wicked-garden-engineering-unit-test-quality SKILL.md skillA
wicked-garden-engineering-unit-test-quality from mikeparcewski/wicked-garden is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add mikeparcewski/wicked-garden/wicked-garden-engineering-unit-test-quality@git:20260914.0605b65Pins git:20260914.0605b65 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- mikeparcewski/wicked-garden
- Path
skills/engineering/unit-test-quality/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 5
- Latest version
- git:20260914.0605b65, committed Sep 14, 2026
- First version recorded
- Apr 28, 2026
- Size
- 9,974 bytes
- Repository stars
- 9
- License
- MIT
Language- and framework-neutral guard against useless unit tests — the kind that pass forever, never catch regressions, and inflate coverage without protecting behavior. Provides two complementary thought-experiment filters (execution + behavior), a pre-write self-check, a taxonomy of seven recurring anti-patterns (tautological, assertion-free, implementation mirror, framework retest, constant verification, sleep-coupled, exception-swallowing), and a one-line decision rule per pattern. Use…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Unit Test Quality A test you cannot break by changing the system under test (SUT) is not a test — it is dead weight. This skill exists because suites grow faster than they shrink, and "100% coverage" is no defense against a suite that asserts the wrong things. ## Two complementary filters No single mechanical filter catches every useless test — each anti-pattern below has its own diagnostic. But two thought experiments catch the most common cases and are language-neutral. Apply them in order; if either says "cut," you are looking at a test that does not earn its keep. ### Filter A — execution check > **If I replace the body of the SUT with a force-fail (`throw` / `raise` / `panic` / equivalent), does the test still pass?** - **Still passes** → the test never exercised the SUT at all. Cut it (it is pure coverage theater, see #2 assertion-free, #4 framework retest). - **Now fails** → the test at least *invokes* the SUT. Move to Filter B. ### Filter B — behavior check > **If I replace the body of the SUT with a no-op stub returning sensible defaults (zero, null/None, empty collection, default-constructed value), does the test still pass?** …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add mikeparcewski/wicked-garden/wicked-garden-engineering-unit-test-quality@sha256:de6581eb424aa51fThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260914.0605b65, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_nk5l24tefy7brdcm)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 5 versions of this file, between Apr 28, 2026 and Sep 14, 2026, about one every 35 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260914.0605b65 latest | 2026-09-14 | 0605b65 | 9,974 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260711.6a4c633 | 2026-07-11 | 6a4c633 | 10,007 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260506.9dce6ee | 2026-05-06 | 9dce6ee | 9,981 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260430.1fbddb4 | 2026-04-30 | 1fbddb4 | 9,917 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260428.705b589 | 2026-04-28 | 705b589 | 10,058 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (9974 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
mikeparcewski/wicked-garden · 9 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-06 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_nk5l24tefy7brdcm GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=mikeparcewski/wicked-garden/wicked-garden-engineering-unit-test-quality GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/de6581eb424aa51f882496236784648a3ae8ecc82ce0999f1528377c195705dc
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