github-copilot/skills/autotest-writer/references/discover-patterns.md

Discover Project Test Patterns

Run this discovery process once at the start of every autotest-writer session. Cache results — do not repeat searches for the same project.

1. Framework Detection

Search for test dependencies in pyproject.toml or requirements*.txt:

Found	Framework
pytest	pytest (default assumption)
unittest only	stdlib unittest
anyio, pytest-asyncio	async pytest
hypothesis	property-based testing present

If none found — default to pytest.

2. Test File Layout

Run a glob search for test_*.py and *_test.py files. Determine:

• Root test folder: tests/, test/, inline next to source, or mixed
• Naming convention: test_{module}.py or {module}_test.py
• Mirrors source tree? e.g. src/auth/login.py → tests/auth/test_login.py

3. conftest.py Analysis

Read all conftest.py files found (root + subdirectories). Extract:

• All fixture names and their scopes (function, session, module)
• Factory fixtures (return a callable/class)
• Common parametrize patterns
• Any custom pytest plugins or hooks registered

4. Read Sample Tests

Read 2–3 representative test files (pick files that seem most complete, not trivial ones). Extract the following patterns:

Import style

# Note: stdlib first? third-party second? local last?
# Note: are there "from __future__ import annotations"?

Class vs function tests

• Are tests in classes (class TestLogin:) or bare functions?
• If classes — do they inherit from anything?

Assertion style

• Plain assert a == b
• assert a == b, "message"
• Custom matchers: assert_that(a).equals(b), expect(a).to.equal(b)

Mock / patch style

• unittest.mock.patch as decorator
• unittest.mock.patch as context manager
• pytest-mock via mocker fixture
• MagicMock / AsyncMock / create_autospec

Async style

• @pytest.mark.asyncio + async def test_
• anyio backend marker
• Synchronous wrappers around async code

Parametrize style

@pytest.mark.parametrize("input,expected", [...])

or inline in class docstring (hypothesis)?

5. Factory / Builder Patterns

Search for:

• factory_boy — UserFactory, PostFactory classes
• pytest-factoryboy — register() usage
• Custom builder fixtures that return objects
• faker usage for test data generation

6. Database / External Service Patterns

• Does the project use pytest-django, pytest-sqlalchemy, or custom DB fixtures?
• Are there transaction rollback fixtures (db, transactional_db)?
• Are HTTP calls mocked via responses, httpretty, respx, or pytest-httpx?
• Is there a test database URL in .env.test or pytest.ini?

7. Markers and Config

Read pytest.ini, setup.cfg, or [tool.pytest.ini_options] in pyproject.toml. Note:

• Custom markers (@pytest.mark.integration, @pytest.mark.slow)
• asyncio_mode setting (auto or strict)
• testpaths — where pytest looks for tests
• Any filterwarnings that should be preserved

Output Format

Summarize findings as:

Framework:     pytest 8.x
Async:         pytest-asyncio, asyncio_mode=auto
Test root:     tests/
Naming:        test_{module}.py mirroring src/
Classes:       no (bare functions)
Fixtures:      conftest.py at root; session-scoped db_engine, function-scoped db_session
Factories:     factory_boy (UserFactory, ProjectFactory)
Mocks:         pytest-mock (mocker fixture)
HTTP mocks:    respx
Markers:       integration, slow, unit
Assertions:    plain assert