Refine Tests

Reviews existing test code for conformance to the test-designing-guide and test-writing-guide, detects [Category("Internal")] tests over-promoted for testability and moves them to the public seam (demoting now-unneeded internal methods to private), then produces a refinement plan.

Mode Check

This skill requires plan mode. Before doing anything else, check the current mode:

• ExitPlanMode is in the deferred tools list → not in plan mode → stop immediately and tell the user:

> "This skill (/refine-tests) requires plan mode. Enter plan mode first: use /plan or press Shift+Tab to toggle."

• ExitPlanMode is NOT in the deferred tools list (i.e., directly callable) → in plan mode → proceed.

Scope Check

This skill is for refining existing tests for conformance to the guides. If the request is out of scope, redirect:

• Adding tests for a new feature or spec change → use /plan-feature instead
• A failing test, or a test that verifies incorrect behavior → use /fix-bug instead

Input

One or more target path arguments. Each may be a single test file, a directory (resolved recursively to its test files), or a glob. Resolve the argument(s) to the concrete set of test files to review before proceeding.

Workflow

Step 1: Read the Target Tests

Launch Explore agent(s) to read the target test file(s) and the production code they exercise. Reading the production code is necessary to judge layer-appropriateness and structural-vs-spec-based issues.

Step 2: Conformance Review

Load the test-designing-guide and test-writing-guide skills. Apply all rules that are verifiable from the test code alone — no requirements document is available.

The following sections of test-designing-guide require requirements input or production-design changes and are out of scope:

• Section 5 (requirements coverage / traceability / same-layer witness)
• Section 6 (design-document output format)
• Section 7 (Testability Assessment — remedies require production-design changes)

Produce a Findings list. Each finding records:

• Location: file path + test method name
• Category: which guide + rule violated, or duplicate test (see Step 3)
• Concrete proposed change

Step 3: Duplicate Detection

Compare the target test files against each other and against other tests in the same test class.

A true duplicate has both of the following in common with another test:

• Same condition — identical setup / input
• Same assertion — identical observation / expected value

Do NOT flag tests that share only one:

• Different condition → not a duplicate
• Same condition but different assertion → not a duplicate

For each true duplicate pair, append a Finding to the Findings list from Step 2:

• Proposed change: delete the redundant test (the less accurately named one) and keep the more accurately named one. Name both explicitly.
• Do NOT propose merging same-condition tests into a single multi-assert test.

Exception — defer to Step 4: If one test in a duplicate pair is [Category("Internal")] and the other is a public-seam test, do not apply the name-quality tiebreaker here. Do not delete the public-seam test on naming grounds. Defer the pair to Step 4, which always keeps the public-seam test.

Step 4: Seam Redundancy — Internal-Method Tests

Test through the same seam production code uses. A [Category("Internal")] test exercises an internal method directly. For each such test in the targets, append Findings via two passes. Overriding rule: never trade coverage for a tidier seam; when in doubt, keep the test (and keep internal).

Layer scope: This step operates within the unit test layer only. Tests marked [Category("Integration")] or [Category("VisualVerification")] run under different execution contexts and are not candidates for a covering test — do not consider them when searching for a public-seam test that covers the same scenario.

Pass 1 — classify each [Category("Internal")] test:

1. A public-seam test already covers it (from the test code alone): a separate unit test asserts the same observable outcome for an equivalent scenario through a public method → Finding: delete the internal test, keep the public-seam test (name both).
2. No public-seam test covers it — using the production code read in Step 1:

a. Not fully observable through public — a public caller masks or only partially exposes the asserted outcome → keep the internal test; no Finding. "Cheap to extract" ≠ "observable publicly." b. Sanctioned extraction — the method takes 3 or more parameters (a heuristic; the real trigger is that several independent conditions combine so exhaustive public-seam coverage cost explodes — this can also occur with fewer parameters that each take many values, and may not apply when the extra parameters don't drive branching), and it isolates cohesive sub-logic (a pure computation or decision that depends on only 1–2 of those inputs) → keep the internal test; no Finding. Applies regardless of how the test was created. c. Otherwise (consolidatable into public) → Finding: rewrite the test to assert the same observable outcome through the public method (merge with an existing public-seam test where natural).

Pass 2 — visibility sweep: for each internal method whose direct internal test goes away in Pass 1 (deleted via 1 or moved via 2c), search the whole solution for usages (internal is visible cross-assembly via InternalsVisibleTo — check other production and test assemblies, not just files in scope):

• Test-only seam wrapped in #if UNITY_INCLUDE_TESTS, test now gone → Finding: remove the dead seam.
• Nothing outside the declaring class still needs internal access → Finding: demote the method to private (do not break any #if conditional compilation).
• Any doubt, or any remaining cross-assembly internal use → leave it internal; no Finding.

Pass 2 Findings change production code — record the file path + method explicitly.

Step 5: Review

Read the critical test files. Confirm the proposed changes in the Findings list are consistent with each other and that each change preserves what the test verifies. Also cross-check duplicate findings (Step 3) against conformance findings (Step 2): a test slated for rename must not also be the redundant side of a duplicate finding. For seam-redundancy findings (Step 4): confirm each moved test still asserts the same observable outcome through the public seam, and each demotion / seam-removal finding has no remaining cross-assembly internal user.

Step 6: Write the Plan File

Assemble the plan file with these sections:

1. Context — what is being refined and why
2. Findings — the Findings list from Steps 2–4 (location / rule / proposed change; may include production visibility changes)
3. Refine Workflow — Read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/assets/refine-workflow-template.md and paste its full contents verbatim as the body of this section

Step 7: Call ExitPlanMode

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: nowsprinting
• Source: nowsprinting/unity-coding-skills
• License: Unlicense

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.