self-testing

Self-Testing for vibing.nvim

vibing.nvim can test itself by driving a separate, child Neovim instance over RPC. This enables automatic QA and self-correction after implementing a feature, without manual testing.

Architecture

Test Runner (Current Nvim)
  ├─ lua/vibing/testing/e2e_helper.lua
  │   ├─ spawn_nvim_instance()  - Launch child Nvim via jobstart(rpc=true)
  │   ├─ send_keys()             - Send key input via rpcrequest
  │   ├─ wait_for_buffer_content() - Poll buffer TEXT until pattern matches
  │   ├─ wait_for_buffer_name()    - Poll buffer NAME (use this for a filename)
  │   └─ cleanup_instance()      - Stop job
  │
  └─ tests/e2e/*.spec.lua - plenary.nvim test specs
       └─ Test Neovim Instance (Child Process)
            └─ vibing.nvim running with test configuration

Communication: Parent Nvim ←RPC→ Child Nvim (jobstart with rpc=true). Child instances get a unique RPC port in the 9876-9925 range.

Running Tests

npm run test:e2e   # all E2E tests (sets VIBING_E2E=1; spends real tokens)
npm test           # unit only (test:lua + test:node) — E2E is deliberately not included

# Specific file. VIBING_E2E=1 is required: without it every spec self-skips, and the run reports
# "0 tests" as a pass rather than telling you nothing ran.
VIBING_E2E=1 nvim --headless -u tests/minimal_init.lua \
  -c "PlenaryBustedFile tests/e2e/chat_jump_user_spec.lua"

Writing a Test

Place files in tests/e2e/ with a _spec.lua suffix:

local helper = require("vibing.testing.e2e_helper")

describe("E2E: Chat basic flow", function()
  local nvim_instance

  before_each(function()
    nvim_instance = helper.spawn_nvim_instance({
      headless = true,
      init_script = "tests/e2e_init.lua",
    })
  end)

  after_each(function()
    helper.cleanup_instance(nvim_instance)  -- always cleanup, prevents zombie processes
  end)

  it("should create chat buffer and display initial state", function()
    helper.send_keys(nvim_instance, ":VibingChat<CR>")
    vim.wait(2000)

    local ok = helper.wait_for_buffer_name(nvim_instance, "%.md$", 5000)
    assert.is_true(ok, "Chat buffer should be created with .md extension")

    ok = helper.wait_for_buffer_content(nvim_instance, "created_at:", 2000)
    assert.is_true(ok, "Frontmatter should contain created_at field")
  end)
end)