test-anti-patterns

Audits test files in any language for anti-patterns and produces severity-ranked quality reports.

Updated Jul 20, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/Netcodr81/kinetic-reports --skill test-anti-patterns-netcodr81
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: test-anti-patterns
Source: https://github.com/Netcodr81/kinetic-reports/tree/main/.github/skills/test-anti-patterns
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/Netcodr81/kinetic-reports --skill test-anti-patterns-netcodr81

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Test suites often contain tests that pass but verify nothing, are flaky, or are hard to maintain, giving teams false confidence in their code. This Skill audits existing test files to find these hidden quality issues and ranks them by severity so you know what to fix first. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Severity-Ranked Anti-Pattern Detection: Scans tests for Critical issues (no assertions, swallowed exceptions, missing await on async assertions), High issues (flakiness from Thread.Sleep or DateTime.Now, shared state, over-mocking), and Medium/Low issues (magic values, duplicate tests, poor naming). - Multi-Language Support: Works with .NET, Python/pytest, TypeScript/Jest, Java, Go, Ruby, Rust, C++, and PowerShell/Pester by loading language-specific extension guidance. - Honest Calibration: Avoids false positives by recognizing idiomatic patterns like Go table-driven tests and pytest bare asserts, and leads with positive observations when tests are well-written. - Use Case: Point the Skill at a test directory and ask "are my tests any good?" to receive a structured report listing each finding with file location, explanation, and a concrete before/after fix. ## Quick Start Audit the test files in my project's tests folder and report any anti-patterns ranked by severity.

Frequently Asked Questions about test-anti-patterns

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I find anti-patterns in my test suite?▼

Point the audit at your test files or directory and it scans for issues like missing assertions, swallowed exceptions, flakiness indicators, and over-mocking. Findings are grouped by severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low) with specific file locations and concrete fixes.

What test frameworks does test anti-pattern detection support?▼

It supports .NET (xUnit, NUnit, MSTest), Python/pytest, TypeScript/Jest, Java/JUnit, Go, Ruby/RSpec, Rust, C++ (GoogleTest, Catch2), and PowerShell/Pester. Language-specific extension files define framework markers like sleeps, skips, and setup/teardown APIs.

Can it detect flaky tests caused by Thread.Sleep or DateTime.Now?▼

Yes, flakiness indicators are a High-severity category covering wall-clock sleeps, unabstracted clock reads, unseeded randomness, and environment-dependent paths. It maps these patterns to each language's equivalents, such as time.sleep in Python or setTimeout in JavaScript.

Does it flag Go table-driven tests or pytest bare asserts as problems?▼

No, the severity calibration explicitly treats Go and Rust table-driven loops, pytest bare asserts, and Go's if got != want pattern as idiomatic. Separate boundary-condition tests are also not flagged as duplicates.

When should I not use a test anti-pattern audit?▼

Do not use it for writing new tests, running tests, migrating frameworks, or measuring code coverage. It is a diagnostic review tool; for formal academic test-smell taxonomy use a dedicated test-smell-detection approach instead.