Expected checks
- Unit tests for isolated calculations and helpers.
- API integration tests for route/database behaviour.
- Backend contract tests for endpoints that have backend callers — pins request validation and response shape without a database.
- Type checks for package contracts.
- Lint checks for code quality.
- Browser smoke tests for user-facing flows.
- Pipeline tests for document processing state and idempotency.
Backend contract tests
stralos-api-estimate uses a dedicated contract test suite (pnpm test:contract) to pin the request and response shapes for endpoints consumed by other backend services. CI runs these under the step named Backend API contracts (receiving requests and responses).
Each contract test file uses the *.backendContract.unit.test.ts suffix and is tagged [backend-contract]. Tests register production route handlers and execute real validation, error mapping, and JSON serialisation. Only the persistence boundary is simulated; responses are not prebuilt fixtures. This means a handler refactor that breaks a caller’s expected field names or status codes fails the suite without any integration database.
Add a contract test whenever an endpoint gains a backend caller. Include: valid requests, required and optional parameters, wrong types and out-of-range bounds, status codes, non-empty response data, null and omitted fields, and error responses. Keep expected fields explicit — do not derive them from the serialiser under test.
Each repository that has a contract suite documents its covered contracts, coverage limits, and cross-repository links in BACKEND_CONTRACTS.md at its root. Repositories that also send requests to peer services document their outgoing contracts in SENDING_CONTRACTS.md. Contract IDs (e.g. BC-03) are shared between the sending and receiving repositories to make both sides discoverable.
stralos-api-global has both files: BACKEND_CONTRACTS.md for the endpoints it receives from backend callers (BC-03 from stralos-api-assistant, BC-05 and BC-09 from stralos-api-rates and stralos-api-estimate, BC-11 from stralos-api-scheduler, BC-12 from stralos-api-documents, and BC-14 from stralos-api-estimate), and SENDING_CONTRACTS.md for the requests it sends to stralos-api-rates (BC-10) and stralos-api-estimate (BC-13).
stralos-api-estimate has a BACKEND_CONTRACTS.md documenting its own receiving side. Run its contract suite with pnpm test:contract.
Current reality
Coverage is uneven.stralos-api-documents has a Vitest suite covering file rules and pipeline behaviour; stralos-api-estimate and stralos-api-global have integration tests and backend contract suites (pnpm test:contract); several other API repos currently expose build/lint but not a test script. Frontend packages expose type-check, lint, test, and build scripts.
When to broaden verification
Broaden verification when a change touches:- Shared UI or domain contracts.
- Auth/session behaviour.
- API list envelopes or validation shape.
- Estimate pricing calculations.
- Document pipeline state transitions.
- Terraform or deployment configuration.