hemx/work/northstars/NS-0001-testing-strategy.md

id, type, status, title, refs

id	type	status	title	refs
NS-0001	northstar	ready	Testing strategy confidence ladder	REQUIREMENTS.md AGENTS.md README.md hemx-xtask/src/main.rs hemx-test/src/lib.rs examples/html_examples/README.md

Objective

Make hemx verification boring and reliable by keeping a documented confidence ladder from fast crate tests, through focused browser/runtime smoke, to the full cargo run -p hemx-xtask -- test authority. The outcome is not more test ceremony; it is clear proof selection for agents and contributors.

Authority

• AGENTS.md and README.md define stable verification commands, focused browser smoke, full xtask authority, and the 10 minute local full-check budget.
• REQUIREMENTS.md test/001 through test/017 constrain generated-resource assertions, examples, browser smoke, no /tmp scripts, no-reload interactions, tiers, shard expectations, and diagnostic quality.
• hemx-xtask/src/main.rs owns repo-capped verification commands and html-examples-smoke.
• hemx-test/src/lib.rs owns reusable test inspection helpers.

Close when

• Fast, focused browser, and full verification tiers have ready slices with exact commands and ownership boundaries.
• Browser/runtime confidence covers no-reload dynamic interactions, revealed fallback, interval/timing behavior, and generated target assertions.
• Regression boundaries prefer generated-resource assertions and hemx_test helpers over raw ids or raw effect matching.
• Requirement/test governance stays tied to redgate health/lint without turning lint cleanup into product work.

Verification

• work check
• work list
• Later implementation slices choose the narrowest relevant command, then use cargo run -p hemx-xtask -- test when changing shared verification authority.

Non-goals

• Do not add a parallel test runner outside hemx-xtask.
• Do not replace meaningful behavior tests with mocks-only assertions.
• Do not make redgate warnings the product outcome unless the slice explicitly owns requirement maintainability.

Evidence

• cargo run -p hemx-xtask -- html-examples-smoke is the focused browser proof for html_examples dynamic behavior.
• cargo run -p hemx-xtask -- test is the full local authority wrapper.
• redgate health --strict and redgate lint are governance proof commands.