testability-obstacle

Imported from dotnet/skills (plugins/dotnet-test/skills/testability-obstacle/SKILL.md) via skills.sh. Install upstream with npx skills add dotnet/skills --skill testability-obstacle. Copyright stays with the author (MIT).

Resolve a Testability Obstacle

Introduce the smallest behavior-preserving seam needed to test a specific C# behavior, then add deterministic tests that prove both the behavior and the seam. The production edit is a means to the requested test, not an invitation to redesign adjacent code.

When to Use

• A requested test would otherwise read/write the real filesystem.
• Behavior depends on the current time, delay, random value, environment, console, process, or another ambient dependency.
• The user explicitly permits or requests a safe production seam.
• Existing tests cannot control a dependency without process-global mutation.

When Not to Use

• The dependency is already injected or passed as an argument. Write tests with a fake through the existing seam using code-testing.
• The user wants a repository-wide testability audit. Use detect-static-dependencies.
• The user wants wrappers generated but not call sites/tests changed. Use generate-testability-wrappers.
• The user requests a broad mechanical migration. Use migrate-static-to-wrapper, then generate tests separately.
• The user already selected an existing replacement such as TimeProvider or IFileSystem and asks to migrate call sites to it. Use migrate-static-to-wrapper, which also updates affected tests.
• The code is not C#/.NET.

Inputs

Workflow

Step 1: Prove the obstacle

Read the target production path and its existing tests. Identify the exact ambient operation preventing a deterministic test and the behavior that must remain unchanged. Do not run a repository-wide static scan for a single-class request.

If an adequate seam already exists, stop refactoring and use it. This skill adds no value when a fake can already be supplied.

Step 2: Select the smallest safe seam

Choose by dependency and repository constraints:

The scoped AsyncLocal<T> rule applies to every static API that must retain its public static shape — clocks, filesystem access, environment lookups, identity generation, and randomness. The scope captures and restores the previous value; never implement Dispose() as an unconditional assignment to null. Store the provider/value itself in AsyncLocal<T>. Do not put a mutable Stack<T>, list, or other shared mutable collection in the slot: child execution contexts can inherit the same object and corrupt each other's nesting. When the provider itself is mutable (for example an in-memory store or fake time provider), establish a fresh provider inside each parallel flow rather than mutating one inherited instance from a parent context.

Constructor injection is the default for instance classes. Reuse the repository's DI and naming conventions, but do not add a DI container to a class library just to satisfy this workflow.

Preserve the existing public construction surface unless the user authorizes an API change. Keep a public parameterless constructor as the real-dependency default and place a test-only delegate/provider constructor at the narrowest visibility the test project can reach. Do not turn the seam into a new public optional parameter merely for test convenience.

For a static class or a public API that cannot change, use a scoped ambient seam only when constructor/parameter injection is impossible. The override must:

• flow across await (AsyncLocal<T>, not [ThreadStatic]);
• return IDisposable and restore the previous value, including nested scopes;
• default to the real production dependency;
• avoid a process-global mutable fake that makes tests non-parallel.

Use built-in fake-time-aware overloads instead of inventing an IDelay wrapper:

Test delayed behavior by starting the operation, proving it is incomplete, advancing FakeTimeProvider, then awaiting it. For a deadline or boundary, advance to immediately before the deadline and assert the task is still incomplete before advancing across it; an immediate post-start assertion alone does not prove the boundary. Never wait for wall-clock time.

For a nested ambient override, each scope captures the value active when it starts and restores that value exactly once. Dispose scopes in LIFO order with using/finally; never reset the slot unconditionally to null. Tests must observe the outer value after an inner scope ends normally and, when requested, after an exception unwinds the inner scope. Use distinct values so clearing the slot cannot accidentally pass. Also overlap independent async flows and assert that each sees only its own fresh override. Do not mutate process environment variables to test an environment seam.

var previous = s_provider.Value;
s_provider.Value = provider;
return new RestoreScope(() => s_provider.Value = previous);

Step 3: Preserve behavior and API shape

Keep the production change mechanical:

• Wrap only members used by the target behavior.
• Default implementations delegate directly to the original API.
• Preserve exceptions, path handling, time zone, and DateTime.Kind.
• Keep existing public signatures unless the user explicitly permits an API change.
• Do not move business logic into the wrapper or fix unrelated production bugs.

Deterministic serialized text is a deliberate exception to preserving ambient platform formatting. If the user asks for exact reproducible output across platforms, use the format's explicit separator (use literal \n when none is specified) and assert that literal content. Keep Environment.NewLine only when platform-native output is part of the existing contract.

For time replacements:

• DateTime.UtcNow -> timeProvider.GetUtcNow().UtcDateTime
• DateTime.Now -> timeProvider.GetLocalNow().LocalDateTime
• DateTimeOffset.UtcNow -> timeProvider.GetUtcNow()
• DateTimeOffset.Now -> timeProvider.GetLocalNow()

Step 4: Keep production defaults wired

Update every composition root or constructor call affected by the seam. Production must still use real time/filesystem/etc. by default. If the project uses DI, register the default implementation with the lifetime matching repository conventions. If it does not use DI, compose explicitly; do not introduce a container. An existing manual factory must pass the real dependency explicitly (for example, new ExpirationPolicy(TimeProvider.System)). Do not move responsibility into an optional constructor or add an optional provider parameter to the factory.

Build the affected production project before writing tests. A compile failure here is a seam problem, not a test problem.

Step 5: Write deterministic tests

Use the repository's existing test project. If none exists, invoke scaffold-dotnet-test-project first.

Tests must supply controlled dependencies:

• fixed/advanced time rather than wall-clock waiting;
• an in-memory fake filesystem or hand-rolled fake rather than temp/real files;
• no environment mutation, external process, console input, or network.

Before authoring a test, inspect its test project and follow the existing framework, global-using, and assertion conventions. Use the framework packages already referenced by that project; never add a hand-rolled FactAttribute, a substitute test-framework type, or unrelated test-project plumbing to make a test compile.

Assert the requested business result and at least one interaction/state observable that proves the fake dependency drove the path. Include a production-default test only when it can remain deterministic; never touch the real filesystem merely to prove the adapter delegates.

Cover every explicitly requested behavior and edge case. A theory or shared helper may keep the suite compact, but do not drop a case to minimize test count or replace retained tests with a smaller set. The seam should be minimal; the verification should still be complete.

Choose the narrowest seam that supports the behavior. A single File.WriteAllText call can be an injected Action<string, string> with a real default; do not create an interface, implementation, friend-assembly setting, and extra project wiring unless repository conventions or multiple operations justify them.

Preserve the public API surface as well as existing signatures. Do not add a public dependency-injecting constructor solely for tests. When a class currently has only its implicit public parameterless constructor and the exact test assembly is known, keep that constructor behavior and make the test-only constructor internal; an InternalsVisibleTo entry is justified in this narrow case because it prevents the seam from becoming public API. Prefer an existing repository friend-assembly convention when one is present.

Do not add InternalsVisibleTo when an existing public seam already accepts the fake or the test project can otherwise supply it. Friend-assembly access is justified only when the chosen minimum constructor/delegate seam must remain internal to preserve the public API and the exact test assembly is known.

Step 6: Verify the complete path

Run the affected production build and the narrowest targeted test command. Run a repository-level test command only when the user requested broad validation, the repository contract requires that entry point, or the seam changes shared composition used beyond the target. Re-read the diff and confirm:

1. every production change is required by the seam;
2. no real ambient resource is used by the new tests;
3. current-time semantics and public behavior are preserved;
4. existing tests were not replaced or duplicated.

Inspect the test summary, not only the exit code. Zero discovered tests, a build without the requested test run, or any failing/erroring test means the task is incomplete. Fix discovery/execution and rerun before reporting success. When a new test does not compile, correct its imports, assertion overload, or async test shape against the existing test framework before changing the production seam; do not emulate missing framework APIs in source. For a static ambient seam, completion requires executed tests for substitution, nested restoration, exception restoration when requested, and overlapping async-flow isolation; production compilation alone is never sufficient. Capture the passing test count or requested test names in the handoff. If no test was discovered or the output does not prove execution, correct the project/test source and rerun rather than reporting the seam as validated.

Output Contract

Provide a compact Requirement | Evidence table. Cite the production seam, production default wiring, exact test names, and passing commands. If a package restore or build blocks validation, report that blocker rather than claiming the tests pass.

Validation

• The original obstacle was concrete and in the requested path.
• An existing seam was reused when available.
• The new abstraction exposes only members required by the target behavior.
• Production defaults still delegate to the original dependency.
• The seam did not enlarge the public API when an internal test seam was sufficient.
• Time conversions preserve local/UTC and DateTime.Kind semantics.
• Static ambient overrides are async-safe, scoped, nested, and reversible.
• New tests use fixed/in-memory dependencies and no real I/O or wall clock.
• Production build and targeted/repository tests pass with at least one requested test discovered.

Common Pitfalls