testing-strategy

anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins

Design effective test strategies and plans balancing coverage, speed, and maintenance.

What is testing-strategy?

This skill helps you design comprehensive testing strategies and test plans for your code. Use it when you need guidance on testing approaches, coverage targets, test architecture, or when deciding what tests to write for a feature or component.

Design testing strategies using the testing pyramid (unit, integration, E2E)
Create component-specific test plans for APIs, data pipelines, frontend, and infrastructure
Identify what to test: business-critical paths, error handling, edge cases, security, and data integrity
Set coverage targets and define example test cases
Identify gaps in existing test coverage

How to install testing-strategy

npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill testing-strategy

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How to use testing-strategy

1.Describe the component or feature you need to test
2.Specify any existing tests or coverage gaps
3.Request a test plan with recommended test types and coverage targets
4.Review the suggested testing pyramid breakdown for your use case
5.Implement the recommended test cases and coverage targets

Use cases

Good for

Planning test coverage for a new API endpoint or service
Designing a testing strategy for a data pipeline or ETL process
Creating a test plan for frontend components with accessibility and visual regression needs
Determining appropriate test types and coverage targets for infrastructure code
Identifying what not to test to avoid wasting effort on trivial code

Who it's for

Software engineers planning test coverage
QA engineers designing test strategies
Tech leads defining testing standards
Backend developers building APIs and data pipelines
Frontend developers implementing component tests

testing-strategy FAQ

What's the testing pyramid and why does it matter?

The testing pyramid suggests having many fast unit tests at the base, some medium-speed integration tests in the middle, and few slow E2E tests at the top. This balances confidence with speed and maintenance cost.

What should I focus on testing?

Focus on business-critical paths, error handling, edge cases, security boundaries, and data integrity. Skip trivial getters/setters, framework code, and one-off scripts.

How do I test different component types?

APIs need unit tests for logic, integration tests for HTTP, and contract tests for consumers. Data pipelines need input validation, transformation correctness, and idempotency tests. Frontend needs component, interaction, visual regression, and accessibility tests. Infrastructure needs smoke, chaos, and load tests.

How do I identify test coverage gaps?

The skill produces a test plan that identifies what's missing in your existing coverage by analyzing your current tests against the recommended strategy for your component type.

Full instructions (SKILL.md)

Source of truth, from anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins.

name: testing-strategy description: Design test strategies and test plans. Trigger with "how should we test", "test strategy for", "write tests for", "test plan", "what tests do we need", or when the user needs help with testing approaches, coverage, or test architecture.

Testing Strategy

Design effective testing strategies balancing coverage, speed, and maintenance.

Testing Pyramid

        /  E2E  \         Few, slow, high confidence
       / Integration \     Some, medium speed
      /    Unit Tests  \   Many, fast, focused

Strategy by Component Type

API endpoints: Unit tests for business logic, integration tests for HTTP layer, contract tests for consumers
Data pipelines: Input validation, transformation correctness, idempotency tests
Frontend: Component tests, interaction tests, visual regression, accessibility
Infrastructure: Smoke tests, chaos engineering, load tests