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Docs: Add testing guidance to AGENTS.md - #18166

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@pvary pvary commented Sep 18, 2026

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Generated tests are often problematic. The fix raised in the community sync is to require a plan first: state what behavior needs verifying and why, before any test is written.

The remaining rules scope what belongs in a test, like behavior this change adds or modifies, one behavior per method, nothing for unreachable states, and nothing whose failure would not indicate a user-visible regression.


AI Disclosure

  • Model: Claude Opus 5
  • Platform/Tool: GitHub Copilot CLI
  • Human Oversight: Iterated multiple times and Fully reviewed
  • Prompt Summary: Add the test plan requirement and test scope rules raised in a community discussion on AI-generated contributions.

Generated-by: GitHub Copilot CLI (Claude Opus 5)

Generated tests are often problematic. The fix raised in the
community sync is to require a plan first: state what behavior needs
verifying and why, before any test is written.

The remaining rules scope what belongs in a test, like behavior this
change adds or modifies, one behavior per method, nothing for
unreachable states, and nothing whose failure would not indicate a
user-visible regression.

---
**AI Disclosure**
- Model: Claude Opus 5
- Platform/Tool: GitHub Copilot CLI
- Human Oversight: Iteratated multiple times and Fully reviewed
- Prompt Summary: Add the test plan requirement and test scope rules
  raised in a community discussion on AI-generated contributions.

Generated-by: GitHub Copilot CLI (Claude Opus 5)

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Comment thread AGENTS.md
Comment on lines +142 to +146
- Test the behavior in the plan. Coverage is not a target.
- Test the behavior this change adds or modifies. Don't assert the correctness of components this code merely calls.
- One behavior per test method. No omnibus tests asserting several unrelated things.
- Don't add a test whose failure would not indicate a user-visible regression.
- Don't add tests for unreachable states, or tests that only restate the implementation.

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This is a good set of instructions. I would add this.

  • Do not add excessive comments in tests when the intention is clear from the test method name.

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