intent driven development

Ensuring Quality Across Teams

With three teams writing tests differently, Marcus needs to enforce consistent standards. Chant’s configuration and validation features help maintain quality without micromanagement.

The Consistency Problem

Before standardization:

Different patterns make tests harder to review, maintain, and debug.

Config-Based Standards

Marcus creates a shared configuration that enforces test requirements:

File: .chant/config.md

## spec_defaults

### code
- target_files: required
- test_coverage_target: 80

### required_labels
- One of: auth, payments, analytics (team identifier)
- One of: unit, integration, e2e (test level)

## validation

### coverage
- minimum: 80
- warn_below: 85
- modules:
  - path: "payments/*"
    minimum: 85
  - path: "auth/*"
    minimum: 80

### test_quality
- min_assertions_per_test: 2
- max_test_file_length: 500
- require_docstrings: true

Required Fields

Spec validation catches incomplete test specs before execution:

chant lint

Linting 12 specs...

WARN  2026-01-21-001-xyz: Missing required label (team identifier)
ERROR 2026-01-21-002-abc: target_files is required for code specs
ERROR 2026-01-21-003-def: Test coverage target not specified

2 errors, 1 warning

Specs with errors can’t be executed:

chant work 2026-01-21-002-abc

Error: Spec 2026-01-21-002-abc failed validation
  - target_files is required for code specs

Fix validation errors before executing.

Test Spec Template

Marcus creates a template that pre-fills required fields:

File: .chant/templates/test-spec.md

---
type: code
status: pending
labels:
  - {{team}}
  - {{test_level}}
target_files:
  - tests/{{module}}/test_{{feature}}.py
---

# Add tests for {{feature}}

## Problem

Brief description of what needs testing and why.

## Test Categories

### Happy Path
- [ ] Test case 1
- [ ] Test case 2

### Edge Cases
- [ ] Edge case 1
- [ ] Edge case 2

### Error Handling
- [ ] Error case 1
- [ ] Error case 2

## Acceptance Criteria

- [ ] All test cases passing
- [ ] Coverage target met (80%+)
- [ ] No flaky tests (verified with 10 runs)
- [ ] Tests follow naming convention

Creating a test spec with the template:

chant add --template test-spec \
  --var team=payments \
  --var test_level=unit \
  --var module=refund \
  --var feature=partial_refund \
  "Add unit tests for partial refund"

Context Files for Standards

Store team-wide test patterns in context files:

File: .chant/context/tdd-standards/naming-conventions.md

# Test Naming Conventions

## Test Functions

Pattern: `test_<action>_<condition>_<expected_result>`

Good:
- `test_refund_exceeds_original_returns_400`
- `test_login_expired_token_returns_401`
- `test_subscription_canceled_stops_billing`

Bad:
- `test_refund` (too vague)
- `test_it_works` (meaningless)
- `testRefundFlow` (wrong style)

## Test Classes

Pattern: `Test<Component><Category>`

Examples:
- `TestRefundHappyPath`
- `TestRefundEdgeCases`
- `TestRefundAuthorization`

File: .chant/context/tdd-standards/fixture-patterns.md

# Fixture Patterns

## Use Factories Over Raw Data

Good:
```python
@pytest.fixture
def completed_transaction():
    return TransactionFactory(status="completed", amount=Decimal("100.00"))

Bad:

@pytest.fixture
def completed_transaction():
    return {"id": 1, "status": "completed", "amount": 100}

Mock External Services at Client Boundary

Good:

@patch("payments.stripe_client.StripeClient.charge")
def test_payment_processed(mock_charge):
    mock_charge.return_value = ChargeResult(success=True)

Bad:

@patch("stripe.Charge.create")  # Too deep
def test_payment_processed(mock_create):

## Automated Quality Checks

Marcus sets up a CI job that runs quality checks:

**File: `.github/workflows/test-quality.yml`**

```yaml
name: Test Quality

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  quality:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Lint specs
        run: chant lint --strict

      - name: Check test coverage thresholds
        run: |
          pytest --cov=payments --cov=auth --cov=analytics \
            --cov-fail-under=80

      - name: Check for flaky tests
        run: pytest --count=5 -x

      - name: Validate test patterns
        run: |
          # Check naming conventions
          grep -r "def test_" tests/ | \
            grep -v "def test_[a-z_]*_[a-z_]*" && \
            echo "ERROR: Tests not following naming convention" && exit 1 || true

Team-Specific Overrides

While enforcing minimums, teams can exceed them:

File: .chant/context/tdd-standards/team-overrides.md

# Team-Specific Standards

## Auth Team

Higher coverage required due to security sensitivity:
- Minimum coverage: 85% (vs 80% baseline)
- All auth flows require integration tests
- Session handling requires E2E tests

## Payments Team

Critical path coverage:
- Transaction processing: 90% minimum
- Refund flow: 85% minimum
- Error handling: explicit tests for all error codes

## Analytics Team

Performance-sensitive tests:
- Query tests must assert execution time
- Dashboard tests must verify caching

Validation Report

Regular validation reports track compliance:

# Note: Use activity and export commands for reporting
chant activity --since 30d
chant export --format json

Test Quality Report — Last 30 Days

Team Coverage Compliance:
  Auth:      87% (target: 85%) ✓
  Payments:  86% (target: 85%) ✓
  Analytics: 91% (target: 80%) ✓

Flaky Test Rate:
  Auth:      3% (target: <5%) ✓
  Payments:  4% (target: <5%) ✓
  Analytics: 2% (target: <5%) ✓

Test Specs Created: 23
Test Specs Completed: 21
Tests Added: 156

Standards Compliance:
  Naming convention: 98% (3 violations)
  Min assertions: 100%
  Docstrings: 94% (9 missing)

Before/After: Team Consistency

After implementing standards:

What’s Next

With standards enforced, see how to keep tests current as code evolves:

Keeping Tests Current — Detecting and fixing test drift.