ds-tdd-mode

When active, build the feature test-first. Each test verifies observable behavior through a public interface — never implementation details.

Anti-pattern: horizontal slicing

Do not write all tests before any implementation. Tests written against imagined behavior verify guessed data shapes, not real user-facing outcomes. Slice vertically instead: one test, one implementation, repeat.

Workflow

1. Plan — Confirm the interface changes needed. List the behaviors to test, highest-value first. Design for testability (see below). Get user approval before writing code.
2. Tracer bullet — Prove the path end to end: one test, then the minimal implementation that passes it.
3. Incremental loop — Write one test, implement the minimal code to pass it. Do not anticipate future tests.
4. Refactor — Only once tests pass. Remove duplication and apply design principles while keeping every test green.

Good tests vs bad tests

Good tests:

• Exercise real code paths through the public API
• Describe WHAT the system does, not HOW
• Make one logical assertion
• Survive internal refactors unchanged

Bad tests — red flags:

• Mock internal collaborators
• Assert on call counts or call order
• Test private methods
• Verify through a side channel (e.g. a raw DB query) instead of the interface
• Recompute the expected value the way the code does (assert add(a, b) == a + b) — the test can never disagree with the code. Draw expected values from an independent source: a known-good literal, a worked example, or the spec.
• Break during refactoring when behavior has not changed

A test that breaks on a behavior-preserving refactor is coupled to implementation. Rewrite it against the interface.

Design for testability

• Inject dependencies — accept them as parameters; do not construct them inside the unit.
• Prefer pure functions — return results rather than mutating shared state.
• Keep the API surface small — fewer methods and parameters mean fewer test scenarios. Deep modules (small interface, substantial hidden implementation) test better than shallow ones.
• Mock only at system boundaries — external APIs, the database, time, randomness, the filesystem. Never mock your own classes or internal collaborators; prefer a real or in-memory implementation (mocking internals couples the test to the design).

Output

For each slice: the test, then the implementation. Report which behaviors remain untested.

Confirm activation with "TDD mode active." Activating a mode only turns on this posture; it is not approval to begin work — continue with whatever the user already asked for, or wait for their next instruction.