istqb-test-design

istqb-test-design is a skill for Claude Code from volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents. It costs 92 tokens per session (2,569 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A structured way to design software tests using techniques such as grouping equivalent inputs, checking boundary values, decision tables, state changes, and user workflows. Each test is linked to the specific version of the technical specification it checks.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to create API or user-interface test plans, choose suitable test techniques, classify risks, and update tests when the specification changes.
Why use it?
It makes tests systematic and traceable, and helps prevent old tests from silently checking behavior that the current specification no longer requires.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Part of the sdlc-agents plugin — 12 skills, 13 agents shipped together

Good fit Use it to create API or user-interface test plans, choose suitable test techniques, classify risks, and update tests when the specification changes.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents --skill istqb-test-design
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install sdlc-agents, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 12 skills, 13 agents.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for istqb-test-design

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for istqb-test-design

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents/istqb-test-design.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 92 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,569 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00092 $0.02569
Opus 5 $0.00046 $0.01285
Sonnet 5 $0.00018 $0.00514
Haiku 4.5 $0.00009 $0.00257

Measured 12d ago against content hash 0000bdfda3cd, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

istqb-test-design scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 12d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/istqb-test-design/SKILL.md · 237 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 237 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

ISTQB Test Design — disciplined testing framework

This skill encodes ISTQB Foundation Level (CTFL syllabus v4.0) — the de-facto standard for software testing knowledge. We use a focused subset suitable for a small-team SDLC pipeline.

Reference: ISTQB CTFL syllabus, ISO 29119 (test process).


SPEC-Rev citation — every TC traces to a SPEC version

Every test case in the plan MUST cite the SPEC section and Revision it tests against. Format: Tests: SPEC §X.Y (Rev N) — FR-Z in the TC header or as a dedicated row.

Why: SPEC drifts between iterations (Rev 4 → Rev 5 changes API contract); without an explicit citation, the test plan silently asserts old behaviour and a tester «re-runs» green tests against new code that no longer matches. This is how COIN-126 ended up with PeriodicTask created assertions surviving after backend dropped periodic_task entirely.

Regen-on-Rev-bump

When SPEC Rev is bumped (you see a new Rev N+1 in SPEC sub-issue description or a SA SPEC-delta confirmation comment):

  1. Diff what changed in SPEC §X.Y between Rev N and Rev N+1
  2. For every TC citing the changed §: mark as stale — re-derive expected results from the new Rev, do NOT just re-run with old assertions
  3. New TCs may be needed (changed § may have new error paths / state transitions). Apply the right technique (EP / BVA / Decision Table / State Transition) afresh
  4. Update each TC header: Tests: SPEC §X.Y (Rev N+1) and adjust assertions to match
  5. The test-plan iteration counter bumps when SPEC Rev bumps

Never re-run TCs whose SPEC cite is older than the latest SPEC Rev without redoing the «re-derive expected results» step. A green stale TC is worse than a red one — it gives false confidence the change didn't break anything when in fact the test is just measuring the wrong thing.


Test levels — where the test sits in the SDLC

Level Who What Out of scope here
Unit (component) Coders themselves Individual functions / methods the api-tester / the ui-tester don't write unit tests
Integration Coders + the api-tester Multiple components / API + DB the api-tester for API integration
System the api-tester + the ui-tester End-to-end through real entry points the api-tester for API system, the ui-tester for UI E2E
Acceptance the initiator Does it match REQUIREMENTS Acceptance Criteria? the initiator approves; testers gather evidence

Read the full file on GitHub · 237 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 12d ago First seen · 237 lines · 92 tokens per session scan A 0000bdfda3cd

Subscribe to this mod's changes

istqb-test-design is a skill published in the GitHub repository volodchenkov/claude-sdlc-agents (2 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 92 tokens to every session and 2,569 once invoked, about $0.0005 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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