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Axiom Testing

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Streamline your Swift testing process with ease.

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Free · Opens the source repo

What Axiom Testing does

Axiom Testing is a comprehensive skill designed for developers working with Swift who need to write, debug, and optimize tests. It covers a wide range of testing scenarios including unit tests, UI tests, async testing, and more. This skill is particularly useful for those transitioning from XCTest to Swift Testing, providing clear guidance on how to leverage the latest features and best practices in Swift.

The skill includes detailed references to various testing strategies, such as using Swift Testing for unit tests with @Test macros and #expect assertions, as well as techniques for making tests run faster and without the need for simulators. For UI testing, Axiom Testing offers insights into XCUITest, including condition-based waiting patterns and the ability to record UI automation. Additionally, it addresses common challenges like flaky tests and race conditions, providing tools to analyze and debug these issues effectively.

Whether you are a beginner looking to establish a solid foundation in testing or an experienced developer aiming to refine your testing strategy, Axiom Testing equips you with the necessary resources to enhance your testing workflow. It serves as a go-to reference for any testing-related questions, ensuring that you can quickly find the information you need to implement effective tests in your Swift projects.

When to use it

Use Axiom Testing when you need to write tests, debug failures, or optimize testing processes in Swift applications.

When not to use it

This skill may not be suitable for non-Swift projects or for users looking for features outside the scope of testing, such as general programming help.

What you can build with it

Writing Unit Tests

Use Axiom Testing to create unit tests in Swift, leveraging @Test macros and #expect assertions for effective testing.

Debugging UI Tests

Utilize the skill to troubleshoot flaky UI tests, employing condition-based waiting and recording techniques.

Testing Async Functions

Implement async testing strategies using Axiom Testing to ensure proper handling of callbacks and expected outcomes.

How to install Axiom Testing

View source

1. Install with the skills CLI

npx skills add charleswiltgen/axiom/axiom-testing --agent claude-code

2. Or install it manually

Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs

Inside SKILL.md

Written by charleswiltgen

Testing

You MUST use this skill for ANY testing-related question, including writing tests, debugging test failures, making tests faster, or choosing between testing approaches.

<!-- AXIOM_AUDITOR_INLINE_BEGIN — auto-maintained by scripts/build-inlined-auditors.ts; do not hand-edit -->

Not on Claude Code? Where this router says "Launch some-auditor agent", read that auditor's file in this suite and follow it inline — the same procedure, needing only file search and read.

Available here: skills/test-failure-analyzer.md, skills/testing-auditor.md.

Agents that need Bash — builds, tests, simulators, crash symbolication — stay Claude Code-only; there is no inline equivalent for those.

<!-- AXIOM_AUDITOR_INLINE_END -->

Quick Reference

Symptom / TaskReference
Writing unit tests, Swift Testing (@Test, #expect)See skills/swift-testing.md
Making tests run without simulatorSee skills/swift-testing.md
Parameterized tests, tags, traitsSee skills/swift-testing.md
Migrating from XCTest to Swift TestingSee skills/swift-testing.md
Warning-severity issues / cancelling a test — Issue.record(severity:), Test.cancel (OS27)See skills/swift-testing.md
Testing async/await functionsSee skills/testing-async.md
confirmation for callbacksSee skills/testing-async.md
@MainActor tests, parallel executionSee skills/testing-async.md
Writing UI tests, XCUITestSee skills/ui-testing.md
Condition-based waiting patternsSee skills/ui-testing.md
Recording UI Automation (Xcode 26)See skills/ui-testing.md
Network conditioning, multi-factor testingSee skills/ui-testing.md
Testing resizable apps: dimension matrix, RTL/pseudoloc launch args, live-resize passesSee skills/ui-testing.md
Test Face ID/Touch ID, orientation, or simulator state from CI — devicectlSee skills/ui-testing.md
XCUIElement queries, waiting strategiesSee skills/xctest-automation.md
Accessibility identifiers, test plansSee skills/xctest-automation.md
CI/CD test executionSee skills/xctest-automation.md
Record/Replay/Review workflow (Xcode 26)See skills/ui-recording.md
Test plan multi-configuration replaySee skills/ui-recording.md
Enhancing recorded tests for stabilitySee skills/ui-recording.md
Testing a generative AI feature — output isn't deterministic, so #expect(result == expected) doesn't hold (OS27)See axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations.md) for the discipline, then axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations-ref.md) for the API

Decision Tree

digraph testing {
    start [label="Testing task" shape=ellipse];
    what [label="What kind of test?" shape=diamond];

    start -> what;
    what -> "skills/swift-testing.md" [label="unit tests,\nSwift Testing,\nfast tests"];
    what -> "skills/testing-async.md" [label="testing async code,\ncallbacks,\nconfirmation"];
    what -> "skills/ui-testing.md" [label="UI tests,\nflaky tests,\nrecording"];
    what -> "skills/xctest-automation.md" [label="XCUITest patterns,\nelement queries"];
    what -> "skills/ui-recording.md" [label="Xcode 26\nRecord/Replay/Review"];
    what -> "axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations.md)" [label="generative AI feature\n(nondeterministic output)"];
}
  1. Writing unit tests / Swift Testing? → skills/swift-testing.md
  2. Testing async/await code? → skills/testing-async.md
  3. Writing UI tests / XCUITest / flaky tests? → skills/ui-testing.md
  4. XCUIElement queries, waiting, test plans, CI? → skills/xctest-automation.md
  5. Record UI interactions (Xcode 26)? → skills/ui-recording.md
  6. Flaky tests / race conditions (Swift Testing)? → test-failure-analyzer (Agent)
  7. Tests crash / environment wrong? → See axiom-build (skills/xcode-debugging.md)
  8. Run tests from CLI / parse results? → test-runner (Agent)
  9. Fix failing tests automatically? → test-debugger (Agent)
  10. Want test quality audit? → testing-auditor (Agent) or /axiom:audit testing
  11. Automate without XCUITest / AXe CLI? → simulator-tester (Agent) + See axiom-xcode-mcp (skills/axe-ref.md)
  12. Testing a Foundation Models / generative feature? → See axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations.md) for the discipline (dataset design, guardrails vs optimization target, judge calibration), then axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations-ref.md) for the API. The Evaluations framework (OS27) runs inside Swift Testing via the .evaluates trait — it doesn't replace it. A model isn't a pure function, so you score outputs against a dataset and gate on an aggregate metric instead of asserting on one exact string.

Swift Testing vs XCTest Quick Guide

NeedUse
Unit tests (logic, models)Swift Testing
UI tests (tap, swipe, assert screens)XCUITest (XCTest)
Tests without simulatorSwift Testing + Package/Framework
Parameterized testsSwift Testing
Performance measurementsXCTest (XCTMetric)
Objective-C testsXCTest

Critical Patterns

Swift Testing (skills/swift-testing.md):

  • @Test/@Suite macros, #expect/#require assertions
  • Parameterized testing for eliminating repetitive tests
  • Fast tests architecture: Package extraction, Host Application: None
  • Reliable async testing with withMainSerialExecutor and TestClock
  • Migration guide from XCTest (comparison table)
  • XCTestCase + Swift 6.2 MainActor compatibility fix

Async Testing (skills/testing-async.md):

  • confirmation for single/multiple callbacks
  • expectedCount: 0 to verify something never happens
  • @MainActor test isolation
  • Timeout control with .timeLimit
  • Parallel execution gotchas and .serialized

UI Testing (skills/ui-testing.md):

  • Condition-based waiting (replaces sleep())
  • Recording UI Automation (Xcode 26)
  • Network conditioning for 3G/LTE testing
  • Multi-factor testing (device size + network speed)
  • Crash debugging from UI test failures

XCUITest Automation (skills/xctest-automation.md):

  • Element identification with accessibilityIdentifier
  • Waiting strategies (appear, disappear, hittable)
  • Test plans for multi-configuration testing
  • CI/CD integration with parallel execution

UI Recording (skills/ui-recording.md):

  • Xcode 26 Record/Replay/Review workflow
  • Enhancing recorded code for stability
  • Query selection guidelines
  • Test plan configuration for multi-language replay

Automated Scanning

Test quality audit → Launch testing-auditor agent or /axiom:audit testing (maps test coverage shape against production code, detects flaky patterns and speed issues, identifies untested critical paths, scores overall test health)

Flaky test analysis → Launch test-failure-analyzer agent (scans for patterns causing intermittent failures in Swift Testing: missing confirmation, shared mutable state, missing @MainActor)

Anti-Rationalization

ThoughtReality
"Simple test question, I don't need the skill"Proper patterns prevent test debt. skills/swift-testing.md has copy-paste solutions.
"I know XCTest well enough"Swift Testing is significantly better for unit tests. Migration guide included.
"Tests are slow but it's fine"Fast tests enable TDD. skills/swift-testing.md shows how to run without simulator.
"I'll fix the flaky test with a sleep()"sleep() makes tests slower AND flakier. skills/ui-testing.md has condition-based waiting.
"I'll add tests later"Tests written after implementation miss edge cases.
"I'll test the AI feature by asserting the model returns the right string"A model isn't a pure function — that test fails on a synonym and passes on a fluent lie. Score a dataset and gate on an aggregate metric: axiom-ai (skills/foundation-models-evaluations.md).
"The AI output looked good when I tried it, so it's tested"Trying a few prompts by hand measures nothing and catches no regression. That's the exact gap the Evaluations framework exists to close.

Example Invocations

User: "How do I write a unit test in Swift?" → Read: skills/swift-testing.md

User: "My UI tests are flaky in CI" → Check codebase: XCUIApplication/XCUIElement? → skills/ui-testing.md → Check codebase: @Test/#expect? → test-failure-analyzer (Agent)

User: "How do I test async code without flakiness?" → Read: skills/testing-async.md

User: "What's the Swift Testing equivalent of XCTestExpectation?" → Read: skills/testing-async.md

User: "I want my tests to run faster" → Read: skills/swift-testing.md (Strategy 1: Package extraction)

User: "Should I use Swift Testing or XCTest?" → Read: skills/swift-testing.md (Migration section) + this decision tree

User: "How do I record UI automation in Xcode 26?" → Read: skills/ui-recording.md

User: "Run my tests and show me what failed" → Invoke: test-runner (Agent)

User: "Audit my tests for quality issues" → Invoke: testing-auditor (Agent)

Frequently asked questions about Axiom Testing

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