Integration Testing Standards

Quick Navigation: Level 1: Quick Start (5 min) → Level 2: Implementation (30 min) → Level 3: Mastery (Extended)

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Level 1: Quick Start (<2,000 tokens, 5 minutes)

Core Principles

1. Test Real Interactions: Verify actual communication between components
2. Isolated Environments: Use Docker containers for reproducible tests
3. Fast Feedback: Keep integration tests under 30 seconds when possible
4. Contract Testing: Verify API contracts between services
5. Database Testing: Test with real databases, not mocks

Essential Checklist

• Testcontainers: Docker-based test dependencies (database, cache, message queue)
• API testing: REST/GraphQL endpoints tested with real HTTP
• Database migrations: Test schema migrations and rollbacks
• Contract tests: Provider-consumer contract verification
• Test data management: Fixtures and cleanup strategies
• Service mocking: External services mocked with WireMock/MockServer
• Docker Compose: Test environment orchestration
• CI integration: Tests run in isolated containers

Quick Example

# pytest integration test with Testcontainers
import pytest
from testcontainers.postgres import PostgresContainer
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
import requests

@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
def postgres_container():
    """Start PostgreSQL container for testing."""
    with PostgresContainer("postgres:16") as postgres:
        yield postgres

@pytest.fixture
def db_engine(postgres_container):
    """Create database engine with test container."""
    connection_url = postgres_container.get_connection_url()
    engine = create_engine(connection_url)
    # Run migrations
    run_migrations(engine)
    yield engine
    engine.dispose()

def test_create_user_integration(db_engine):
    """Test user creation with real database."""
    # Arrange
    user_data = {'email': 'test@example.com', 'name': 'Test User'}

    # Act
    response = requests.post('http://localhost:8000/api/users', json=user_data)

    # Assert
    assert response.status_code == 201
    user_id = response.json()['id']

    # Verify in database
    with db_engine.connect() as conn:
        result = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = %s", (user_id,))
        user = result.fetchone()
        assert user['email'] == 'test@example.com'

Quick Links to Level 2

• API Testing
• Database Testing
• Service Mocking
• Contract Testing
• Docker Compose Setup

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Level 2: Implementation (<5,000 tokens, 30 minutes)

API Testing

REST API Testing (see templates/api-test-template.js)

// Supertest API integration testing
const request = require('supertest');
const app = require('../src/app');

describe('User API Integration Tests', () => {
  let createdUserId;

  beforeAll(async () => {
    // Setup test database
    await setupTestDatabase();
  });

  afterAll(async () => {
    // Cleanup
    await teardownTestDatabase();
  });

  describe('POST /api/users', () => {
    it('should create a new user', async () => {
      const response = await request(app)
        .post('/api/users')
        .send({
          email: 'test@example.com',
          name: 'Test User',
          password: 'secure123'
        })
        .expect(201);

      expect(response.body).toHaveProperty('id');
      expect(response.body.email).toBe('test@example.com');
      createdUserId = response.body.id;
    });

    it('should reject duplicate email', async () => {
      await request(app)
        .post('/api/users')
        .send({
          email: 'test@example.com',
          name: 'Duplicate User'
        })
        .expect(409);
    });
  });

  describe('GET /api/users/:id', () => {
    it('should retrieve user by ID', async () => {
      const response = await request(app)
        .get(`/api/users/${createdUserId}`)
        .expect(200);

      expect(response.body.id).toBe(createdUserId);
      expect(response.body.email).toBe('test@example.com');
    });

    it('should return 404 for non-existent user', async () => {
      await request(app)
        .get('/api/users/99999')
        .expect(404);
    });
  });
});

Database Testing

Testcontainers Integration (see templates/integration-test-python.py)

import pytest
from testcontainers.postgres import PostgresContainer
from testcontainers.redis import RedisContainer
from sqlalchemy import create_engine
from app.database import init_db, Base
from app.services.user_service import UserService

@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
def postgres_container():
    """Start PostgreSQL container for entire test session."""
    with PostgresContainer("postgres:16-alpine") as postgres:
        yield postgres

@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
def redis_container():
    """Start Redis container for caching tests."""
    with RedisContainer("redis:7-alpine") as redis:
        yield redis

@pytest.fixture
def db_session(postgres_container):
    """Create database session with schema."""
    engine = create_engine(postgres_container.get_connection_url())

    # Create schema
    Base.metadata.create_all(engine)

    Session = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
    session = Session()

    yield session

    # Cleanup
    session.rollback()
    session.close()
    Base.metadata.drop_all(engine)

def test_user_crud_operations(db_session):
    """Test complete CRUD cycle with real database."""
    service = UserService(session=db_session)

    # Create
    user = service.create_user({
        'email': 'integration@test.com',
        'name': 'Integration Test'
    })
    assert user.id is not None

    # Read
    found_user = service.get_user_by_id(user.id)
    assert found_user.email == 'integration@test.com'

    # Update
    service.update_user(user.id, {'name': 'Updated Name'})
    updated_user = service.get_user_by_id(user.id)
    assert updated_user.name == 'Updated Name'

    # Delete
    service.delete_user(user.id)
    deleted_user = service.get_user_by_id(user.id)
    assert deleted_user is None

Service Mocking

WireMock Integration

from wiremock.server import WireMockServer
import requests

@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
def wiremock_server():
    """Start WireMock server for mocking external APIs."""
    server = WireMockServer(port=8080)
    server.start()

    # Setup stub
    server.stub_for({
        "request": {
            "method": "GET",
            "url": "/api/external/user/1"
        },
        "response": {
            "status": 200,
            "headers": {"Content-Type": "application/json"},
            "body": '{"id": 1, "name": "External User"}'
        }
    })

    yield server
    server.stop()

def test_external_api_integration(wiremock_server):
    """Test integration with mocked external API."""
    response = requests.get('http://localhost:8080/api/external/user/1')

    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert response.json()['name'] == 'External User'

Contract Testing

Pact Contract Testing (see resources/examples/contract-testing.md)

# Consumer test (defines contract)
from pact import Consumer, Provider

pact = Consumer('UserService').has_pact_with(Provider('APIGateway'))

def test_get_user_contract():
    """Consumer defines expected API behavior."""
    expected = {
        'id': 1,
        'email': 'test@example.com',
        'name': 'Test User'
    }

    (pact
     .given('user 1 exists')
     .upon_receiving('a request for user 1')
     .with_request('GET', '/api/users/1')
     .will_respond_with(200, body=expected))

    with pact:
        result = get_user_from_api(1)
        assert result == expected

# Provider test (verifies contract)
def test_provider_honors_contract():
    """Provider verifies it meets consumer expectations."""
    verifier = Verifier(provider='APIGateway', provider_base_url='http://localhost:8000')

    output, logs = verifier.verify_pacts('./pacts/userservice-apigateway.json')

    assert output == 0, "Provider failed to honor contract"

Docker Compose Setup

Test Environment (see templates/docker-compose.test.yml)

version: '3.8'

services:
  app:
    build: .
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://test:test@postgres:5432/testdb
      REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: test
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
      POSTGRES_DB: testdb
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    tmpfs:
      - /var/lib/postgresql/data

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"

  wiremock:
    image: wiremock/wiremock:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./tests/mocks:/home/wiremock

Test Execution Script (see scripts/setup-test-db.sh)

#!/bin/bash
# Setup test database and run integration tests

set -euo pipefail

# Start test environment
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d

# Wait for services
echo "Waiting for services..."
sleep 5

# Run migrations
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app python manage.py migrate

# Run integration tests
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app pytest tests/integration/

# Cleanup
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down -v

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Level 3: Mastery Resources

Advanced Topics

• Service Mesh Testing: Istio, Linkerd integration tests
• Message Queue Testing: Kafka, RabbitMQ integration
• GraphQL Testing: GraphQL API integration

Templates & Examples

• Docker Compose: Complete test environment
• API Test Template: Supertest example
• Python Integration: Testcontainers
• Contract Testing Guide: Pact examples
• Setup Script: Database setup automation

Related Skills

• Unit Testing - Foundation for integration tests
• Secrets Management - Secure test credentials

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Quick Reference Commands

# Docker Compose
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app pytest
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down -v

# Testcontainers
pytest tests/integration/ -v
pytest tests/integration/ --testcontainers-log-level=DEBUG

# API testing
npm run test:integration
npm run test:api -- --watch

# Contract testing
pact-broker publish ./pacts --consumer-app-version 1.0.0
pact-broker can-i-deploy --pacticipant UserService --version 1.0.0

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Examples

Basic Usage

// TODO: Add basic example for integration-testing
// This example demonstrates core functionality

Advanced Usage

// TODO: Add advanced example for integration-testing
// This example shows production-ready patterns

Integration Example

// TODO: Add integration example showing how integration-testing
// works with other systems and services

See examples/integration-testing/ for complete working examples.

Integration Points

This skill integrates with:

Upstream Dependencies

• Tools: Common development tools and frameworks
• Prerequisites: Basic understanding of general concepts

Downstream Consumers

• Applications: Production systems requiring integration-testing functionality
• CI/CD Pipelines: Automated testing and deployment workflows
• Monitoring Systems: Observability and logging platforms

Related Skills

• See other skills in this category

Common Integration Patterns

1. Development Workflow: How this skill fits into daily development
2. Production Deployment: Integration with production systems
3. Monitoring & Alerting: Observability integration points

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall 1: Insufficient Testing

Problem: Not testing edge cases and error conditions leads to production bugs

Solution: Implement comprehensive test coverage including:

• Happy path scenarios
• Error handling and edge cases
• Integration points with external systems

Prevention: Enforce minimum code coverage (80%+) in CI/CD pipeline

Pitfall 2: Hardcoded Configuration

Problem: Hardcoding values makes applications inflexible and environment-dependent

Solution: Use environment variables and configuration management:

• Separate config from code
• Use environment-specific configuration files
• Never commit secrets to version control

Prevention: Use tools like dotenv, config validators, and secret scanners

Pitfall 3: Ignoring Security Best Practices

Problem: Security vulnerabilities from not following established security patterns

Solution: Follow security guidelines:

• Input validation and sanitization
• Proper authentication and authorization
• Encrypted data transmission (TLS/SSL)
• Regular security audits and updates

Prevention: Use security linters, SAST tools, and regular dependency updates

Best Practices:

• Follow established patterns and conventions for integration-testing
• Keep dependencies up to date and scan for vulnerabilities
• Write comprehensive documentation and inline comments
• Use linting and formatting tools consistently
• Implement proper error handling and logging
• Regular code reviews and pair programming
• Monitor production metrics and set up alerts

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Validation

• ✅ Token count: Level 1 <2,000, Level 2 <5,000
• ✅ Testcontainers: Complete database integration
• ✅ API testing: Supertest and httptest examples
• ✅ Contract testing: Pact integration