Go CLI Testing

Go CLI Testing

Test observable behavior at the narrowest boundary that proves it. Isolate every mutable resource and reserve executable tests for process-level semantics.

Core Workflow

1. Inventory success, invalid, boundary, dependency-failure, and cancellation behavior.
2. Map each case to a pure, command, adapter, integration, or binary test.
3. Inject arguments, streams, configuration, clocks, and effectful dependencies.
4. Isolate files, environment, servers, repositories, ports, and subprocesses.
5. Assert stdout, stderr, exit behavior, and errors according to the public contract.
6. Gate live or platform-specific tests and make their changes reversible.
7. Run standard, race, tagged, and relevant platform checks.
8. Execute every supported build profile and smoke-test final artifacts.
9. Interpret coverage gaps without treating execution as behavioral proof.

Read Next

Guardrails

• Do not mutate developer data or depend on fixed temporary paths and ports.
• Do not run parallel tests that replace process-global state.
• Replace timing sleeps with synchronization, deadlines, or fake clocks.
• Use testing/synctest only when the minimum Go version supports it and the behavior fits an isolated bubble.
• Inspect wrapped errors structurally unless exact diagnostics are contractual.
• Prefer one valuable executable flow over many slow end-to-end tests.
• Construct a fresh command tree and typed configuration for every test.
• Assert both Execute errors and stream output.