.com', ]); </code-snippet>

Pest 4

• Pest v4 is a huge upgrade to Pest and offers: browser testing, smoke testing, visual regression testing, test sharding, and faster type coverage.
• Browser testing is incredibly powerful and useful for this project.
• Browser tests should live in

  tests/Browser/

  .
• Use the

  search-docs

  tool for detailed guidance on utilizing these features.

Browser Testing

• You can use Laravel features like

  Event::fake()

  ,

  assertAuthenticated()

  , and model factories within Pest v4 browser tests, as well as

  RefreshDatabase

  (when needed) to ensure a clean state for each test.
• Interact with the page (click, type, scroll, select, submit, drag-and-drop, touch gestures, etc.) when appropriate to complete the test.
• If requested, test on multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
• If requested, test on different devices and viewports (like iPhone 14 Pro, tablets, or custom breakpoints).
• Switch color schemes (light/dark mode) when appropriate.
• Take screenshots or pause tests for debugging when appropriate.

Example Tests

<code-snippet name="Pest Browser Test Example" lang="php"> it('may reset the password', function () { Notification::fake();

$this->actingAs(User::factory()->create());

$page = visit('/sign-in'); // Visit on a real browser...

$page->assertSee('Sign In')
    ->assertNoJavascriptErrors() // or ->assertNoConsoleLogs()
    ->click('Forgot Password?')
    ->fill('email', 'nuno@laravel.com')
    ->click('Send Reset Link')
    ->assertSee('We have emailed your password reset link!')

Notification::assertSent(ResetPassword::class);

}); </code-snippet>

<code-snippet name="Pest Smoke Testing Example" lang="php"> $pages = visit(['/', '/about', '/contact']);

$pages->assertNoJavascriptErrors()->assertNoConsoleLogs(); </code-snippet>

Test Enforcement

• Every change must be programmatically tested. Write a new test or update an existing test, then run the affected tests to make sure they pass.
• Run the minimum number of tests needed to ensure code quality and speed. Use

  php artisan test

  with a specific filename or filter.

Laravel Pint Code Formatter

• You must run

  vendor/bin/pint --dirty

  before finalizing changes to ensure your code matches the project's expected style.
• Do not run

  vendor/bin/pint --test

  , simply run

  vendor/bin/pint

  to fix any formatting issues.