laravel-testing

Covers Laravel 13 testing with Pest 5 / PHPUnit 13 (Pest 4 / PHPUnit 12 on PHP 8.3): feature tests (HTTP, full stack), unit tests (isolated classes), and architecture tests; Pest syntax (it/test/describe), datasets; HTTP testing (requests, JSON assertions, auth/actingAs, status/redirect assertions); database testing (RefreshDatabase, factories, DB assertions); mocking (services, spies, Mail/Queue/Event fakes, Http::fake, time travel); console/Artisan command tests; and PHPUnit-attribute-based seeding (#[Seed], #[Seeder]).

Laravel Testing

Agent Workflow (MANDATORY)

Before ANY implementation, spawn 3 agents in parallel, one Agent call each with a name:

1. fuse-ai-pilot:explore-codebase - Analyze existing test patterns
2. fuse-ai-pilot:research-expert - Verify Pest/PHPUnit docs via Context7
3. mcp__context7__query-docs - Check assertion and mocking patterns

After implementation, run fuse-ai-pilot:sniper for validation.

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Overview

Type	Purpose	Location
Feature	HTTP, full stack	tests/Feature/
Unit	Isolated classes	tests/Unit/
Arch	Code architecture	tests/Arch.php

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Decision Guide: Test Type

What to test?
├── HTTP endpoint → Feature test
├── Service/Policy logic → Unit test
├── Code structure → Arch test
├── External API → Mock with Http::fake()
├── Mail/Queue/Event → Use Fakes
└── Database state → assertDatabaseHas()

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Decision Guide: Test Strategy

Coverage strategy?
├── Feature tests (70%) → Critical flows
├── Unit tests (25%) → Business logic
├── E2E tests (5%) → User journeys
└── Arch tests → Structural rules

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Critical Rules

1. Use RefreshDatabase for database isolation
2. Use factories for test data (never raw inserts)
3. Mock external services - Never call real APIs
4. Test edge cases - Empty, null, boundaries
5. Run parallel - pest --parallel for speed

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Reference Guide

Pest Basics

Topic	Reference	When to Consult
Pest Syntax	pest-basics.md	it(), test(), describe()
Datasets	pest-datasets.md	Data providers, hooks
Architecture	pest-arch.md	arch() tests

HTTP Testing

Topic	Reference	When to Consult
Requests	http-requests.md	GET, POST, headers
JSON API	http-json.md	API assertions
Authentication	http-auth.md	actingAs, guards
Assertions	http-assertions.md	Status, redirects

Database Testing

Topic	Reference	When to Consult
Basics	database-basics.md	RefreshDatabase
Factories	database-factories.md	Factory patterns
Assertions	database-assertions.md	DB assertions

Mocking

Topic	Reference	When to Consult
Services	mocking-services.md	Mock, spy
Fakes	mocking-fakes.md	Mail, Queue, Event
HTTP & Time	mocking-http.md	Http::fake, travel

Other

Topic	Reference	When to Consult
Console	console-tests.md	Artisan tests
Troubleshooting	troubleshooting.md	Common errors

Templates

Template	When to Use
FeatureTest.php.md	HTTP feature test
UnitTest.php.md	Service unit test
ArchTest.php.md	Architecture test
ApiTest.php.md	REST API test
PestConfig.php.md	Pest configuration

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Quick Reference

// Feature test
it('creates a post', function () {
    $user = User::factory()->create();

    $this->actingAs($user)
        ->postJson('/api/posts', ['title' => 'Test'])
        ->assertCreated()
        ->assertJsonPath('data.title', 'Test');

    $this->assertDatabaseHas('posts', ['title' => 'Test']);
});

// With dataset
it('validates emails', function (string $email, bool $valid) {
    // test logic
})->with([
    ['[email protected]', true],
    ['invalid', false],
]);

// Mock facade
Mail::fake();
// ... action ...
Mail::assertSent(OrderShipped::class);

---

Commands

# Run all tests
php artisan test

# Pest directly
./vendor/bin/pest

# Parallel execution
./vendor/bin/pest --parallel

# Filter by name
./vendor/bin/pest --filter "user can"

# Coverage
./vendor/bin/pest --coverage --min=80

# Profile slow tests
./vendor/bin/pest --profile

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Best Practices

DO

• Use RefreshDatabase trait
• Follow AAA pattern (Arrange-Act-Assert)
• Name tests descriptively
• Test one thing per test
• Use factories for data

DON'T

• Create test dependencies
• Call real external APIs
• Use production database
• Skip edge cases

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Laravel 13 Notes

PHPUnit 12/13 + Pest 4/5

The Laravel 13 skeleton ships PHPUnit 12 (^12.5); the framework also accepts PHPUnit 13. Pest 5 (current, requires PHP 8.4+ and PHPUnit 13, plus pestphp/pest-plugin-laravel ^5.0 which needs Laravel ^13.23) — stay on Pest 4 (PHPUnit 12) if the app still runs PHP 8.3. PHP attributes replace docblock annotations.

use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\Test;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\Attributes\Seed;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\Attributes\Seeder;

#[Seed]                          // runs DatabaseSeeder
#[Seeder(UserSeeder::class)]     // runs a targeted seeder
final class UserTest extends TestCase
{
    #[Test]
    public function it_creates_user(): void { /* ... */ }
}

Str factories reset

Laravel 13 resets custom Str factories (UUID / ULID / random string) during test teardown. Tests relying on a factory persisting across methods must set it in each test or setup hook.

#[UnitTest] (L13)

Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\Attributes\UnitTest on a test method skips booting the application for that test.

Migration from Pest 3 → 4

• Bump pestphp/pest and all Pest plugins to ^4.0 (PHP 8.3+, PHPUnit 12)
• Snapshot names changed: run ./vendor/bin/pest --update-snapshots
• pest-plugin-watch and pest-plugin-faker are archived

Migration from Pest 4 → 5

• Requires PHP 8.4+; bump pestphp/pest and all Pest plugins to ^5.0 (built on PHPUnit 13)
• New in 5: --tia (test impact analysis, local only), first-party PHPStan/Rector plugins, Agent and Evals plugins, time-balanced sharding