Laravel testing strategies with PHPUnit, Pest, model factories, HTTP tests, Sanctum authentication testing, mocking, and coverage. Use when writing Laravel tests with PHPUnit or Pest, or driving a Laravel feature test-first.

Laravel Testing with TDD Test driven development for Laravel applications using PHPUnit, Pest, Laravel factories, and testing helpers. When to Activate Writing new Laravel applications or features Implementing API endpoints with Sanctum or Passport authentication Testing Eloquent models, relationships, scopes, and accessors Setting up testing infrastructure for Laravel projects Writing feature tests for HTTP controllers and form requests Mocking external services (queues, mail, notifications, HTTP) TDD Workflow for Laravel Red Green Refactor Cycle Setup PHPUnit Configuration Base TestCase Setup Model Factories Using Factories Model Testing Feature / HTTP Testing JSON API Testing Sanctum API Auth Testing Mocking and Fakes HTTP Fake Mail Fake Notification Fake Queue Fake Storage Fake Event Fake Artisan Command Tests Authorization Tests Pest Feature Tests Coverage Coverage Goals Component Target Models 95%+ Actions/Services 90%+ Form Requests 90%+ Controllers 85%+ Policies 95%+ Overall 80%+ Testing Best Practices DO Use factories over manual create() calls One logical assertion per test Descriptive names: test guests cannot create products Test edge cases and authorization boundaries Mock external services with Http::fake() , Mail::fake() Use RefreshDatabase for clean state DON'T Don't test Laravel internals (trust the framework) Don't make tests dependent on each other Don't over mock — mock only service boundaries Don't test private methods — test through the public interface Don't couple tests to HTML structure Quick Reference Pattern Usage RefreshDatabase Reset database between tests $this actingAs($user) Authenticate as user $this withToken($token) Bearer token auth for APIs Model::factory() create() Create model with factory Model::factory() count(5) create() Create multiple records Http::fake([...]) Mock HTTP calls Mail::fake() Trap sent mail Notification::fake() Trap sent notifications Queue::fake() Trap queued jobs Event::fake() Trap dispatched events Storage::fake('public') Trap file operations assertDatabaseHas Assert DB row exists assertSoftDeleted Assert soft delete assertSessionHasErrors Assert validation errors assertForbidden Assert 403 status Related Skills laravel patterns — Laravel architecture, Eloquent, routing, and API patterns laravel security — Laravel authentication, authorization, and secure coding tdd workflow — The repo wide RED GREEN REFACTOR loop backend patterns — General backend API and database patterns

laravel-tdd