openclaw-openclaw/docs/reference/test.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
How to run tests locally (vitest) and when to use force/coverage modes	Running or fixing tests	Tests

• Full testing kit (suites, live, Docker): Testing
• Update and plugin package validation: Testing updates and plugins

Agent default

Agent sessions run tests and computationally intensive validation remotely through Crabbox. Trusted maintainer code defaults to Blacksmith Testbox. The configured Testbox workflow hydrates credentials, so untrusted contributor or fork code must use secretless fork CI or sanitized direct AWS Crabbox instead.

When a trusted code task is likely to need tests or heavy proof, pre-warm immediately in a background command session, keep working while it hydrates, reuse the returned tbx_... id, sync the current checkout on every run, and stop it before handoff:

node scripts/crabbox-wrapper.mjs warmup --provider blacksmith-testbox --keep --timing-json

Local test commands below are for human workflows or an explicit agent fallback requested by the user. Remote-provider unavailability must be reported; it is not permission to silently run a broad local gate.

For untrusted code, pre-warm with --provider aws. Every run must set CRABBOX_ENV_ALLOW=CI, pass --provider aws --no-hydrate, and use a fresh temporary remote HOME before installing dependencies or running tests. Use a newly warmed lease dedicated to that untrusted source; never reuse a trusted or previously hydrated lease. Launch an installed trusted Crabbox binary from a clean trusted main checkout and fetch only the remote PR with --fresh-pr; never execute the untrusted checkout's wrapper or config locally. Unset CRABBOX_AWS_INSTANCE_PROFILE and fail closed unless resolved aws.instanceProfile is empty. Before any install/test, use trusted absolute-path tools to require an IMDSv2 token, prove the IAM credentials endpoint returns 404, and verify remote git rev-parse HEAD equals the full reviewed PR head SHA. Bind the lease to that SHA and stop/rewarm when the head changes. Upload trusted scripts/crabbox-untrusted-bootstrap.sh from clean main alongside --fresh-pr; it installs pinned Node/pnpm, verifies the SHA and package-manager pin, isolates HOME, installs dependencies, then executes the requested test. If the broker cannot prove no role or no remote PR exists, use secretless fork CI. Do not use hydrate-github, --no-sync, or a credential-hydrated Testbox workflow. Unset all CRABBOX_TAILSCALE* overrides, force --network public --tailscale=false, clear exit-node/LAN flags, and require crabbox inspect to report public networking with no Tailscale state before uploading any script.

Routine local order

1. pnpm test:changed for changed-scope Vitest proof.
2. pnpm test <path-or-filter> for one file, directory, or explicit target.
3. pnpm test only when you intentionally need the full local Vitest suite.

In a Codex worktree or linked/sparse checkout, agents avoid direct local pnpm test* / pnpm check* / pnpm crabbox:run:

• Explicit user-requested local fallback for a tiny file: node scripts/run-vitest.mjs <path-or-filter>.
• Changed gates or broad proof: node scripts/crabbox-wrapper.mjs run --provider blacksmith-testbox ... -- env OPENCLAW_CHECK_CHANGED_REMOTE_CHILD=1 OPENCLAW_CHANGED_LANES_RAW_SYNC=1 corepack pnpm check:changed so pnpm runs inside Testbox.
• The wrapper's final exitCode and timing JSON are the command result. A delegated Blacksmith GitHub Actions run may show cancelled after a successful SSH command because the Testbox is stopped from outside the keepalive action; check the wrapper summary and command output before treating that as a failure.
• OPENCLAW_HEAVY_CHECK_LOCK_SCOPE=worktree <local-heavy-check command>: keeps heavy-check serialization inside the current worktree instead of the Git common dir for commands such as pnpm check:changed and targeted pnpm test .... Use it only on high-capacity local hosts when you intentionally run independent checks across linked worktrees.

Core commands

Test wrapper runs end with a short [test] passed|failed|skipped ... in ... summary; Vitest's own duration line stays the per-shard detail.

Command	What it does
pnpm test	Explicit file/directory targets route through scoped Vitest lanes. Untargeted runs are full-suite proof: fixed shard groups expand to leaf configs for local parallel execution, with the expected shard fanout printed before starting. The extension group always expands to per-extension shard configs instead of one giant root-project process.
pnpm test:changed	Cheap smart changed-test run: precise targets from direct test edits, sibling *.test.ts files, explicit source mappings, and the local import graph. Broad/config/package changes are skipped unless they map to precise tests.
OPENCLAW_TEST_CHANGED_BROAD=1 pnpm test:changed	Explicit broad changed-test run; use when a test harness/config/package edit should fall back to Vitest's broader changed-test behavior.
pnpm test:force	Frees the configured OpenClaw gateway port (default 18789), then runs the full suite with an isolated gateway port so server tests do not collide with a running instance.
pnpm test:coverage	Unit suite with V8 coverage (vitest.unit.config.ts). Default-unit-lane gate, not whole-repo coverage: coverage.all is false and thresholds are lines/functions/statements 70%, branches 55%, scoped to non-fast unit tests with sibling source files.
pnpm test:coverage:changed	Unit coverage only for files changed since origin/main.
pnpm changed:lanes	Shows the architectural lanes triggered by the diff against origin/main.
pnpm check:changed	Delegates to Crabbox/Testbox by default outside CI, then runs the smart changed check gate inside the remote child: typecheck, lint, and guard commands for affected lanes. Does not run Vitest; use pnpm test:changed or pnpm test <target> for test proof.

Shared test state and process helpers

• src/test-utils/openclaw-test-state.ts: use from Vitest when a test needs an isolated HOME, OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH, config fixture, workspace, agent dir, or auth-profile store.
• pnpm test:env-mutations:report: non-blocking report of tests/harnesses that mutate HOME, OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH, OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR, or related env keys directly. Use it to find migration candidates for the shared test-state helper.
• test/helpers/openclaw-test-instance.ts: process-level E2E tests needing a running Gateway, CLI env, log capture, and cleanup in one place.
• Docker/Bash E2E lanes that source scripts/lib/docker-e2e-image.sh can pass docker_e2e_test_state_shell_b64 <label> <scenario> into the container and decode it with scripts/lib/openclaw-e2e-instance.sh; multi-home scripts can pass docker_e2e_test_state_function_b64 and call openclaw_test_state_create <label> <scenario> in each flow. node scripts/lib/openclaw-test-state.mjs -- create --label <name> --scenario <name> --env-file <path> --json writes a sourceable host env file (the -- before create keeps newer Node runtimes from treating --env-file as a Node flag). Lanes that launch a Gateway can source scripts/lib/openclaw-e2e-instance.sh for entrypoint resolution, mock OpenAI startup, foreground/background launch, readiness probes, state env export, log dumps, and process cleanup.

Control UI, TUI, and extension lanes

• Control UI mocked E2E: pnpm test:ui:e2e runs the Vitest + Playwright lane that starts the Vite Control UI and drives a real Chromium page against a mocked Gateway WebSocket. Tests live in ui/src/**/*.e2e.test.ts; shared mocks/controls live in ui/src/test-helpers/control-ui-e2e.ts. pnpm test:e2e includes this lane. Agent runs default to Testbox/Crabbox, including targeted proof; use node scripts/run-vitest.mjs run --config test/vitest/vitest.ui-e2e.config.ts --configLoader runner ui/src/ui/e2e/chat-flow.e2e.test.ts only for an explicit local fallback.
• TUI PTY tests: node scripts/run-vitest.mjs run --config test/vitest/vitest.tui-pty.config.ts runs the fast fake-backend PTY lane. OPENCLAW_TUI_PTY_INCLUDE_LOCAL=1 or pnpm tui:pty:test:watch --mode local runs the slower tui --local smoke, which mocks only the external model endpoint. Assert stable visible text or fixture calls, not raw ANSI snapshots.
• pnpm test:extensions and pnpm test extensions run all extension/plugin shards. Heavy channel plugins, the browser plugin, and OpenAI run as dedicated shards; other plugin groups stay batched. pnpm test extensions/<id> runs one bundled plugin lane.
• Source files with sibling tests map to that sibling before falling back to wider directory globs. Helper edits under src/channels/plugins/contracts/test-helpers, src/plugin-sdk/test-helpers, and src/plugins/contracts use a local import graph to run importing tests instead of broad-running every shard when the dependency path is precise.
• auto-reply splits into three dedicated configs (core, top-level, reply) so the reply harness does not dominate the lighter top-level status/token/helper tests.
• Selected plugin-sdk and commands test files route through dedicated light lanes that keep only test/setup.ts, leaving runtime-heavy cases on their existing lanes.
• Base Vitest config defaults to pool: "threads" and isolate: false, with the shared non-isolated runner enabled across repo configs.
• pnpm test:channels runs vitest.channels.config.ts.

Gateway and E2E

• Gateway integration is opt-in: OPENCLAW_TEST_INCLUDE_GATEWAY=1 pnpm test or pnpm test:gateway.
• pnpm test:e2e: repo E2E aggregate = pnpm test:e2e:gateway && pnpm test:ui:e2e.
• pnpm test:e2e:gateway: gateway end-to-end smoke tests (multi-instance WS/HTTP/node pairing). Defaults to threads + isolate: false with adaptive workers in vitest.e2e.config.ts; tune with OPENCLAW_E2E_WORKERS=<n>, verbose logs with OPENCLAW_E2E_VERBOSE=1.
• pnpm test:live: provider live tests (Claude/Minimax/DeepSeek/z.ai/etc, gated by *.live.test.ts). Requires API keys and LIVE=1 (or OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST=1) to unskip; verbose output with OPENCLAW_LIVE_TEST_QUIET=0.

Full Docker suite (pnpm test:docker:all)

Builds the shared live-test image, packs OpenClaw once as an npm tarball, builds/reuses a bare Node/Git runner image plus a functional image that installs that tarball into /app, then runs Docker smoke lanes through a weighted scheduler. scripts/package-openclaw-for-docker.mjs is the single local/CI package packer and validates the tarball plus dist/postinstall-inventory.json before Docker consumes it.

• Bare image (OPENCLAW_DOCKER_E2E_BARE_IMAGE): installer/update/plugin-dependency lanes; mounts the prebuilt tarball instead of copied repo sources.
• Functional image (OPENCLAW_DOCKER_E2E_FUNCTIONAL_IMAGE): normal built-app functionality lanes.
• Lane definitions: scripts/lib/docker-e2e-scenarios.mjs. Planner: scripts/lib/docker-e2e-plan.mjs. Executor: scripts/test-docker-all.mjs.
• node scripts/test-docker-all.mjs --plan-json emits the scheduler-owned CI plan (lanes, image kinds, package/live-image needs, state scenarios, credential checks) without building or running Docker.

Scheduling knobs (env vars, defaults in parentheses):

Env var	Default	Purpose
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_PARALLELISM	10	Process slots.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_TAIL_PARALLELISM	10	Provider-sensitive tail pool.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LIVE_LIMIT	9	Heavy live-provider lane cap.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_NPM_LIMIT	5	npm-resource lane cap.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_SERVICE_LIMIT	7	Service-resource lane cap.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LIVE_CLAUDE_LIMIT / _CODEX_LIMIT / _GEMINI_LIMIT / _DROID_LIMIT / _OPENCODE_LIMIT	4	Per-provider heavy-lane caps.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LIVE_OPENAI_LIMIT / _TELEGRAM_LIMIT	1	Narrower per-provider caps.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_WEIGHT_LIMIT / OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_DOCKER_LIMIT	-	Override for larger hosts.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_START_STAGGER_MS	2000	Delay between lane starts, avoids local Docker daemon create storms.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LANE_TIMEOUT_MS	7,200,000 (120 min)	Per-lane fallback timeout; selected live/tail lanes use tighter caps.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LIVE_RETRIES	1	Retries for transient live-provider failures.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_DRY_RUN	off	Print the lane manifest without running Docker.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_STATUS_INTERVAL_MS	30000	Active-lane status print interval.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_TIMINGS	on	Reuse .artifacts/docker-tests/lane-timings.json for longest-first ordering; set to 0 to disable.
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_LIVE_MODE	-	skip for deterministic/local lanes only, only for live-provider lanes only. Aliases: pnpm test:docker:local:all, pnpm test:docker:live:all. Live-only mode merges main and tail live lanes into one longest-first pool so provider buckets pack Claude/Codex/Gemini work together.
OPENCLAW_LIVE_CLI_BACKEND_SETUP_TIMEOUT_SECONDS	180	CLI backend Docker setup timeout.

Env var pattern for resource caps is OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_<RESOURCE>_LIMIT (resource name uppercased, non-alphanumerics collapsed to _).

Other behavior: the runner preflights Docker by default, cleans stale OpenClaw E2E containers, shares provider CLI tool caches between compatible lanes, and stops scheduling new pooled lanes after the first failure unless OPENCLAW_DOCKER_ALL_FAIL_FAST=0 is set. If one lane exceeds the effective weight/resource cap on a low-parallelism host, it can still start from an empty pool and run alone until it releases capacity. Per-lane logs, summary.json, failures.json, and phase timings write under .artifacts/docker-tests/<run-id>/; use pnpm test:docker:timings <summary.json> to inspect slow lanes and pnpm test:docker:rerun <run-id|summary.json|failures.json> to print cheap targeted rerun commands.

Notable Docker lanes

Command	Verifies
pnpm test:docker:browser-cdp-snapshot	Chromium-backed source E2E container with raw CDP + isolated Gateway; browser doctor --deep CDP role snapshots include link URLs, cursor-promoted clickables, iframe refs, and frame metadata.
pnpm test:docker:skill-install	Installs the packed tarball in a bare Docker runner with skills.install.allowUploadedArchives: false, resolves a current skill slug from live ClawHub search, installs via openclaw skills install, and verifies SKILL.md, .clawhub/origin.json, .clawhub/lock.json, and skills info --json.
pnpm test:docker:live-cli-backend:claude, :claude:resume, :claude:mcp	Focused CLI backend live probes; Gemini has matching :resume and :mcp aliases.
pnpm test:docker:openwebui	Dockerized OpenClaw + Open WebUI: sign in, check /api/models, run a real proxied chat through /api/chat/completions. Requires a usable live model key and pulls an external image; not expected to be CI-stable like the unit/e2e suites.
pnpm test:docker:mcp-channels	Seeded Gateway container plus a client container spawning openclaw mcp serve: routed conversation discovery, transcript reads, attachment metadata, live event queue behavior, outbound send routing, and Claude-style channel + permission notifications over the real stdio bridge (assertion reads raw stdio MCP frames directly).
pnpm test:docker:upgrade-survivor	Installs the packed tarball over a dirty old-user fixture, runs package update plus non-interactive doctor without live provider/channel keys, starts a loopback Gateway, checks agents/channel config/plugin allowlists/workspace/session files/stale legacy plugin dependency state/startup/RPC status survive.
pnpm test:docker:published-upgrade-survivor	Installs openclaw@latest by default, seeds realistic existing-user files, configures via a baked openclaw config set recipe, updates to the packed tarball, runs non-interactive doctor, writes .artifacts/upgrade-survivor/summary.json, checks /healthz, /readyz, RPC status. Override with OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE_SPEC, expand a matrix with OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_BASELINE_SPECS, or add scenario fixtures with OPENCLAW_UPGRADE_SURVIVOR_SCENARIOS=reported-issues (includes configured-plugin-installs and stale-source-plugin-shadow). Package Acceptance exposes these as published_upgrade_survivor_baseline(s) / _scenarios and resolves meta tokens like last-stable-4 or all-since-2026.4.23.
pnpm test:docker:update-migration	Published-upgrade survivor harness in the plugin-deps-cleanup scenario, starting at openclaw@2026.4.23 by default. The Update Migration workflow expands this with baselines=all-since-2026.4.23 to prove configured-plugin dependency cleanup outside Full Release CI.
pnpm test:docker:plugins	Install/update smoke for local path, file:, npm registry packages with hoisted dependencies, git moving refs, ClawHub fixtures, marketplace updates, and Claude-bundle enable/inspect.

Local PR gate

For local PR land/gate checks, run:

• pnpm check:changed
• pnpm check
• pnpm check:test-types
• pnpm build
• pnpm test
• pnpm check:docs

If pnpm test flakes on a loaded host, rerun once before treating it as a regression, then isolate with pnpm test <path/to/test>. For memory-constrained hosts:

• OPENCLAW_VITEST_MAX_WORKERS=1 pnpm test
• OPENCLAW_VITEST_FS_MODULE_CACHE_PATH=/tmp/openclaw-vitest-cache pnpm test:changed

Test performance tooling

• pnpm test:perf:imports: enables Vitest import-duration + import-breakdown reporting, while still using scoped lane routing for explicit file/directory targets. pnpm test:perf:imports:changed scopes the same profiling to files changed since origin/main.
• pnpm test:perf:changed:bench -- --ref <git-ref> benchmarks the routed changed-mode path against the native root-project run for the same committed git diff; pnpm test:perf:changed:bench -- --worktree benchmarks the current worktree change set without committing first.
• pnpm test:perf:profile:main writes a CPU profile for the Vitest main thread (.artifacts/vitest-main-profile); pnpm test:perf:profile:runner writes CPU + heap profiles for the unit runner (.artifacts/vitest-runner-profile).
• pnpm test:perf:groups --full-suite --allow-failures --output .artifacts/test-perf/baseline-before.json: runs every full-suite Vitest leaf config serially and writes grouped duration data plus per-config JSON/log artifacts. Full-suite reports isolate files by default so retained module graphs and GC pauses from earlier files are not charged to later assertions; pass -- --no-isolate only when intentionally profiling shared-worker accumulation. The Test Performance Agent uses this as its baseline before attempting slow-test fixes. pnpm test:perf:groups:compare .artifacts/test-perf/baseline-before.json .artifacts/test-perf/after-agent.json compares grouped reports after a performance-focused change.
• Full, extension, and include-pattern shard runs update local timing data in .artifacts/vitest-shard-timings.json; later whole-config runs use those timings to balance slow and fast shards. Include-pattern CI shards append the shard name to the timing key, which keeps filtered shard timings visible without replacing whole-config timing data. Set OPENCLAW_TEST_PROJECTS_TIMINGS=0 to ignore the local timing artifact.

Benchmarks

pnpm tsx scripts/bench-model.ts --runs 10

Optional env: MINIMAX_API_KEY, MINIMAX_BASE_URL, MINIMAX_MODEL, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Default prompt: "Reply with a single word: ok. No punctuation or extra text."

pnpm test:startup:bench
pnpm test:startup:bench:smoke
pnpm test:startup:bench:save
pnpm test:startup:bench:update
pnpm test:startup:bench:check
pnpm tsx scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts --runs 12
pnpm tsx scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts --preset real --case status --case gatewayStatus --runs 3
pnpm tsx scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts --entry openclaw.mjs --entry-secondary dist/entry.js --preset all

Presets:

• startup: --version, --help, health, health --json, status --json, status
• real: health, status, status --json, sessions, sessions --json, tasks --json, tasks list --json, tasks audit --json, agents list --json, gateway status, gateway status --json, gateway health --json, config get gateway.port
• all: both presets combined

Output includes sampleCount, avg, p50, p95, min/max, exit-code/signal distribution, and max RSS per command. --cpu-prof-dir / --heap-prof-dir write V8 profiles per run.

Saved output: pnpm test:startup:bench:smoke writes .artifacts/cli-startup-bench-smoke.json; pnpm test:startup:bench:save writes .artifacts/cli-startup-bench-all.json (runs=5 warmup=1). Checked-in fixture: test/fixtures/cli-startup-bench.json, refreshed by pnpm test:startup:bench:update, compared by pnpm test:startup:bench:check.

Defaults to the built CLI entry at dist/entry.js; run pnpm build first. Pass --entry scripts/run-node.mjs to measure the source runner instead, and keep those results separate from built-entry baselines.

pnpm test:startup:gateway -- --runs 5 --warmup 1
pnpm test:startup:gateway -- --case skipChannels --case fiftyPlugins --runs 5
node --import tsx scripts/bench-gateway-startup.ts --case default --runs 5 --output .artifacts/gateway-startup.json

Case ids: default, skipChannels (channel startup skipped), oneInternalHook, allInternalHooks, fiftyPlugins (50 manifest plugins), fiftyStartupLazyPlugins (50 startup-lazy manifest plugins).

Output includes first process output, /healthz, /readyz, HTTP listen log time, Gateway ready log time, CPU time, CPU core ratio, max RSS, heap, startup trace metrics, event-loop delay, and plugin lookup-table detail metrics. The script sets OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_STARTUP_TRACE=1 in the child Gateway environment.

/healthz is liveness (HTTP server can answer). /readyz is usable readiness (startup plugin sidecars, channels, and ready-critical post-attach work have settled). Startup hooks dispatch asynchronously and are not part of the readiness guarantee. Ready log time is the Gateway's internal timestamp, useful for process-side attribution but not a substitute for the external /readyz probe.

Use JSON output or --output when comparing changes. Use --cpu-prof-dir only after trace output points at import, compile, or CPU-bound work that phase timings alone cannot explain.

macOS and Linux only (uses SIGUSR1 for in-process restarts; fails immediately on Windows). Same built-entry default and --entry scripts/run-node.mjs override as gateway startup above.

pnpm test:restart:gateway -- --case skipChannels --runs 1 --restarts 5
pnpm test:restart:gateway -- --case default --runs 3 --restarts 3 --warmup 1

Case ids: skipChannels, skipChannelsAcpxProbe (ACPX startup probe on), skipChannelsNoAcpxProbe (probe off), default, fiftyPlugins.

Output includes next /healthz, next /readyz, downtime, restart ready timing, CPU, RSS, startup trace metrics for the replacement process, and restart trace metrics for signal handling, active-work drain, close phases, next start, ready timing, and memory snapshots. The script sets OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_STARTUP_TRACE=1 and OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_RESTART_TRACE=1.

Use this benchmark when a change touches restart signaling, close handlers, startup-after-restart, sidecar shutdown, service handoff, or readiness after restart. Start with skipChannels to isolate Gateway mechanics from channel startup; use default or plugin-heavy cases only after the narrow case explains the restart path. Trace metrics are attribution hints, not verdicts — judge a restart change from multiple samples, the matching owner span, /healthz//readyz behavior, and the user-visible restart contract.

Onboarding E2E (Docker)

Optional; only needed for containerized onboarding smoke tests. Full cold-start flow in a clean Linux container:

scripts/e2e/onboard-docker.sh

Drives the interactive wizard via a pseudo-tty, verifies config/workspace/session files, then starts the gateway and runs openclaw health.

QR import smoke (Docker)

Ensures the maintained QR runtime helper loads under the supported Docker Node runtimes (Node 24 default, Node 22 compatible):

pnpm test:docker:qr

Related

• Testing
• Testing live
• Testing updates and plugins