Testing Guide
Test Types & When to Use
Note: TCL tests are being phased out in favor of the .sqltest suites in sqlite/conformance/. The .sqltest format allows the same test cases to run against multiple backends (CLI, Rust bindings, etc.).
Running Tests
Writing Tests
.sqltest (Preferred)
Location: sqlite/conformance/sqlite-sqltests/*.sqltest
You must start converting TCL tests with the convert command from the test runner (e.g cargo run -- convert <TCL_test_path> -o <out_dir>). It is not always accurate, but it will convert most of the tests. If some conversion emits a warning you will have to write by hand whatever is missing from it (e.g unroll a for each loop by hand). Then you need to verify the tests work by running them with make -C sqlite/conformance run-rust, and adjust their output if something was wrong with the conversion. Also, we use harcoded databases in TCL, but with .sqltest we generate the database with a different seed, so you will probably need to change the expected test result to match the new database query output. Avoid changing the SQL statements from the test, just change the expected result
TCL
Location: testing/*.test
Rust Integration
Assertions
Prefer the asserting crate for anything more than trivial assertions. The assertions it offers are extensive
and make tests more readable. Some simple examples:
crate::assertions adds row! for result rows, plus column and query-plan
assertions:
Key Rules
- Every functional change needs a test
- Test must fail without change, pass with it
- Prefer in-memory DBs:
:memory:(sqltest) or{:memory:}(TCL) - Don't invent new test formats. Follow existing patterns
- Write tests first when possible
Test Database Schema
testing/system/testing.db has users and products tables. See docs/testing.md for schema.
Logging During Tests
Output: testing/system/test.log. Warning: very verbose.


