Testing

The Marketlum test suite is the BDD scenarios in packages/bdd/features/ wired up to jest-cucumber step definitions in apps/api/test/. There are 600+ scenarios spanning 20+ feature areas. Alongside them, internal pure logic is covered by unit tests.

Unit tests

Pure logic with no HTTP surface — Zod schemas in @marketlum/shared, version/namespace helpers and plugin validation in @marketlum/core, UI helpers in @marketlum/ui — is tested with colocated *.spec.ts files run by Jest via ts-jest:

pnpm test:unit

This builds @marketlum/shared first (core's tests import its compiled output), then runs every package's test script. No database is needed, so it is much faster than the e2e suite — use it as the tight feedback loop while working on schemas or helpers.

Unit tests do not need a .feature file; the BDD workflow applies to endpoints and UI. Spec files are excluded from package builds (tsconfig.json exclude), so they never ship in dist/.

Running the suite

pnpm test:e2e

This rebuilds @marketlum/shared and @marketlum/core first (because tests import their compiled output), then runs all step definitions. Expect a minute or two end-to-end.

Running a subset

pnpm test:e2e accepts standard Jest CLI args:

# Single feature area
pnpm test:e2e -- --testPathPattern=auth

# Single test file
pnpm test:e2e -- apps/api/test/actors/actors.steps.ts

# Single scenario name
pnpm test:e2e -- -t "Authenticated user creates"

# Watch mode (one feature area)
pnpm test:e2e -- --watch --testPathPattern=values

Test environment

Tests use a separate database, marketlum_test, configured via .env.test. The shared setup in apps/api/test/setup.ts:

1. Loads .env.test before any imports.
2. Creates one NestJS app via Test.createTestingModule({ imports: [AppModule] }).
3. Runs all migrations on the test DB.
4. Hands out the app to every defineFeature block via ref-counting.

The test DB is never seeded between scenarios; each scenario starts with all tables truncated (cleanDatabase() in beforeEach).

The shared app pattern

jest-cucumber calls defineFeature once per feature file, and each call gets its own beforeAll / afterAll. Without ref-counting, the first feature's afterAll would tear down the app and the rest would crash.

let refCount = 0;

export async function bootstrapApp() {
  refCount++;
  if (app) return app;
  // ... create app
}

export async function teardownApp() {
  refCount--;
  if (refCount <= 0 && app) {
    await app.close();
  }
}

Don't bypass this. Always use bootstrapApp() and teardownApp() from apps/api/test/setup.ts.

Useful helpers

Helper	Purpose
bootstrapApp()	Start (or reuse) the shared NestJS app
teardownApp()	Ref-counted shutdown
cleanDatabase()	TRUNCATE all tables, clear rate-limiter state
getApp()	Get the running app for supertest
createUserViaService(email, password, name?)	Create a user without going through HTTP
createAuthenticatedUser({ role? })	Create a user + return a valid auth cookie

createAuthenticatedUser exists because going through /auth/login from inside an auth test creates a chicken-and-egg: you need a logged-in user to test other endpoints, but you don't want every other test to depend on /auth/login working.

Supertest cheatsheet

import request from 'supertest';  // v7+ default export, not `* as`

// GET with auth cookie
await request(getApp().getHttpServer())
  .get('/actors')
  .set('Cookie', cookie);

// POST with CSRF header
await request(getApp().getHttpServer())
  .post('/actors')
  .set('Cookie', cookie)
  .set('X-CSRF-Protection', '1')
  .send({ name: 'Acme' });

// File upload (multer)
await request(getApp().getHttpServer())
  .post('/files')
  .set('Cookie', cookie)
  .set('X-CSRF-Protection', '1')
  .attach('file', buffer, { filename: 'a.pdf', contentType: 'application/pdf' })
  .field('folderId', folderId);

X-CSRF-Protection: 1 is required on every state-changing request. The CSRF guard rejects the request without it.

When tests fail

1. Read the error, not just "test failed." jest-cucumber prints the Gherkin step that failed.
2. Check rebuilds: if you edited @marketlum/shared, did it rebuild? pnpm --filter @marketlum/shared run build.
3. Check the DB: stale schema can cause cryptic failures. pnpm migration:run on the test DB if you added a migration.
4. Run a single scenario with -t "scenario name" to isolate.
5. Drop a console.log(response.body) in the step definition. Restart with --watch if iterating.

What we don't test (yet)

• No mocked-service unit tests. NestJS services and controllers are covered by the BDD suite against a real database, not by unit tests with mocked repositories — that duplication calcifies refactoring without adding confidence.
• No browser UI tests. Web-side behavior is covered by BDD scenarios against the underlying API. Visual regressions are caught at PR review.
• No load / performance tests. Add EXPLAIN ANALYZE notes in PR descriptions if a change touches a hot query path.