/laravel-testing

Laravel 13 Testing — Pest PHP 4 & PHPUnit 12

Comprehensive testing guide for Laravel 13 applications. Supports both Pest PHP 4 and PHPUnit 12. 24 rules across 6 categories.

Framework Detection

Before applying rules, the skill detects which framework is in use:

1. Checks composer.json for pestphp/pest (Pest) or phpunit/phpunit alone (PHPUnit)
2. Checks if tests/Pest.php exists → Pest
3. If unclear → asks the user to choose Pest or PHPUnit

Version: 1.1.0

Overview

This skill provides guidance for:

• HTTP feature tests and response assertions
• Model factories, states, and relationships
• Database assertions after operations
• Faking Mail, Queue, Notification, and Event facades
• Testing authenticated routes with actingAs and Sanctum
• Pest PHP patterns: describe/it, datasets, hooks

Categories

1. HTTP & Feature Tests (Critical)

Structure feature tests with Arrange/Act/Assert. Use HTTP assertion methods to validate responses.

2. Model Factories (Critical)

Create test data with factories. Use states for scenarios, sequences for varied records, relationship helpers for related data.

3. Database Assertions (High)

Assert database state with assertDatabaseHas, assertDatabaseMissing, and assertSoftDeleted.

4. Faking Services (High)

Use Mail::fake(), Queue::fake(), Notification::fake(), Event::fake(), and Storage::fake() to prevent real side effects and assert behavior.

5. Authentication Testing (High)

Use actingAs() for session-based tests and Sanctum::actingAs() for API token tests.

6. Test Organisation Patterns (Medium)

Pest: describe/it blocks, datasets, beforeEach/afterEach hooks. PHPUnit: test class organisation, #[DataProvider], setUp/tearDown.

Rules