Testbench Documentation Skill

Purpose

This skill provides comprehensive knowledge of Orchestra Testbench — the standard tool for testing, developing, and previewing Laravel packages. It covers Testbench, Testbench Dusk, and Workbench components.

Key Components

• Testbench — Write feature/integration tests for Laravel packages by extending Orchestra\Testbench\TestCase
• Testbench Dusk — Browser-based testing via Orchestra\Testbench\Dusk\TestCase
• Workbench — Preview and interact with packages during development via serve command
• CLI — vendor/bin/testbench provides artisan-like commands for the stub Laravel skeleton

Quick Reference

Installation

composer require --dev "orchestra/testbench"        # Testbench
composer require --dev "orchestra/testbench-dusk"   # Dusk support
vendor/bin/testbench workbench:install              # Scaffold package

Testbench YAML Configuration

Key	Type	Description
laravel	string	Path to Laravel skeleton
providers	array	Service providers to load
migrations	array	Migration paths
seeders	array	Seeder classes
dont-discover	array	Packages to ignore
bootstrappers	array	Bootstrapper classes
env	array	CLI environment variables
purge	array	Files/directories to prune
workbench	object	Workbench settings (welcome, install, start, user, auth, guard, sync, build, assets, discovers)

Base TestCase Setup

class TestCase extends \Orchestra\Testbench\TestCase
{
    use Orchestra\Testbench\Concerns\WithWorkbench;
}

Key TestCase Methods

Method	Purpose
getPackageProviders($app)	Register service providers
getPackageAliases($app)	Register facades
defineEnvironment($app)	Set config/env before boot
defineRoutes($router)	Define routes early
defineDatabaseMigrations()	Configure DB migrations
applicationBasePath()	Custom Laravel skeleton path
ignorePackageDiscoveriesFrom()	Exclude package discovery
resolveApplicationConsoleKernel($app)	Swap console kernel
resolveApplicationHttpKernel($app)	Swap HTTP kernel

Database Testing

// In-memory SQLite
#[WithEnv('DB_CONNECTION', 'testing')]
// or in phpunit.xml:
<env name="DB_CONNECTION" value="testing"/>

// RefreshDatabase — runs package migrations only
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;

// Run Laravel default migrations
#[WithMigration]
#[WithMigration('laravel', 'cache', 'queue')] // specific tables

// Custom migrations from workbench
use function Orchestra\Testbench\workbench_path;
$this->loadMigrationsFrom(workbench_path('database/migrations'));

Route Testing

// Inline route definition
protected function defineRoutes($router)
{
    $router->get('hello', fn () => 'Hello World');
}

// Per-test route via attribute
#[DefineRoute('usesAuthRoutes')]
public function it_loads_auth_routes() { }

// Per-test via annotation (deprecated)
/** @define-route usesAuthRoutes */

Environment Overrides

// In phpunit.xml
<env name="APP_KEY" value="AckfSECXIvnK5r28GVIWUAxmbBSjTsmF"/>

// In TestCase
protected $loadEnvironmentVariables = false;

// Per-test via attribute
#[DefineEnvironment('usesMySqlConnection')]

// Via config repository
protected function defineEnvironment($app)
{
    $app['config']->set('database.default', 'testing');
}

CLI Commands

vendor/bin/testbench migrate                  # Run migrations
vendor/bin/testbench package:create-sqlite-db # Create SQLite DB
vendor/bin/testbench package:drop-sqlite-db   # Drop SQLite DB
vendor/bin/testbench package:purge-skeleton   # Reset skeleton
vendor/bin/testbench package:test             # Run tests (with Collision)
vendor/bin/testbench package:test --parallel  # Parallel testing
vendor/bin/testbench workbench:install        # Scaffold workbench
vendor/bin/testbench serve                    # Preview package
composer run serve                            # Workbench serve alias

Testbench Dusk

class DuskTestCase extends \Orchestra\Testbench\Dusk\TestCase
{
    use WithWorkbench;

    protected static $baseServeHost = '127.0.0.1';
    protected static $baseServePort = 9000;
}

// With/without UI
use Orchestra\Testbench\Dusk\Options;
Options::withUI();
Options::withoutUI();

// Per-test app config changes
$this->beforeServingApplication(function ($app, $config) {
    $config->set('mail.default', 'log');
});

Version Compatibility

Laravel	Testbench	Testbench Dusk	Workbench
8.x	6.x	6.x	—
9.x	7.x	7.x	7.x
10.x	8.x	8.x	8.x
11.x	9.x	9.x	9.x
12.x	10.x	10.x	10.x

Common Pitfalls

• DB_CONNECTION — Use testing for in-memory SQLite (declares sqlite driver with :memory:)
• APP_KEY — Required if app uses encryption; set in phpunit.xml
• Dusk + Testbench in same suite — Override applicationBasePath() to use Dusk's skeleton for all test classes
• ChromeDriver errors — Run vendor/bin/dusk-updater update
• Legacy factories — Require laravel/legacy-factories when supporting Laravel < 8
• No auto-discovery by default — Use $enablesPackageDiscoveries = true or explicit providers

Related Files

• Config — testbench.yaml
• Test Base — tests/TestCase.php
• Workbench — workbench/ directory (app, routes, database, config)
• Docs — .agent/skills/testbench-docs/