rust-testing

Skill ECC View source on GitHub

Rust testing patterns including unit tests, integration tests, async testing, property-based testing, mocking, and coverage. Follows TDD methodology.

Rust Testing Patterns

Comprehensive Rust testing patterns for writing reliable, maintainable tests following TDD methodology.

When to Use

Writing new Rust functions, methods, or traits
Adding test coverage to existing code
Creating benchmarks for performance-critical code
Implementing property-based tests for input validation
Following TDD workflow in Rust projects

How It Works

Identify target code — Find the function, trait, or module to test
Write a test — Use #[test] in a #[cfg(test)] module, rstest for parameterized tests, or proptest for property-based tests
Mock dependencies — Use mockall to isolate the unit under test
Run tests (RED) — Verify the test fails with the expected error
Implement (GREEN) — Write minimal code to pass
Refactor — Improve while keeping tests green
Check coverage — Use cargo-llvm-cov, target 80%+

TDD Workflow for Rust

The RED-GREEN-REFACTOR Cycle

RED     → Write a failing test first
GREEN   → Write minimal code to pass the test
REFACTOR → Improve code while keeping tests green
REPEAT  → Continue with next requirement

Step-by-Step TDD in Rust

// RED: Write test first, use todo!() as placeholder
pub fn add(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 { todo!() }

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;
    #[test]
    fn test_add() { assert_eq!(add(2, 3), 5); }
}
// cargo test → panics at 'not yet implemented'

// GREEN: Replace todo!() with minimal implementation
pub fn add(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 { a + b }
// cargo test → PASS, then REFACTOR while keeping tests green

Unit Tests

Module-Level Test Organization

pub struct User {
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
}

impl User {
    pub fn new(name: impl Into<String>, email: impl Into<String>) -> Result<Self, String> {
        let email = email.into();
        if !email.contains('@') {
            return Err(format!("invalid email: {email}"));
        }
        Ok(Self { name: name.into(), email })
    }

    pub fn display_name(&self) -> &str {
        &self.name
    }
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;

    #[test]
    fn creates_user_with_valid_email() {
        let user = User::new("Alice", "alice@example.com").unwrap();
        assert_eq!(user.display_name(), "Alice");
        assert_eq!(user.email, "alice@example.com");
    }

    #[test]
    fn rejects_invalid_email() {
        let result = User::new("Bob", "not-an-email");
        assert!(result.is_err());
        assert!(result.unwrap_err().contains("invalid email"));
    }
}

Assertion Macros

assert_eq!(2 + 2, 4);                                    // Equality
assert_ne!(2 + 2, 5);                                    // Inequality
assert!(vec![1, 2, 3].contains(&2));                     // Boolean
assert_eq!(value, 42, "expected 42 but got {value}");    // Custom message
assert!((0.1_f64 + 0.2 - 0.3).abs() < f64::EPSILON);   // Float comparison

Error and Panic Testing

Testing `Result` Returns

#[test]
fn parse_returns_error_for_invalid_input() {
    let result = parse_config("}{invalid");
    assert!(result.is_err());

    // Assert specific error variant
    let err = result.unwrap_err();
    assert!(matches!(err, ConfigError::ParseError(_)));
}

#[test]
fn parse_succeeds_for_valid_input() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let config = parse_config(r#"{"port": 8080}"#)?;
    assert_eq!(config.port, 8080);
    Ok(()) // Test fails if any ? returns Err
}

Testing Panics

#[test]
#[should_panic]
fn panics_on_empty_input() {
    process(&[]);
}

#[test]
#[should_panic(expected = "index out of bounds")]
fn panics_with_specific_message() {
    let v: Vec<i32> = vec![];
    let _ = v[0];
}

Integration Tests

File Structure

my_crate/
├── src/
│   └── lib.rs
├── tests/              # Integration tests
│   ├── api_test.rs     # Each file is a separate test binary
│   ├── db_test.rs
│   └── common/         # Shared test utilities
│       └── mod.rs

Writing Integration Tests

use my_crate::{App, Config};

#[test]
fn full_request_lifecycle() {
    let config = Config::test_default();
    let app = App::new(config);

    let response = app.handle_request("/health");
    assert_eq!(response.status, 200);
    assert_eq!(response.body, "OK");
}

Async Tests

With Tokio

#[tokio::test]
async fn fetches_data_successfully() {
    let client = TestClient::new().await;
    let result = client.get("/data").await;
    assert!(result.is_ok());
    assert_eq!(result.unwrap().items.len(), 3);
}

#[tokio::test]
async fn handles_timeout() {
    use std::time::Duration;
    let result = tokio::time::timeout(
        Duration::from_millis(100),
        slow_operation(),
    ).await;

    assert!(result.is_err(), "should have timed out");
}

Test Organization Patterns

Parameterized Tests with `rstest`

use rstest::{rstest, fixture};

#[rstest]
#[case("hello", 5)]
#[case("", 0)]
#[case("rust", 4)]
fn test_string_length(#[case] input: &str, #[case] expected: usize) {
    assert_eq!(input.len(), expected);
}

// Fixtures
#[fixture]
fn test_db() -> TestDb {
    TestDb::new_in_memory()
}

#[rstest]
fn test_insert(test_db: TestDb) {
    test_db.insert("key", "value");
    assert_eq!(test_db.get("key"), Some("value".into()));
}

Test Helpers

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;

    /// Creates a test user with sensible defaults.
    fn make_user(name: &str) -> User {
        User::new(name, &format!("{name}@test.com")).unwrap()
    }

    #[test]
    fn user_display() {
        let user = make_user("alice");
        assert_eq!(user.display_name(), "alice");
    }
}

Property-Based Testing with `proptest`

Basic Property Tests

use proptest::prelude::*;

proptest! {
    #[test]
    fn encode_decode_roundtrip(input in ".*") {
        let encoded = encode(&input);
        let decoded = decode(&encoded).unwrap();
        assert_eq!(input, decoded);
    }

    #[test]
    fn sort_preserves_length(mut vec in prop::collection::vec(any::<i32>(), 0..100)) {
        let original_len = vec.len();
        vec.sort();
        assert_eq!(vec.len(), original_len);
    }

    #[test]
    fn sort_produces_ordered_output(mut vec in prop::collection::vec(any::<i32>(), 0..100)) {
        vec.sort();
        for window in vec.windows(2) {
            assert!(window[0] <= window[1]);
        }
    }
}

Custom Strategies

use proptest::prelude::*;

fn valid_email() -> impl Strategy<Value = String> {
    ("[a-z]{1,10}", "[a-z]{1,5}")
        .prop_map(|(user, domain)| format!("{user}@{domain}.com"))
}

proptest! {
    #[test]
    fn accepts_valid_emails(email in valid_email()) {
        assert!(User::new("Test", &email).is_ok());
    }
}

Mocking with `mockall`

Trait-Based Mocking

use mockall::{automock, predicate::eq};

#[automock]
trait UserRepository {
    fn find_by_id(&self, id: u64) -> Option<User>;
    fn save(&self, user: &User) -> Result<(), StorageError>;
}

#[test]
fn service_returns_user_when_found() {
    let mut mock = MockUserRepository::new();
    mock.expect_find_by_id()
        .with(eq(42))
        .times(1)
        .returning(|_| Some(User { id: 42, name: "Alice".into() }));

    let service = UserService::new(Box::new(mock));
    let user = service.get_user(42).unwrap();
    assert_eq!(user.name, "Alice");
}

#[test]
fn service_returns_none_when_not_found() {
    let mut mock = MockUserRepository::new();
    mock.expect_find_by_id()
        .returning(|_| None);

    let service = UserService::new(Box::new(mock));
    assert!(service.get_user(99).is_none());
}

Doc Tests

Executable Documentation

/// Adds two numbers together.
///
/// # Examples
///
/// ```
/// use my_crate::add;
///
/// assert_eq!(add(2, 3), 5);
/// assert_eq!(add(-1, 1), 0);
/// ```
pub fn add(a: i32, b: i32) -> i32 {
    a + b
}

/// Parses a config string.
///
/// # Errors
///
/// Returns `Err` if the input is not valid TOML.
///
/// ```no_run
/// use my_crate::parse_config;
///
/// let config = parse_config(r#"port = 8080"#).unwrap();
/// assert_eq!(config.port, 8080);
/// ```
///
/// ```no_run
/// use my_crate::parse_config;
///
/// assert!(parse_config("}{invalid").is_err());
/// ```
pub fn parse_config(input: &str) -> Result<Config, ParseError> {
    todo!()
}

Benchmarking with Criterion

[dev-dependencies]
criterion = { version = "0.5", features = ["html_reports"] }

[[bench]]
name = "benchmark"
harness = false

use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};

fn fibonacci(n: u64) -> u64 {
    match n {
        0 | 1 => n,
        _ => fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2),
    }
}

fn bench_fibonacci(c: &mut Criterion) {
    c.bench_function("fib 20", |b| b.iter(|| fibonacci(black_box(20))));
}

criterion_group!(benches, bench_fibonacci);
criterion_main!(benches);

Test Coverage

Running Coverage

# Install: cargo install cargo-llvm-cov (or use taiki-e/install-action in CI)
cargo llvm-cov                    # Summary
cargo llvm-cov --html             # HTML report
cargo llvm-cov --lcov > lcov.info # LCOV format for CI
cargo llvm-cov --fail-under-lines 80  # Fail if below threshold

Coverage Targets

Code Type	Target
Critical business logic	100%
Public API	90%+
General code	80%+
Generated / FFI bindings	Exclude

Testing Commands

cargo test                        # Run all tests
cargo test -- --nocapture         # Show println output
cargo test test_name              # Run tests matching pattern
cargo test --lib                  # Unit tests only
cargo test --test api_test        # Integration tests only
cargo test --doc                  # Doc tests only
cargo test --no-fail-fast         # Don't stop on first failure
cargo test -- --ignored           # Run ignored tests

Best Practices

DO:

Write tests FIRST (TDD)
Use #[cfg(test)] modules for unit tests
Test behavior, not implementation
Use descriptive test names that explain the scenario
Prefer assert_eq! over assert! for better error messages
Use ? in tests that return Result for cleaner error output
Keep tests independent — no shared mutable state

DON’T:

Use #[should_panic] when you can test Result::is_err() instead
Mock everything — prefer integration tests when feasible
Ignore flaky tests — fix or quarantine them
Use sleep() in tests — use channels, barriers, or tokio::time::pause()
Skip error path testing

CI Integration

# GitHub Actions
test:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
      with:
        components: clippy, rustfmt

    - name: Check formatting
      run: cargo fmt --check

    - name: Clippy
      run: cargo clippy -- -D warnings

    - name: Run tests
      run: cargo test

    - uses: taiki-e/install-action@cargo-llvm-cov

    - name: Coverage
      run: cargo llvm-cov --fail-under-lines 80

Remember: Tests are documentation. They show how your code is meant to be used. Write them clearly and keep them up to date.

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