Testing Philosophy
Overview
The test suite is organized in layers of increasing scope:
| Layer | What It Tests | Count | Command |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit tests | Individual compiler components (lexer, parser, semantic, IR, codegen, runtime) | varies | cargo test --workspace |
| E2E compilation | Full pipeline from Solidity source to NEF + manifest | 80 tests | cargo test --test e2e_compilation_tests |
| Conformance | Output correctness against reference Neo implementations | 40 vectors | cargo test --test conformance_tests |
| Strict compatibility | Compilation of all devpack and example contracts | script-defined | make test-compile-strict |
| Neo-Express smoke | Deploy + invoke on a real local Neo chain | 16+ scripts | make test-deploy-smoke-full |
| Tooling | TypeScript packages (Hardhat, Foundry, ABI router) | varies | make tooling-test |
| C# runtime | EVM-compatible runtime primitives | varies | make runtime-test |
Each layer catches different classes of bugs. Unit tests catch logic errors in individual passes. E2E tests catch integration issues between passes. Conformance tests catch behavioral divergence from Neo N3. Smoke tests catch deployment and invocation failures that only manifest on a real chain.
Quick Feedback Loop
During development, start with the smallest relevant Rust test or cargo test --workspace when the change touches shared compiler/runtime behavior. Exact runtime depends on the local machine and enabled features.