codagent-ai/agent-skills/test-plan

Test Plan

Create <change-dir>/test-plan.md after the proposal, specifications, and design are complete. The plan records important automated integration and end-to-end obligations, the envelope the later exploratory acceptance pass runs under, and exceptional human-only checks. Specifications and implementation-time decisions remain the source of unit-test requirements.

Do not write the plan until the user approves the proposed coverage. Use codagent:ask-questions for consequential choices involving environments, external effects, cost, credentials, fidelity, substitutes, or genuinely human-only judgment.

Plan coverage by risk

Read the definition artifacts, relevant repository instructions, current test structure, and affected public surfaces. Trace critical journeys and boundaries, then choose the lowest test layer that can reliably detect each important failure:

• Unit tests: the broad base for isolated logic, validation, transformations, decisions, and edge

cases. Do not inventory these in the test plan.

• Integration tests (`INT-*`): important boundaries where real components must work together, such

as adapters, databases, filesystems, subprocesses, APIs, queues, or configuration-to-runtime wiring. Prefer controlled real dependencies or contract tests when they are more faithful than mocks.

• Automated end-to-end tests (`E2E-*`): a small set of critical journeys through a public entry

point with realistic isolated setup and stable observable assertions.

Avoid fixed ratios, test-count quotas, duplicate assertions across layers, and E2E coverage for behavior a cheaper layer proves adequately. It is valid to record that no new integration or E2E obligation is warranted and explain why.

Plan automated tests for code only, never for prompts. Do not plan a test that checks whether a prompt, such as a SKILL.md, contains certain text.

For each automated obligation, capture what it covers, the boundary or journey exercised, setup, stable assertions, constraints, and where it runs.

Define the testing envelope

Do not enumerate acceptance test cases. Acceptance is an exploratory pass: it exercises each user-visible requirement or scenario the approved specs add or modify at least once, derived from the specs themselves, and sizes further exploration to what actually changed. A pre-written flow list only tells it to re-walk the happy path. The plan's job is to say what that pass is allowed to do, not what it must check.

Record the envelope:

• environments, sandboxes, and test accounts available;
• credentials and secrets that exist, and where;
• external effects that are authorized, their cost, and required cleanup;
• anything the pass must not touch, such as production data or irreversible operations;
• substitutes permitted when a real dependency is unavailable.

Note known risk areas, prior defect clusters, and anything the design treats as an accepted limitation. These inform exploration without prescribing it.

Default human-only testing to None. Add an HT-* only for judgment or authority unavailable to an agent with the product and tools—for example subjective preference, legal approval, physical perception, unavailable personal credentials, or an irreversible user-authorized act. Visual and interactive UI testing belongs to the exploratory pass. For each HT-*, state why an agent cannot perform it, what prior testing must establish, concise user instructions, and the decision or observation required.

Approve and write

Present the proposed obligations, the envelope, meaningful omissions, and consequential testing choices. After user approval, write the plan and a coverage map containing only requirements or journeys with an additional INT-*, E2E-*, or HT-* obligation. Do not create tasks, write tests, execute tests, or invoke another lifecycle phase.

Artifact template

## Coverage Strategy
 
Specifications remain the source of unit-test requirements. This plan records only additional
integration and end-to-end obligations, the acceptance testing envelope, and exceptional human-only
obligations.
 
## Integration Tests
 
### INT-001: <boundary behavior>
-Covers: <requirements or journey>
-Boundary: <real components and interaction>
-Setup: <controlled dependencies and data>
-Action: <operation>
-Assertions: <stable observable results>
-Execution: <test location or CI command/phase>
 
## End-to-End Tests
 
### E2E-001: <critical journey>
-Covers: <requirements or journey>
-Surface: <public entry point>
-Setup: <realistic isolated environment>
-Journey: <user/client actions>
-Assertions: <stable observable results>
-Execution: <test location or CI command/phase>
 
## Acceptance Testing Envelope
 
-Environments and sandboxes: <available targets>
-Credentials and secrets: <what exists and where>
-Authorized effects: <external effects, cost, and required cleanup>
-Off limits: <what must not be touched>
-Permitted substitutes: <substitute and condition, or None>
-Known risk areas: <prior defect clusters and accepted limitations>
 
## Human-Only Testing
 
None.
 
<!-- When needed:
### HT-001: <human judgment or authority>
-Reason: <why an agent cannot perform it>
-Prerequisites: <prior automated and acceptance evidence>
-Instructions: <concise user actions>
-Required decision or observation: <result needed>
-->
 
## Coverage Map
 
| Requirement or journey | INT | E2E | HT |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| <item> | <IDs or —> | <IDs or —> | <IDs or —> |