Shell Scripting
Skill 158 of 183
Master Bash Automated Testing System (Bats) for comprehensive shell script testing.
1 minute · 230 words · 12 sections
Install
npx skills add wshobson/agents --skill bats-testing-patternsnpx skills add wshobson/agents/plugin marketplace add wshobson/agentsThe first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.
Comprehensive guidance for writing comprehensive unit tests for shell scripts using Bats (Bash Automated Testing System), including test patterns, fixtures, and best practices for production-grade shell testing.
Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.
#!/usr/bin/env bats
@test "Function fails with missing file" {
run my_function "/nonexistent/file.txt"
[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
[[ "$output" == *"not found"* ]]
}
@test "Function fails with invalid input" {
run my_function ""
[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
}
@test "Function fails with permission denied" {
touch "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
chmod 000 "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
run my_function "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt"
[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
chmod 644 "$TMPDIR/readonly.txt" # Cleanup
}
@test "Function provides helpful error message" {
run my_function --invalid-option
[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
[[ "$output" == *"Usage:"* ]]
}#!/usr/bin/env bats
setup() {
# Check for required tools
if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null; then
skip "jq is not installed"
fi
export SCRIPT="${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh"
}
@test "JSON parsing works" {
skip_if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null
run my_json_parser '{"key": "value"}'
[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
}#!/usr/bin/env bats
@test "Script works in bash" {
bash "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
}
@test "Script works in sh (POSIX)" {
sh "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
}
@test "Script works in dash" {
if command -v dash &>/dev/null; then
dash "${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME}/../bin/script.sh" arg1
else
skip "dash not installed"
fi
}#!/usr/bin/env bats
@test "Multiple independent operations" {
run bash -c 'for i in {1..10}; do
my_operation "$i" &
done
wait'
[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
}
@test "Concurrent file operations" {
for i in {1..5}; do
my_function "$TMPDIR/file$i" &
done
wait
[ -f "$TMPDIR/file1" ]
[ -f "$TMPDIR/file5" ]
}#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Source script under test
export SCRIPT_DIR="${BATS_TEST_DIRNAME%/*}/bin"
# Common test utilities
assert_file_exists() {
if [ ! -f "$1" ]; then
echo "Expected file to exist: $1"
return 1
fi
}
assert_file_equals() {
local file="$1"
local expected="$2"
if [ ! -f "$file" ]; then
echo "File does not exist: $file"
return 1
fi
local actual=$(cat "$file")
if [ "$actual" != "$expected" ]; then
echo "File contents do not match"
echo "Expected: $expected"
echo "Actual: $actual"
return 1
fi
}
# Create temporary test directory
setup_test_dir() {
export TEST_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
}
cleanup_test_dir() {
rm -rf "$TEST_DIR"
}name: Tests
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Install Bats
run: |
npm install --global bats
- name: Run Tests
run: |
bats tests/*.bats
- name: Run Tests with Tap Reporter
run: |
bats tests/*.bats --tap | tee test_output.tap.PHONY: test test-verbose test-tap
test:
bats tests/*.bats
test-verbose:
bats tests/*.bats --verbose
test-tap:
bats tests/*.bats --tap
test-parallel:
bats tests/*.bats --parallel 4
coverage: test
# Optional: Generate coverage reportsMaster Bash Automated Testing System (Bats) for comprehensive shell script testing. Use when writing tests for shell scripts, CI/CD pipelines, or requiring test-driven development of shell utilities.
The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.
main, last pushed 21 September 2026.SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 51 distinct layouts observed: plugins/accessibility-compliance/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/agent-teams/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/api-scaffolding/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/avoid-ai-writing/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/backend-development/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/before-you-build/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/block-no-verify/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/blockchain-web3/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/brand-landingpage/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/business-analytics/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/cicd-automation/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/cloud-infrastructure/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/conductor/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/data-engineering/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/database-design/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/developer-essentials/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/dgx-spark-ops/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/documentation-generation/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/documentation-standards/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/dotnet-contribution/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/file-conversion/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/framework-migration/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/frontend-mobile-development/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/game-development/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/hermes-tweet/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/hr-legal-compliance/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/incident-response/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/javascript-typescript/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/kubernetes-operations/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/llm-application-dev/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/llm-finetuning/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/machine-learning-ops/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/observability-monitoring/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/payment-processing/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/plugin-eval/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/pptx-deck-creation/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/protect-mcp/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/python-development/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/quantitative-trading/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/reverse-engineering/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/review-agent-governance/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/security-scanning/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/shell-scripting/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/ship-mate/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/signed-audit-trails/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/skill-forge-essentials/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/social-publishing/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/startup-business-analyst/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/superself/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/systems-programming/skills/*/SKILL.md, plugins/ui-design/skills/*/SKILL.md.h1 and no skipped levels:.claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Seth Hobson, declaring 94 plugins. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree./wshobson/agents.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.1 file · 7 KB
Everything this skill ships beside its prose. All of it is set here, as a subchapter of skill 158.
Documentation the agent loads on demand, rather than up front.