test-anti-patterns — independently scanned and version-tracked by SaferSkills.
SaferSkills independently audited test-anti-patterns (Agent Skill) and scored it 45/100 (orange). The audit ran 55 deterministic rules across Security, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Transparency, and Community; it found 7 high-severity and 1 lower-severity findings. The full rule-by-rule trace and per-finding evidence are below. Free, methodology-open.
Findings & checks · 8 flagged
A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.A base64 string of 128+ characters appears in a documentation file. Encoded prompt injection hides the hostile instruction in base64 — invisible to keyword filters — and relies on the agent's ability to decode it at runtime. There is no normal authoring reason to embed a multi-hundred-byte base64 blob in skill docs.
*.sig, SIGNATURES) outside the documentation.The text {match} tells the agent to skip the normal "ask the user first" gate. Used adversarially it removes the human-in-the-loop check before destructive or sensitive actions, turning a normally-gated agent into a fire-and-forget executor.
Every scanned point with the score it earned and what moved between them.
First recorded scan — no prior version to compare against.
The primary manifest — the file an agent reads to learn what this artifact does.
Quick, pragmatic analysis of test code in any supported language for anti-patterns and quality issues that undermine test reliability, maintainability, and diagnostic value.
Language-specific guidance: Read the caller-provided or runtime-listed test-analysis-extensions catalog and its matching language file when needed. Do not invoke the reference-only helper. If its files are absent, use the built-in framework rules below.code-testing)Assert.AreEqual argument order in MSTest (use writing-mstest-tests)DynamicData from IEnumerable<object[]> to ValueTuple (use writing-mstest-tests)run-tests for .NET)run-tests), non-.NET coverage collection or analysis (use native tooling), project-wide .NET coverage/CRAP metrics (use coverage-analysis), or named-target .NET CRAP (use crap-score)test-gap-analysis)test-tagging)test-smell-detection)| Input | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Test scope | No | Test files, classes, directory, or project to analyze. Discover from the current workspace when omitted. |
| Production code | No | The code under test, for context on what tests should verify |
| Specific concern | No | A focused area like "flakiness" or "naming" to narrow the review |
Resolve the named test path from the current workspace before asking for input. When no path is supplied, discover test files under the current directory using the repository manifests and conventional test markers. The skill context's Base directory is documentation storage, not the user's workspace; never resolve target files relative to it.
If one reader says a path is missing but a workspace glob/search finds it, normalize that exact path and retry. Use a shell text reader (sed/cat on Unix, Get-Content on PowerShell) only for a confirmed reader availability, transport, or path-normalization failure and only after verifying the canonical path remains inside the current workspace. Stop on content-exclusion, permission/policy, workspace-boundary, or unknown failures. Audit any discovered file that a permitted reader can access; never ask the user to paste it. If every permitted reader fails, report the exact blocker without bypassing security boundaries.
Identify the language and framework. Read the matching bundled reference when needed, resolving its filename relative to the supplied catalog. Check only that known reference directory, never installation directories. If unavailable, use the catalog below and report the reference limitation.
Inventory the resolved scope before reading bodies. For one file or class, read that scope directly. For a project or suite, discover test files once, batch independent reads where tools allow, and stop when every discovered test and class-level fixture has a ledger disposition.
Use extension discovery markers when loaded; otherwise use the built-in markers in this skill (attributes such as [TestClass]/[Fact]/[Test], test_*.py, *.test.*, *_test.go, *_spec.rb, #[test], *.Tests.ps1, TEST(...), and TEST_CASE(...)).
Do not read unrelated production code wholesale. Open the production symbol corresponding to every suspicious test needed to decide whether an assertion, transformation, identity contract, or adjacent gap is real. For a systematic facade/surface-area pattern, every invoked member is relevant: read the entire small production type or inspect each invoked member, then map each weak test to the exact observable result, exception, state change, or boundary it should verify.
Check each test file against the anti-pattern catalog below. Report findings grouped by severity. Use extension mappings when loaded; otherwise use the cross-framework examples in the catalog.
Before drafting the report, make a private completeness ledger with one row for every test method and every class-level fixture/resource. Record its oracle (or absence), exception handling, state/time dependencies, concurrency safety, precondition/assertion order, and disposition. Do not publish until every row is either attached to a finding or explicitly judged sound. In particular:
actual != oldValue is a weak mutation oracle: it accepts every wrong newvalue. Require the exact expected value.
fields such as a static HttpClient.
parallel-unsafe when tests read and write it. Also flag dereferencing a nullable result before the assertion intended to prove it non-null.
a finding, but do not perform exhaustive branch or mutation analysis. Route that broader question to test-gap-analysis.
#### Critical -- Tests that give false confidence
| Anti-Pattern | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| No assertions | Test methods that execute code but never assert anything. A passing test without assertions proves nothing. In .NET look for missing Assert.*; in pytest a function with no assert and no pytest.raises; in Jest no expect(...); in JUnit no assert*/assertThat; in Go a test that never calls t.Error*, t.Fatal*, or testify; in RSpec a block with no expect; in Pester no Should. Mock-call verifications (verify(mock), expect(mock).toHaveBeenCalled, Should -Invoke) are real assertions. |
| Missing await on async assertions (JS/TS, .NET, Python, Kotlin, Swift) | expect(promise).resolves.toBe(x) without await/return, pytest-asyncio test with un-awaited coroutine, async Task xUnit test calling Assert.ThrowsAsync without await, Kotest suspending test without runTest, Swift Testing async test without await. These tests silently pass even when the underlying assertion would have failed. |
| Coverage touching | Test class that methodically calls every public member on a type — often in alphabetical or declaration order — without asserting meaningful outcomes. Each test typically does var result = sut.MethodName(...) (or result = sut.method_name(...), sut.methodName(), sut.MethodName(t)) with no assertion, or only a trivial null/None/nil check. The intent is to inflate code-coverage metrics rather than verify behavior. Distinct from a single assertion-free test: the pattern is systematic coverage of the surface area with no real verification. |
| Self-referential assertion | The expected value is computed from the same actual value, such as Assert.AreEqual(dto.Name, dto.Name), Assert.AreEqual(result, result), or equivalents. Do not apply this label merely because a valid identity, clone, serialization, or round-trip contract compares output with input: those assertions can fail. Instead check whether the input exercises a transformation and whether independently known representation, field, reference-identity, or invalid-input assertions are missing. |
| Swallowed exceptions | try { ... } catch { }, catch (Exception) without rethrowing or asserting (.NET); bare except: or except Exception: with pass (Python); try { ... } catch (e) {} (JS/TS/Java); defer recover() without re-panic and no assertion (Go); rescue StandardError with no assertion (Ruby); Result::unwrap_or(...) swallowing errors in a test (Rust); empty catch block (Kotlin/Swift). |
| Assert in catch block only | try { Act(); } catch (Exception ex) { Assert.Fail(ex.Message); } (and equivalents in other languages) -- use Assert.ThrowsException / pytest.raises / expect(fn).toThrow / assertThrows / assert.Error(t, err) / #[should_panic] / Should -Throw / EXPECT_THROW instead. The test passes when no exception is thrown even if the result is wrong. |
| Always-true assertions | Assert.IsTrue(true), Assert.AreEqual(x, x), assert True, expect(true).toBe(true), assert.True(t, true), assert!(true), or conditions that can never fail. |
| Commented-out assertions | Assertions that were disabled but the test still runs, giving the illusion of coverage. |
#### High -- Tests likely to cause pain
| Anti-Pattern | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Flakiness indicators | Wall-clock sleeps/waits used for synchronization: Thread.Sleep / Task.Delay (.NET), time.sleep (Python), setTimeout / await new Promise(r => setTimeout(...)) (JS/TS), Thread.sleep (Java/Kotlin), time.Sleep (Go), sleep (Ruby/Bash), std::thread::sleep (Rust), Start-Sleep (Pester), std::this_thread::sleep_for (C++). Wall-clock reads without abstraction: DateTime.Now/UtcNow, datetime.now()/datetime.utcnow(), Date.now() / new Date(), System.currentTimeMillis(), time.Now(), Time.now, Instant::now(), Date()/Date.now, Get-Date, std::chrono::system_clock::now. Unseeded randomness: new Random(), random.random()/random.randint(), Math.random(), new Random() (Java/Kotlin), rand.Int() without seed, rand (Ruby), rand::random() (Rust). Environment-dependent paths (hard-coded C:\..., /tmp/..., network hosts). |
| Test ordering dependency | Static/global mutable state modified across tests; setup that doesn't fully reset state ([TestInitialize], setUp, beforeEach, before(:each), BeforeEach, t.Cleanup); tests that fail when run individually but pass in suite (or vice versa). Examples per language: static fields (.NET/Java), module-level globals (Python), top-level let/const in test file (JS/TS), var package globals (Go), class variables (Ruby), static mut/lazy_static!/OnceCell (Rust), $script: variables (PowerShell). |
| Over-mocking | More mock setup lines than actual test logic. Verifying exact call sequences on mocks rather than outcomes. Mocking types the test owns. Per language: Moq/NSubstitute/FakeItEasy (.NET), unittest.mock / pytest-mock (Python), Jest auto-mocks / Sinon (JS/TS), Mockito/PowerMock (Java), gomock/testify mock (Go), RSpec mocks/mocha (Ruby), mockall (Rust), MockK (Kotlin), Mock cmdlet (Pester), gmock (C++). For a deep mock audit in .NET, use exp-mock-usage-analysis. |
| Implementation coupling | Testing private methods via reflection (MethodInfo.Invoke, getattr in Python, (thing as any) in TS, Field.setAccessible(true) in Java, Object#send in Ruby, internal pub(crate) access in Rust). Asserting on internal state instead of observable behavior. Verifying exact method call counts on collaborators instead of business outcomes. |
| Broad exception assertions | Assert.ThrowsException<Exception>(...) (.NET) / pytest.raises(Exception) / expect(fn).toThrow(Error) without a message matcher / assertThrows(Exception.class, ...) (Java) / assert.Error(t, err) without checking the kind / expect { ... }.to raise_error without class (RSpec) / #[should_panic] without expected = "..." / Should -Throw without -ExpectedMessage / EXPECT_ANY_THROW instead of EXPECT_THROW(stmt, SpecificType). |
| Weak transformation oracle | A normalization, casing, trimming, mapping, or conversion test supplies an input already in the expected form, so a no-op implementation passes even though the assertion may catch other defects. Use an input that must change and assert an independently derived expected value. A producer/consumer round trip is useful but does not replace an independent format assertion when both sides could share the same defect. |
#### Medium -- Maintainability and clarity issues
| Anti-Pattern | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Poor naming | Test names like Test1, TestMethod, or test that don't describe the scenario or outcome. Use the loaded extension when available; otherwise follow the existing naming convention in the same suite. |
| Magic values | Unexplained numbers or strings in arrange/assert: Assert.AreEqual(42, result) / assert result == 42 / expect(result).toBe(42) -- what does 42 mean? |
| Duplicate tests | Three or more test methods with near-identical bodies that differ only in a single input value. Should be parametrized: [DataRow]/[Theory]/[TestCase] (.NET), @pytest.mark.parametrize (pytest), test.each / it.each (Jest/Vitest), @ParameterizedTest + @ValueSource (JUnit 5), @DataProvider (TestNG), Go table-driven tests, where / shared examples (RSpec), #[rstest] (Rust), @ParameterizedTest + @MethodSource (Kotlin), -ForEach / -TestCases (Pester), INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P (GoogleTest), SECTION / GENERATE (Catch2), TEST_CASE_TEMPLATE (doctest). For a detailed duplication analysis in .NET, use exp-test-maintainability. Note: Two tests covering distinct boundary conditions (e.g., zero vs. negative) are NOT duplicates -- separate tests for different edge cases provide clearer failure diagnostics and are a valid practice. |
| Giant tests | Test methods exceeding ~30 lines or testing multiple behaviors at once. Hard to diagnose when they fail. |
| Assertion messages that repeat the assertion | Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual, "Expected and actual are not equal") / assert x == y, "x is not equal to y" / assertEquals(x, y, "values not equal") add no information. Messages should describe the business meaning. |
| Missing AAA / Given-When-Then separation | Arrange/Act/Assert (or Given/When/Then for BDD frameworks like RSpec, Kotest behavior specs, Pester) phases are interleaved or indistinguishable. |
#### Low -- Style and hygiene
| Anti-Pattern | What to Look For |
|---|---|
| Unused test infrastructure | Setup/teardown hooks that do nothing — [TestInitialize]/[SetUp]/[BeforeEach], setUp/@BeforeEach/@BeforeAll, beforeEach/beforeAll, before(:each)/before(:all), BeforeEach/BeforeAll (Pester), setUpWithError (XCTest) — and test helper methods that are never called. |
| Unmanaged resources | Test creates disposable/closeable resources without cleanup: HttpClient/Stream without using (.NET), file/connection without with block or try/finally (Python), FileInputStream without try-with-resources (Java), defer file.Close() missing (Go), connection without ensure (Ruby), Drop not relied on / forgotten close (Rust), missing teardown for temp files / DBs in any language. |
| Print debugging | Leftover Console.WriteLine / Debug.WriteLine / print() / console.log / System.out.println / fmt.Println / puts / dbg! / Write-Host / std::cout statements used during test development. |
| Inconsistent naming convention | Mix of naming styles in the same test class/module/file (e.g., some use Method_Scenario_Expected, others use ShouldDoSomething). |
Before reporting, re-check each finding against these severity rules:
Test1 / test / it1.Critical / Warning / Info, map latent reliability risks to Warning and maintenance/cosmetic concerns to Info. Keep a demonstrated false-confidence or current order-dependency root cause Critical; do not downgrade it merely to make every requested tier non-empty. Severity describes the demonstrated failure mode, not how much prose a finding receives.
facade is one Critical systemic finding whose evidence lists every affected test. All assertion-free instances, including the last facade method, retain the same false-confidence severity. Report 1 finding / 6 affected tests, not six findings plus a seventh summary finding, and do not downgrade one instance merely to manufacture multiple tiers.
untested branches, exception paths, and boundaries may be useful coverage opportunities, but list them separately from the anti-pattern counts unless a weak existing test specifically creates the gap. They are not Critical merely because the suite has a systemic Critical issue.
t.Run / for case in cases { ... }) are idiomatic, not "Conditional Test Logic". Do NOT flag.if got != want { t.Errorf(...) } as canonical equality. Do NOT flag as ad-hoc.[TestInitialize] / beforeEach (this improves isolation).metamorphic evidence, not a self-comparison; still recommend one independent representation when producer and consumer could share a defect.
of the tautology count, but report the weak oracle when removing the transformation would still pass. Use an input that must change and pin its independently expected output.
independence evidence when the contract promises a deep copy.
production contract. Missing invalid-input cases are a coverage gap, not proof that the existing assertion is tautological.
IMPORTANT: If the tests are well-written, say so clearly up front. Do not inflate severity to justify the review. A review that finds zero Critical/High issues and only minor Low suggestions is a valid and valuable outcome. Lead with what the tests do well.
Depth bar — a tidy report that is shallower than an unassisted review is a failure. Before writing, satisfy all five:
before summarizing. For a systematic pattern such as coverage touching, enumerate every affected test at least once rather than giving representative examples. A finding table that silently skips tests (or fixtures like an unused static HttpClient field) is incomplete. State the number reviewed.
actual transformation, DTO fields, and promised identity/clone semantics. Never invent fields or require lossless round-tripping when production is intentionally lossy. For every suspicious equality, write down the independently known oracle before assigning a finding. If the assertion compares a transformed output with non-trivial input, clone state, snapshot, mock verification, or a framework-native assertion context, explain why it can fail before calling it tautological or assertion-free. Conversely, when a transformation test uses an already-normalized input, call out that the input cannot distinguish the real transformation from a no-op and provide a changing input plus exact expected output. For paired producer/consumer APIs, retain the round-trip test and add one independent representation oracle rather than replacing valid metamorphic evidence.
// assert something here placeholder.when production code is supplied, note directly related untested throws, null results, boundary values, and round-trip/culture-sensitivity risks in an Adjacent coverage gaps section. Use test-gap-analysis for exhaustive branch-by-branch behavioral gaps.
the suspicious constructs you cleared and the framework rule that makes each valid. Do not bury a clean verdict under a generic checklist or speculative improvements.
Present findings in this structure:
Before publishing, assign each finding a stable identity. A grouped row counts as one finding regardless of how many methods it lists; separate rows count separately. Recompute the summary from those rows. Keep affected tests as a different number so a bundled finding cannot create a hidden count mismatch.
If there are many findings, recommend which to fix first:
| Pitfall | Solution |
|---|---|
| Reporting style issues as critical | Naming and formatting are Medium/Low, never Critical |
| Suggesting rewrites instead of targeted fixes | Show minimal diffs -- change the assertion, not the whole test |
| Flagging intentional design choices | If Thread.Sleep / time.sleep / time.Sleep is in an integration test testing actual timing, that's not an anti-pattern. Consider context. |
| Inventing false positives on clean code | If tests follow best practices, say so. A review finding "0 Critical, 0 High, 1 Low" is perfectly valid. Don't inflate findings to justify the review. |
| Flagging separate boundary tests as duplicates | Two tests for zero and negative inputs test different edge cases. Only flag as duplicates when 3+ tests have truly identical bodies differing by a single value. |
| Rating cosmetic issues as Medium | Naming mismatches (e.g., method name says ArgumentException but asserts ArgumentOutOfRangeException) are Low, not Medium -- the test still works correctly. |
| Ignoring the test framework | Use the terminology of the framework you loaded from the language extension; don't describe a pytest suite in MSTest terms. |
| Missing the forest for the trees | If 80% of tests have no assertions, lead with that systemic issue rather than listing every instance |
| Trading depth for tidiness | A severity table and positive observations do not substitute for coverage of every test, exact expected values in fixes, and the adjacent error-path/boundary gaps |
| Contradicting yourself in the report | Reason first, then write one settled verdict per finding — never emit "wait, that's wrong" / "should fail but doesn't" reconsiderations |
| Counts that don't add up | The summary's per-severity totals must match the findings you listed |
~30 seconds. Free. No account. Every finding cites a rule and a line of evidence.