ginkgo

Author good Ginkgo specs — container nodes (Describe/Context/When), subject nodes (It/Specify), setup/cleanup nodes (BeforeEach, JustBeforeEach, AfterEach, DeferCleanup, BeforeSuite/AfterSuite), the "declare in container, initialize in BeforeEach" rule, separating creation from configuration, reusable test helpers with GinkgoHelper()/GinkgoHelperGo(), and By/GinkgoWriter output. Use when writing or reviewing specs or extracting a test helper. Covers the tree-construction-time pitfalls (no assertions/init/loop-capture in container bodies).

Make Ginkgo specs interruptible and test asynchronous behavior — SpecContext/context.Context cancellable nodes, NodeTimeout/SpecTimeout/GracePeriod, the --timeout flag, Abort and SIGINT behavior, Gomega Eventually/Consistently (the func(g Gomega) form, .WithContext), and the defer GinkgoRecover() rule for goroutines. Use when a spec hangs or times out, polls for eventual consistency, tests channels/streams/processes, launches goroutines, or needs a deadline.

Parameterize and generate Ginkgo specs — DescribeTable/Entry table-driven specs, Entry descriptions (string, nil, closure, EntryDescription), PEntry/FEntry and per-Entry decorators, DescribeTableSubtree, generating specs in a construction-time loop, loading fixtures in TestXxx before RunSpecs, and shared-behavior closures. Use when you have repetitive specs differing only by inputs, want data-driven or generated specs, or are extracting reusable It blocks across Contexts.

Wire Ginkgo into a Go package — install the ginkgo CLI and Ginkgo+Gomega, ginkgo bootstrap to generate the suite_test.go (TestXxx/RegisterFailHandler(Fail)/RunSpecs), the package xxx_test convention, dot-import alternatives (aliased import, dsl/* subpackages, --nodot), ginkgo generate, and *testing.T interop via GinkgoT()/GinkgoTB() for testify/gomock. Use when first adding Ginkgo to a repo, bootstrapping a suite, or integrating a *testing.T-based library.

Run Ginkgo suites with the ginkgo CLI — run, -r, -p, --dry-run, watch, build (precompiled .test binaries), generate, outline, unfocus, labels, version; spec randomization (--randomize-all/--randomize-suites/--seed); running multiple suites (--keep-going/--skip-package/--compilers); previewing (--dry-run, PreviewSpecs); and parameterizing a suite via env vars or init()-registered flags after -- plus GinkgoConfiguration() overrides. Use when running suites locally, precompiling, watching for changes, or parameterizing a run from the command line. For a CI configuration see ginkgo:ci.

Generate, consume, and enrich Ginkgo reports — console verbosity (-v/-vv/--trace/--no-color/--succinct), machine-readable reports (--json-report/--junit-report with --output-dir/--keep-separate-reports), programmatic reporting nodes (ReportAfterEach, ReportAfterSuite, CurrentSpecReport), AddReportEntry with ReportEntryVisibility, and profiling (--cover/--race/--cpuprofile/--memprofile). Use when you need a report file, custom suite-level reporting, attaching data to a spec, controlling console output, or profiling a suite.

Run Ginkgo suites in parallel — ginkgo -p / --procs, the separate-process (not goroutine) model, SynchronizedBeforeSuite/SynchronizedAfterSuite vs BeforeSuite, GinkgoParallelProcess() for sharding ports/tmpdirs/databases, building a binary once via gexec, and piping child-process output to GinkgoWriter. Use when parallelizing a suite, speeding up integration tests, fixing parallel-only flakes/races, sharding external resources, or choosing between BeforeSuite and SynchronizedBeforeSuite.

The Ginkgo mental model for writing Go tests — the one idea that explains everything (Ginkgo builds a spec tree at construction time, then runs it) and its consequences for how you write specs, plus spec independence and the node taxonomy. Use this first when you start working with Ginkgo in a project, or to decide how to approach a Ginkgo task. Routes to the other ginkgo:* skills.

Control spec ordering and manage flaky specs — Serial, Ordered containers with BeforeAll/AfterAll/ContinueOnFailure, OncePerOrdered, SpecPriority, plus FlakeAttempts/--flake-attempts, MustPassRepeatedly, --repeat, and --until-it-fails. Use when specs must run in a fixed order, you need once-per-group setup, you're combining Serial+Ordered, a spec is flaky, or you want to hunt order-dependence with --until-it-fails -p --randomize-all.

Run a subset of a Ginkgo suite — Pending/PIt/XIt, runtime Skip, programmatic Focus/FIt (and ginkgo unfocus), Label with the --label-filter query language and label sets, suite-level labels, SemVerConstraint/--sem-ver-filter, --focus/--skip and --focus-file/--skip-file, the filtering precedence rules, and --fail-on-pending/--fail-on-empty. Use when you want to run, skip, focus, label, or version-gate specs, or debug why specs were or weren't selected.

One-line reference for every Ginkgo decorator, grouped by what it does, with the node types each can decorate — Serial, Ordered, ContinueOnFailure, OncePerOrdered, Label, Focus, Pending, FlakeAttempts, MustPassRepeatedly, NodeTimeout, SpecTimeout, GracePeriod, PollProgressAfter/Interval, SuppressProgressReporting, SpecPriority, SemVerConstraint, AroundNode, Offset/CodeLocation, EntryDescription. Use to look up a decorator's exact name, semantics, and where it's legal.

Diagnose a failing Ginkgo suite as an agent — always run with --json-report into a predictable temp/gitignored location, read the terminal verdict line, then use jq to extract structured failure details (name, message, file:line, panic value, captured logs). Covers the panicked-vs-failed trap, panic locations pointing into the Go runtime, parallel output interleaving, reproducing with --seed, and progress reports for hangs. Use when a suite failed and you need to know why. Also invokable as /ginkgo:debugging-failures.

Configure Ginkgo for continuous integration — the recommended CLI flag set and the rationale for each flag (-r -p --randomize-all --randomize-suites --fail-on-pending --fail-on-empty --keep-going --cover --race --trace --json-report --timeout --poll-progress-after/-interval), invoking via go run to pin the CLI to go.mod, the exit-code safeguards that catch committed Focus/Pending and empty filters, collecting report and coverage artifacts with --output-dir, and CI-friendly output (--github-output/--force-newlines/--no-color). Use when setting up or hardening a CI pipeline for a Ginkgo suite.