Beginner Testing Strategies for Laravel

Why testing matters for Laravel teams
- Reduces regressions in core flows (auth, payments, provisioning)
- Enables safe refactors and consistent releases
- Builds shared confidence between Laravel and Node.js services in a polyglot stack

A practical testing pyramid
- Unit tests: cheapest, fastest, highest volume; focus on pure logic and small classes
- Feature tests: HTTP-level behavior across controllers, middleware, auth, validation
- End-to-end/UI: limited, high-value happy paths; run less frequently due to cost

Test types and when to use them
- Unit: services, policies, domain rules, helpers (no database or network)
- Feature: request/response, routing, authorization, serialization, DB reads/writes
- Integration: boundaries with external systems using fakes or test doubles
- Contract: verify expectations between services (e.g., API schemas) if you also use Node.js backends

Setup basics
- Choose a test runner: Pest (expressive, fast) or PHPUnit (classic, robust). Both are first-class in Laravel.
- Generate tests consistently: php artisan make:test UserTest or php artisan pest:test UserTest
- Name tests by behavior, not method: it_registers_users_with_valid_data instead of testRegister
- Structure with Arrange-Act-Assert (AAA) to keep tests readable and maintainable

What to test first (risk-based)
- Business-critical flows: authentication, authorization, payments, ordering, onboarding
- Complex data rules: validation, state machines, billing periods, quotas
- External integrations: payment gateways, email, storage, webhooks (behind fakes or adapters)

Essential conventions
- Deterministic tests only (no real network, no reliance on local timezones or system clock)
- One expectation per behavior; avoid testing multiple concerns in a single test
- Keep fixtures small; prefer factories to hand-crafted arrays
- Fail fast, name clearly, and remove flaky tests quickly

Laravel-native techniques that raise quality quickly

1) Databases and speed
- Use RefreshDatabase for clean state per test while keeping performance acceptable
- Prefer in-memory SQLite for fast unit/feature tests when specific DB features aren’t required
- For MySQL/Postgres-specific behavior, run a real container in CI and locally via Sail
- Consider database snapshots or pre-seeded states for large schemas to accelerate suites

2) Factories and seeders
- Use model factories for realistic, minimal data; override only what matters
- Keep factories intentional: align defaults to valid business rules
- Create lightweight test-only seeders for shared fixtures (admin role, feature flags)

3) Fakes, mocks, and boundaries
- Replace external calls: HTTP::fake(), Mail::fake(), Notification::fake(), Queue::fake(), Storage::fake()
- For third-party SDKs, wrap them in interfaces and use the container to swap test implementations
- Validate that calls were made with expected payloads; assert no unintended calls

4) HTTP and auth testing
- Use actingAs($user) to test permissioned endpoints
- Validate middleware and policies via feature tests; assert status and JSON structure
- Keep controllers thin; push logic to services so most rules are unit-testable

5) Time, config, and randomness
- Control time with Carbon::setTestNow
- Control configuration with Config::set for deterministic behavior
- Avoid randomness or seed it consistently; assert outcomes, not random values

6) Error paths and observability
- Test validation failures, authorization denials, and exception handling
- Assert log signals or domain events where relevant (Event::fake())
- Ensure APIs return stable error shapes for frontend and Node.js consumers

7) Test suite organization
- Separate fast unit/feature tests from slower browser or end-to-end tests
- Use tags or directories to run critical tests on each commit and the full suite on merges
- Keep test names and file paths consistent with app structure (e.g., Feature/Http, Unit/Domain)

8) Minimal examples (conceptual)
- Generate a test: php artisan make:test RegisterUserTest
- A fast check: $response->assertOk() or $response->assertStatus(201)

Node.js alignment (for polyglot teams)
- Jest + supertest mirror Laravel’s feature testing style
- Use nock or msw to fake HTTP, akin to HTTP::fake
- Keep the same pyramid, naming conventions, and CI patterns across stacks

CI, governance, and scaling practices

Continuous Integration
- Run php artisan test --parallel to leverage CPU cores and cut build time
- Cache Composer dependencies; warm framework caches where safe
- Use .env.testing with isolated credentials and services
- Run DB migrations once per worker or use database snapshots to avoid bottlenecks

Branch policies and gates
- Require tests to pass before merge; block on failing or flaky suites
- Enforce minimal coverage on critical modules (e.g., auth, billing, ordering)
- Add lightweight contract checks if multiple services (Laravel/Node.js) share APIs

Flakiness prevention
- Eliminate real network I/O; always fake or mock
- Avoid sleeps; prefer waiting on events or asserting retriable conditions with time control
- Keep tests independent; no reliance on execution order or shared state

Metrics and feedback loops
- Track build time, fail rates, and defect escape rate from production incidents
- Incrementally raise coverage targets; measure by critical path rather than total lines
- Periodically prune slow or redundant tests; refactor to unit-level where possible

Local developer experience
- Provide make test or composer test scripts mirroring CI
- Document common recipes: running a subset, filtering by name, updating snapshots
- Offer a quick-start dataset and sample .env.testing for new contributors

Gradual adoption plan (first 30–60 days)
- Week 1–2: stabilize environment, add factories, enforce fakes, write tests for top 3 flows
- Week 3–4: introduce parallel testing in CI, tag slow suites, document standards
- Week 5–8: add contract tests with API schemas, raise coverage on risky modules, remove flaky tests

Cross-team alignment with Node.js
- Mirror conventions and governance to reduce cognitive load across stacks
- Share API schemas (OpenAPI) to validate requests/responses in both ecosystems
- Use similar CI patterns: parallel runs, cache dependencies, and fail-fast strategies