Testing

Kangentic uses a three-tier testing strategy. Each tier targets a different layer of the application, and each has its own tradeoffs between speed, coverage, and realism.

Unit Tests

npm run test:unit

• Runner: Vitest
• Speed: Sub-second
• What to test: Pure logic — parsers, filters, state machines, utility functions
• No build needed, no browser, no Electron

Unit tests live in tests/unit/. They’re fast and focused — test a function’s input/output without any framework overhead.

UI Tests

npx playwright test --project=ui

• Runner: Playwright with headless Chromium
• Speed: ~240 tests across 24 spec files
• What to test: React components, forms, dialogs, drag-and-drop, board interactions
• No build needed — runs against the Vite dev server (auto-started by Playwright)

UI tests live in tests/ui/. They use a full in-memory mock of window.electronAPI (injected via addInitScript()) that supports complete CRUD for projects, tasks, swimlanes, actions, sessions, config, and attachments.

Use window.__mockPreConfigure(fn) to set up mock state before React mounts.

E2E Tests

npm run build
npx playwright test --project=electron

• Runner: Playwright with _electron.launch()
• Speed: Slower — opens real windows (no headless mode on Windows)
• What to test: PTY sessions, terminal rendering, session lifecycle, shell detection, config persistence
• Build required before running

E2E tests live in tests/e2e/. These exercise the full Electron application with real IPC, real file I/O, and real terminal sessions.

Decision Guide

What you’re testing	Tier
Pure function, parser, utility	Unit
Component rendering, user interaction, form validation	UI
Real IPC, PTY spawning, terminal output, file I/O	E2E

Tip

Start with unit tests when possible. They’re fastest to write and run. Reach for UI tests when you need to test component behavior, and E2E only when you need the real Electron backend.

Running All Tests

npm run test:unit          # Unit tests (Vitest)
npx playwright test        # UI + E2E tests (Playwright)