Go Testing Code Review

What it does

This skill provides guidance and checks for writing effective Go tests, focusing on code review best practices. It helps ensure test suites are well-structured, readable, and comprehensive by referencing established patterns and offering suggestions for improvement. The skill covers aspects like table-driven tests, mocking, error message clarity, parallel testing, cleanup routines, benchmarks, and fuzz tests (Go 1.18+).

When to use it

• During code review of Go projects to ensure test quality.
• When writing new Go tests or refactoring existing ones.
• To identify potential issues with test structure, naming conventions, or error handling.
• For teams adopting best practices for Go testing and wanting a checklist-driven approach.
• When implementing performance benchmarks or fuzz tests in Go 1.18+ projects.

Key capabilities

• Test Structure Guidance: Provides examples of good and bad test structures, emphasizing table-driven tests with clear case names.
• Mocking Best Practices: Offers guidance on using interfaces for mocking.
• Error Message Clarity: Promotes descriptive error messages including got/want comparisons.
• Parallel Test Support: Guidance on running parallel tests safely and correctly.
• Cleanup Routines: Demonstrates proper use of t.Cleanup to ensure resource cleanup even if tests panic.
• Benchmark Testing: Provides a template for creating performance benchmarks using the Benchmark* pattern.
• Fuzz Testing (Go 1.18+): Guidance on writing fuzz tests with seed corpus examples.
• Golden File Tests: Supports golden file testing with -update flag usage.

Example prompts

• "Review this Go test function for adherence to best practices."
• "Suggest improvements to the structure of this table-driven test."
• "How can I write a better error message in this failing test?"
• “Show me an example of how to use t.Cleanup.”

Tips & gotchas

• This skill focuses on code review and guidance; it doesn't automatically generate tests.
• Fuzz testing functionality requires Go 1.18 or later.
• The skill references external documentation (references/structure.md, references/mocking.md) for more detailed information.