Testing Skills With Subagents

Testing Skills With Subagents

Overview

Testing skills is just TDD applied to process documentation.

Choose your testing approach based on development phase:

• Fast variant: Quick iteration during skill development (15-30 min)
• Slow variant: Rigorous validation before deployment (45-90 min)

Announce at start: "I'm using the testing-skills-with-subagents skill."

Workflow

Follow this workflow exactly - do not skip steps:

graph TD
    a@{ shape: stadium, label: "Start: Announce Skill Usage" }
    b@{ shape: rect, label: "Ask Variant Question" }
    c@{ shape: diam, label: "Variant Choice?" }
    d@{ shape: rect, label: "Read variants/​fast-conversational.md" }
    e@{ shape: rect, label: "Read variants/​slow-isolated.md" }
    f@{ shape: stadium, label: "Execute Variant Workflow" }

    a --> b
    b --> c
    c -->|Fast| d
    c -->|Slow| e
    d --> f
    e --> f

    classDef start fill:#ccffcc
    classDef decision fill:#ffffcc
    classDef action fill:#ccccff

    a:::start
    c:::decision
    b:::action
    d:::action
    e:::action
    f:::start

Design Rationale: Mermaid flowchart provides visual enforcement of workflow sequence, preventing LLM from skipping announcement or variant question.

Step 1: Choose Testing Variant

<critical-instruction> Use the AskUserQuestion tool with these exact parameters: </​critical-instruction>

Question: "Which testing variant do you want to use?"

Options:

1. "Fast: Conversational testing with control scenarios" - 15-30 min iteration, lightweight logging, good for skill development
2. "Slow: Worktree-based isolated testing" - 45-90 min validation, full infrastructure, deployment-ready confidence

Trade-offs:

Step 2: Execute Selected Variant

<critical-instruction> Based on the user's variant choice from Step 1:

IF user selected "Fast: Conversational testing":

• Read the file: variants/​fast-conversational.md
• Follow ALL instructions in that file

IF user selected "Slow: Worktree-based testing":

• Read the file: variants/​slow-isolated.md
• Follow ALL instructions in that file

Do NOT proceed without reading the selected variant file. </​critical-instruction>

Error Handling

If variant file doesn't exist: Display this error message:

❌ Error: Variant file not found

Expected file: variants/​{variant-name}.md

This indicates incomplete skill installation. Please check:
1. File structure is correct (.claude/​skills/​testing-skills-with-subagents/​variants/)
2. Variant files exist (fast-conversational.md, slow-isolated.md)
3. Repository is up to date

Cannot proceed without variant file.

Design Rationale:

• <critical-instruction> tags ensure LLM doesn't skip file read
• Context passed forward but doesn't override variant's workflow
• Clear error message for missing files