rust-testing.md
11,9 KB • MD • jun. 18, 2026 06:54
---
name: rust-testing
description: Rust testing patterns including unit tests, integration tests, async testing, property-based testing, mocking, and coverage. Follows TDD methodology.
origin: ECC
---
# 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
1. **Identify target code** — Find the function, trait, or module to test
2. **Write a test** — Use `#[test]` in a `#[cfg(test)]` module, rstest for parameterized tests, or proptest for property-based tests
3. **Mock dependencies** — Use mockall to isolate the unit under test
4. **Run tests (RED)** — Verify the test fails with the expected error
5. **Implement (GREEN)** — Write minimal code to pass
6. **Refactor** — Improve while keeping tests green
7. **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
```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'
```
```rust
// 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
```rust
// src/user.rs
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
```rust
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
```rust
#[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
```rust
#[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
```text
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
```rust
// tests/api_test.rs
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
```rust
#[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`
```rust
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
```rust
#[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
```rust
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
```rust
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
```rust
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
```rust
/// 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
```toml
# Cargo.toml
[dev-dependencies]
criterion = { version = "0.5", features = ["html_reports"] }
[[bench]]
name = "benchmark"
harness = false
```
```rust
// benches/benchmark.rs
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
```bash
# 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
```bash
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
```yaml
# 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.