testing

name: testing description: > Sounding-first testing patterns for The Boring JavaScript Stack — one test() API, a Sails-centered trial context, worlds under tests/, JSON and Inertia request testing, mail capture, and browser-capable trials only when the browser truly matters. Use this skill when writing, configuring, or debugging tests in a Sails.js + Inertia.js application. metadata: author: sailscastshq version: '2.0.0' tags: testing, sounding, sails, node-test, playwright, inertia, e2e, unit-tests, boring-stack

Testing

The Boring JavaScript Stack now has one primary testing story: Sounding.

Sounding keeps the familiar test() API, but gives Sails apps one coherent runtime for:

• helper and business-logic trials
• JSON endpoint and policy behavior
• Inertia page contracts
• mail assertions
• browser-capable flows when the browser truly matters

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Writing or restructuring tests in a Sails.js + Inertia.js application
• Migrating older node:test, Playwright, or inertia-sails/test suites to Sounding
• Designing tests/unit, tests/e2e/pages, tests/factories, and tests/scenarios
• Configuring config/sounding.js and config/env/test.js
• Writing trials around sails.helpers, get() / post(), visit(), auth, login, mailbox, or page
• Choosing between virtual transport and real HTTP transport
• Keeping mail capture, datastore isolation, and browser setup calm and predictable
• Selecting named browser projects such as desktop, mobile, or safari
• Debugging failed browser trials with Sounding's default URL/screenshot artifacts and opt-in traces/videos
• Setting up CI around a Sounding-powered suite

Sounding Mental Model

Keep these terms straight and use them consistently:

• a trial is one named behavior the app must prove
• the trial context is the object Sounding passes into test()
• sails is the canonical center of that context
• a world is the named business situation the trial lives inside
• an actor is the role operating through that world
• a suite is the whole organized test tree for the app

Prefer Sounding's public shape:

• const { test } = require('sounding')
• test('...', async ({ sails, get, visit, auth, login, page, expect }) => {})
• sails.helpers.*
• sails.sounding.*

Do not push people back toward:

• ad hoc getSails() boot helpers
• inertia-sails/test as the main integration story
• Playwright for every request-level behavior
• tests/sounding/ as a framework-branded island

Rules

Read the rule files that match the work you are doing:

• rules/getting-started.md - Sounding philosophy, suite layout, scripts, and migration mindset
• rules/unit-testing.md - helper trials, pure business logic, worlds, factories, and scenarios
• rules/integration-testing.md - request-level JSON and Inertia trials with get(), post(), and visit()
• rules/e2e-testing.md - browser-capable trials with { browser: true }, page, login, and mobile-aware flows
• rules/test-configuration.md - config/sounding.js, config/env/test.js, datastores, mail capture, cleanup, and CI