Golden Tests

Golden (snapshot) tests capture the exact output of a pipeline or subsystem as a reference file, then fail any run that deviates from it. They are the highest-fidelity regression check: if anything in the pipeline changes — parsing, mapping, migration, export — the diff tells you exactly what shifted.

Reference Implementation

The paradigm for this skill comes from boredm/gint_to_boredm. Read it before adapting anything:

• Makefile targets: makefiles/golden.mk
• Snapshot scripts: scripts/golden_thompson.py
• Fixtures: server/tests/fixtures/
• Workflow golden: golden.md

The Five Setup Questions

Answer these before writing any code or Makefile targets.