baldrick-zest-engine

Project status: Decommissioned

This project explored a YAML-based format to author unit tests quickly. While useful in places, our current practice favors classic unit tests supported by generative AI and small helper libraries. As a result, baldrick-zest-engine is decommissioned and not recommended for new work.

Highlights:

• Written in TypeScript (ESM).

Why decommissioned?

• Maintenance and onboarding costs outweighed benefits of YAML indirection.
• Modern AI-assisted workflows make writing conventional tests fast and clearer.
• Existing ecosystem tools (Node test runner, Vitest/Jest) cover the needs better.

Recommended approach

• Write classic tests (Node --test, Vitest, or Jest) and use generative AI to scaffold cases.
• Compose data shaping with helpers like:
  • object-crumble for structured object mutation/abstraction
  • baldrick-zest-mess for lightweight table-driven and diff helpers

Example (Node test runner):

// test/my-feature.test.ts
import { strict as assert } from 'node:assert';

const addPrefix = (p: string, v: string) => `${p}${v}`;

test('adds prefix', () => {
  assert.equal(addPrefix('pre-', 'value'), 'pre-value');
});

// Table-driven
for (const [p, v, out] of [
  ['pre-', 'a', 'pre-a'],
  ['x-', 'b', 'x-b'],
]) {
  test(`adds prefix ${p} to ${v}`, () => {
    assert.equal(addPrefix(p, v), out);
  });
}

Status and support

• No new features planned; security updates only (if any).
• Consider migrating YAML specs to equivalent TypeScript tests using the example above and helpers as needed.

Documentation and links

• Legacy docs (for reference only):
  • Code Maintenance
  • Code Of Conduct
  • Api for baldrick-zest-engine
  • Contributing
  • Glossary
  • Diagram for the code base
  • Vocabulary used in the code base
  • Architectural Decision Records
  • Contributors
  • Dependencies
  • Usage

Related

• Recommended: baldrick-zest-mess
• Recommended: object-crumble

Installation (legacy)

This package is ESM-only. Installation is not recommended for new projects; retained for archival testing only.

npx baldrick-zest-engine --help

To inspect the repository locally:

git clone https://github.com/flarebyte/baldrick-zest-engine.git
cd baldrick-zest-engine
yarn