Bdd Patterns

What it does

This skill helps AI agents understand and apply Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) patterns. It enables the creation of clear, business-readable specifications that drive software implementation using a Given-When-Then structure. The skill facilitates writing acceptance tests understandable by stakeholders, defining behavior before coding, and creating living documentation from those tests.

When to use it

• Write acceptance tests that non-technical stakeholders can understand.
• Define the desired behavior of a feature before development begins.
• Create "living documentation" – test suites that also serve as specifications.
• Improve communication and collaboration between developers and business teams.
• Ensure new features align with specific business requirements.

Key capabilities

• Given-When-Then Structure: Applying the core BDD pattern for defining scenarios.
• Feature File Organization: Structuring tests to represent user stories and their related behaviors.
• Scenario Outlines: Creating data-driven tests using examples to cover multiple input variations.
• Step Definition Patterns: Understanding how to translate scenario steps into executable code (example provided in Ruby/Cucumber).
• Backgrounds: Defining common setup steps that are reused across multiple scenarios.

Example prompts

• "Generate a BDD feature file for user authentication with valid credentials."
• "Create a Scenario Outline example for password validation, including tests for short passwords and passwords needing a number."
• "Show me an example of a Background section in a BDD feature file."

Tips & gotchas

• Focus on writing scenarios from the perspective of the user.
• Avoid technical implementation details within your scenario descriptions; use declarative language instead.
• Keep individual scenarios focused on testing a single, specific behavior.