langchain4j-testing-strategies

LangChain4J Testing Strategies

Overview

Patterns for unit testing with mocks, integration testing with Testcontainers, and end-to-end validation of RAG systems, AI Services, and tool execution.

When to Use

• Unit testing AI services: When you need fast, isolated tests for services using LangChain4j AiServices
• Integration testing LangChain4j components: When testing real ChatModel, EmbeddingModel, or RAG pipelines with Testcontainers
• Mocking AI models: When you need deterministic responses without calling external APIs
• Testing LLM-based Java applications: When validating RAG workflows, tool execution, or retrieval chains

Instructions

1. Unit Testing with Mocks

Use mock models for fast, isolated testing. See references/unit-testing.md.

ChatModel mockModel = mock(ChatModel.class);
when(mockModel.generate(any(String.class)))
    .thenReturn(Response.from(AiMessage.from("Mocked response")));

var service = AiServices.builder(AiService.class)
        .chatModel(mockModel)
        .build();

2. Configure Testing Dependencies

Setup Maven/Gradle dependencies. See references/testing-dependencies.md.

• langchain4j-test - Guardrail assertions
• testcontainers - Containerized testing
• mockito - Mock external dependencies
• assertj - Fluent assertions

3. Integration Testing with Testcontainers

Test with real services. See references/integration-testing.md.

@Testcontainers
class OllamaIntegrationTest {
    @Container
    static GenericContainer<?> ollama = new GenericContainer<>(
        DockerImageName.parse("ollama/ollama:0.5.4")
    ).withExposedPorts(11434);

    @Test
    void shouldGenerateResponse() {
        // Verify container is healthy
        assertTrue(ollama.isRunning());
        await().atMost(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .until(() -> ollama.getLogs().contains("API server listening"));

        ChatModel model = OllamaChatModel.builder()
                .baseUrl(ollama.getEndpoint())
                .build();

        // Verify model responds before running tests
        assertDoesNotThrow(() -> model.generate("ping"));

        String response = model.generate("Test query");
        assertNotNull(response);
    }
}