run-tests

Run Tests & Verify

How to run tests, lint, and verify changes in the cx CLI. This skill covers running only - for writing new tests, see the add-command skill.

Quick Reference

Command	What it does
cargo test	Run all unit + integration tests
cargo test <name>	Run tests matching a name substring
cargo test -- --ignored	Run integration tests (filesystem-dependent, skipped by default)
cargo fmt --check	Check formatting (no changes)
cargo fmt	Auto-fix formatting
cargo clippy --locked -- -D warnings	Lint with warnings-as-errors
cargo build	Verify compilation

Full CI Check

This is the exact sequence CI runs on every PR. Run it before committing or creating a PR:

cargo fmt --check && cargo clippy --locked -- -D warnings && cargo test --locked

The --locked flag ensures the lockfile is respected - this matches .github/workflows/test.yml and lint.yml exactly. CI runs tests on Ubuntu, macOS, and Windows.

What to Run After a Change

Pick the right level of verification based on what changed:

• Any .rs file - cargo test + cargo clippy --locked -- -D warnings
• Formatting only - cargo fmt --check (or cargo fmt to auto-fix)
• Cargo.toml - full CI check (dependency changes affect everything)
• API types (src/commands/<cmd>/api.rs) - run that command's tests first (cargo test alerts, cargo test dataprime), then the full suite
• Test files only - cargo test <relevant_test_name>

Running Specific Tests

Target tests efficiently instead of running the entire suite:

• cargo test alerts - all tests with "alerts" in the name
• cargo test --test dataprime - only the tests/dataprime/ integration test binary (input + output + query)
• cargo test --test dataprime input - only the input submodule of that binary
• cargo test config::tests - only the tests in the config module
• cargo test metrics::tests - only metrics formatting tests

Interpreting Failures

Clippy warnings - treated as errors via -D warnings. Fix every warning before committing. Common ones: unused variables, unnecessary clones, missing error handling.

Format failures - run cargo fmt to auto-fix. These never need manual intervention.

Deserialization test failures - usually means struct field names don't match JSON keys. Check that #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")] is on response types and that #[serde(default)] is on Vec fields (the API sometimes omits empty arrays).

Compilation errors in tests - likely caused by changing a public function signature. Check callers in both src/ and tests/ directories.

Integration test failures (--ignored) - these depend on filesystem state (~/.cx/ config directory). They may fail if the local environment isn't set up. This is expected in CI where no config exists.