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Tablewalk

Testing workflow

Run an App’s tests from the edit loop to a release, in five layers, locally and in CI, keeping every failure’s evidence.

Terminal window
node --import tsx --test 'tests/**/*.test.ts'                # unit, API, services, authorization
npx playwright test --config tests/playwright.config.ts      # browser, desk and phone

Start from the scaffold

Section titled “Start from the scaffold”

Copy examples/testing into the App’s repository as tests/, install tablewalk, tsx and @playwright/test, and point it at your App. Lintel’s suite (examples/apps/lintel/tests) is a complete one to read. Every file imports only the package’s public exports, Node, Playwright and pg.

Layer What it proves In the scaffold
Unit Your pure functions and the App’s load, with createTestClock and validateTestApp lintel/tests/ledger.test.ts
API Commands and reads over HTTP, one host.client() per person lintel/tests/maintenance.test.ts
External service Calls in and out against a virtual service lintel/tests/integrations.test.ts
Browser Forms, sign-in, a phone layout, a suite journey lintel/tests/portal.spec.ts, examples/testing/suite.spec.ts
Authorization Every role, signed out, wrong App, with assertAuthorizationMatrix lintel/tests/permissions.test.ts

Fixtures

Section titled “Fixtures”

Each test owns a workspace: a temporary directory, its databases, its server on a port the system picks, and its virtual services. Register close the line after creating it (t.after, or the finally of a Playwright fixture), and hand each service to workspace.own; cleanup runs in reverse. Nothing is shared between tests, so files run in parallel.

Secrets and environment

Section titled “Secrets and environment”

The App process inherits nothing but PATH: pass each variable in environment. A test secret is a literal written for the test, and the session secret is random per host. Real provider keys never belong in a test; a call to any host but loopback fails it unless allowedHosts names that host.

Choosing what to run

Section titled “Choosing what to run”
While editing Before a release
One file: node --import tsx --test tests/orders.test.ts Every test file
One test: --test-name-pattern 'viewer', or Playwright -g 'checkout' Both Playwright projects
One project: --project=desktop the PostgreSQL suite

CI

Section titled “CI”

On SQLite alone:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: 24, cache: npm }
      - run: npm ci
      - run: node --import tsx --test 'tests/**/*.test.ts'
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
      - run: npx playwright test --config tests/playwright.config.ts
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: failure()
        with: { name: traces, path: test-results/, retention-days: 7 }

With PostgreSQL, add a service; each test creates a database of its own from the administrator URL and drops it at close:

    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:17
        env: { POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres }
        ports: ['5432:5432']
        options: --health-cmd pg_isready --health-interval 5s --health-retries 20
    env:
      TABLEWALK_TEST_PG: postgres://postgres:postgres@127.0.0.1:5432/postgres

Durations and failures

Section titled “Durations and failures”

Node prints each test’s time and the run’s duration_ms; add --test-reporter=junit --test-reporter-destination=junit.xml for CI. Playwright’s list reporter prints each test’s time and names the slowest files.

The scaffold sets retries: 0. A failed browser test keeps its trace and screenshot under test-results/ (open one with npx playwright show-trace), and CI uploads them. A matrix reports every failing row by name, not the first. A test that fails only sometimes is a bug to find with --repeat-each=20, never a retry to hide.

Section titled “Related”