Agent skill

Cpp Testing

by affaan-m in affaan-m/ECC

Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers.

MITAuto-check passedTesting & QA

Install Cpp Testing

skills CLI
$ npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill cpp-testing -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install affaan-m/ECC cpp-testing --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/affaan-m/ECC.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/cpp-testing .claude/skills/cpp-testing && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
cpp-testing
GitHub stars
274k
Used in
4 other repos
Token cost
~2.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
482 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
657
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers.

  • Works in 3 steps: RED: write a failing test that captures… → GREEN: implement the smallest change to… → REFACTOR: clean up while tests stay green
  • Tasks that involve Failing and flaky tests
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use, Core Concepts, TDD Workflow and Code Examples, plus 8 more sections
  • Calls cmake; reaches github.com

What it does

Cpp Testing is an agent skill from affaan-m/ECC. Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Testing & QA, covering Failing and flaky tests. It works with C++. The repository describes itself as: The agent harness performance optimization system. Skills, instincts, memory, security, and research-first development for Claude Code, Codex, Opencode, Cursor and beyond. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Failing and flaky tests

Example prompts

  • “/cpp-testing”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. RED: write a failing test that captures the new behavior
  2. GREEN: implement the smallest change to pass
  3. REFACTOR: clean up while tests stay green

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit ef648e0. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • cmake

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • github.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Cpp Testing loads about 2.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 39 tokens; SKILL.md has 482 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~39
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from affaan-m/ECC at commit ef648e0, republished under its MIT licence (© affaan-m). 482 words, ~2,289 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/cpp-testing/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
cpp-testing
description
Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers.
metadata.origin
ECC

C++ Testing (Agent Skill)

Agent-focused testing workflow for modern C++ (C++17/20) using GoogleTest/GoogleMock with CMake/CTest.

When to Use

  • Writing new C++ tests or fixing existing tests
  • Designing unit/integration test coverage for C++ components
  • Adding test coverage, CI gating, or regression protection
  • Configuring CMake/CTest workflows for consistent execution
  • Investigating test failures or flaky behavior
  • Enabling sanitizers for memory/race diagnostics
When NOT to Use
  • Implementing new product features without test changes
  • Large-scale refactors unrelated to test coverage or failures
  • Performance tuning without test regressions to validate
  • Non-C++ projects or non-test tasks

Core Concepts

  • TDD loop: red → green → refactor (tests first, minimal fix, then cleanups).
  • Isolation: prefer dependency injection and fakes over global state.
  • Test layout: tests/unit, tests/integration, tests/testdata.
  • Mocks vs fakes: mock for interactions, fake for stateful behavior.
  • CTest discovery: use gtest_discover_tests() for stable test discovery.
  • CI signal: run subset first, then full suite with --output-on-failure.

TDD Workflow

Follow the RED → GREEN → REFACTOR loop:

  1. RED: write a failing test that captures the new behavior
  2. GREEN: implement the smallest change to pass
  3. REFACTOR: clean up while tests stay green
cpp
// tests/add_test.cpp
#include <gtest/gtest.h>

int Add(int a, int b); // Provided by production code.

TEST(AddTest, AddsTwoNumbers) { // RED
  EXPECT_EQ(Add(2, 3), 5);
}

// src/add.cpp
int Add(int a, int b) { // GREEN
  return a + b;
}

// REFACTOR: simplify/rename once tests pass

Code Examples

Basic Unit Test (gtest)
cpp
// tests/calculator_test.cpp
#include <gtest/gtest.h>

int Add(int a, int b); // Provided by production code.

TEST(CalculatorTest, AddsTwoNumbers) {
    EXPECT_EQ(Add(2, 3), 5);
}
Fixture (gtest)
cpp
// tests/user_store_test.cpp
// Pseudocode stub: replace UserStore/User with project types.
#include <gtest/gtest.h>
#include <memory>
#include <optional>
#include <string>

struct User { std::string name; };
class UserStore {
public:
    explicit UserStore(std::string /*path*/) {}
    void Seed(std::initializer_list<User> /*users*/) {}
    std::optional<User> Find(const std::string &/*name*/) { return User{"alice"}; }
};

class UserStoreTest : public ::testing::Test {
protected:
    void SetUp() override {
        store = std::make_unique<UserStore>(":memory:");
        store->Seed({{"alice"}, {"bob"}});
    }

    std::unique_ptr<UserStore> store;
};

TEST_F(UserStoreTest, FindsExistingUser) {
    auto user = store->Find("alice");
    ASSERT_TRUE(user.has_value());
    EXPECT_EQ(user->name, "alice");
}
Mock (gmock)
cpp
// tests/notifier_test.cpp
#include <gmock/gmock.h>
#include <gtest/gtest.h>
#include <string>

class Notifier {
public:
    virtual ~Notifier() = default;
    virtual void Send(const std::string &message) = 0;
};

class MockNotifier : public Notifier {
public:
    MOCK_METHOD(void, Send, (const std::string &message), (override));
};

class Service {
public:
    explicit Service(Notifier &notifier) : notifier_(notifier) {}
    void Publish(const std::string &message) { notifier_.Send(message); }

private:
    Notifier &notifier_;
};

TEST(ServiceTest, SendsNotifications) {
    MockNotifier notifier;
    Service service(notifier);

    EXPECT_CALL(notifier, Send("hello")).Times(1);
    service.Publish("hello");
}
CMake/CTest Quickstart
cmake
# CMakeLists.txt (excerpt)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(example LANGUAGES CXX)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

include(FetchContent)
# Prefer project-locked versions. If using a tag, use a pinned version per project policy.
set(GTEST_VERSION v1.17.0) # Adjust to project policy.
FetchContent_Declare(
  googletest
  # Google Test framework (official repository)
  URL https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/refs/tags/${GTEST_VERSION}.zip
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(googletest)

add_executable(example_tests
  tests/calculator_test.cpp
  src/calculator.cpp
)
target_link_libraries(example_tests GTest::gtest GTest::gmock GTest::gtest_main)

enable_testing()
include(GoogleTest)
gtest_discover_tests(example_tests)
bash
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build -j
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

Running Tests

bash
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
ctest --test-dir build -R ClampTest
ctest --test-dir build -R "UserStoreTest.*" --output-on-failure
bash
./build/example_tests --gtest_filter=ClampTest.*
./build/example_tests --gtest_filter=UserStoreTest.FindsExistingUser

Debugging Failures

  1. Re-run the single failing test with gtest filter.
  2. Add scoped logging around the failing assertion.
  3. Re-run with sanitizers enabled.
  4. Expand to full suite once the root cause is fixed.

Coverage

Prefer target-level settings instead of global flags.

cmake
option(ENABLE_COVERAGE "Enable coverage flags" OFF)

if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
  if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "GNU")
    target_compile_options(example_tests PRIVATE --coverage)
    target_link_options(example_tests PRIVATE --coverage)
  elseif(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
    target_compile_options(example_tests PRIVATE -fprofile-instr-generate -fcoverage-mapping)
    target_link_options(example_tests PRIVATE -fprofile-instr-generate)
  endif()
endif()

GCC + gcov + lcov:

bash
cmake -S . -B build-cov -DENABLE_COVERAGE=ON
cmake --build build-cov -j
ctest --test-dir build-cov
lcov --capture --directory build-cov --output-file coverage.info
lcov --remove coverage.info '/usr/*' --output-file coverage.info
genhtml coverage.info --output-directory coverage

Clang + llvm-cov:

bash
cmake -S . -B build-llvm -DENABLE_COVERAGE=ON -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++
cmake --build build-llvm -j
LLVM_PROFILE_FILE="build-llvm/default.profraw" ctest --test-dir build-llvm
llvm-profdata merge -sparse build-llvm/default.profraw -o build-llvm/default.profdata
llvm-cov report build-llvm/example_tests -instr-profile=build-llvm/default.profdata

Sanitizers

cmake
option(ENABLE_ASAN "Enable AddressSanitizer" OFF)
option(ENABLE_UBSAN "Enable UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer" OFF)
option(ENABLE_TSAN "Enable ThreadSanitizer" OFF)

if(ENABLE_ASAN)
  add_compile_options(-fsanitize=address -fno-omit-frame-pointer)
  add_link_options(-fsanitize=address)
endif()
if(ENABLE_UBSAN)
  add_compile_options(-fsanitize=undefined -fno-omit-frame-pointer)
  add_link_options(-fsanitize=undefined)
endif()
if(ENABLE_TSAN)
  add_compile_options(-fsanitize=thread)
  add_link_options(-fsanitize=thread)
endif()

Flaky Tests Guardrails

  • Never use sleep for synchronization; use condition variables or latches.
  • Make temp directories unique per test and always clean them.
  • Avoid real time, network, or filesystem dependencies in unit tests.
  • Use deterministic seeds for randomized inputs.

Best Practices

Show full SKILL.md (199 more words)Show less
DO
  • Keep tests deterministic and isolated
  • Prefer dependency injection over globals
  • Use ASSERT_* for preconditions, EXPECT_* for multiple checks
  • Separate unit vs integration tests in CTest labels or directories
  • Run sanitizers in CI for memory and race detection
DON'T
  • Don't depend on real time or network in unit tests
  • Don't use sleeps as synchronization when a condition variable can be used
  • Don't over-mock simple value objects
  • Don't use brittle string matching for non-critical logs
Common Pitfalls
  • Using fixed temp paths → Generate unique temp directories per test and clean them.
  • Relying on wall clock time → Inject a clock or use fake time sources.
  • Flaky concurrency tests → Use condition variables/latches and bounded waits.
  • Hidden global state → Reset global state in fixtures or remove globals.
  • Over-mocking → Prefer fakes for stateful behavior and only mock interactions.
  • Missing sanitizer runs → Add ASan/UBSan/TSan builds in CI.
  • Coverage on debug-only builds → Ensure coverage targets use consistent flags.

Optional Appendix: Fuzzing / Property Testing

Only use if the project already supports LLVM/libFuzzer or a property-testing library.

  • libFuzzer: best for pure functions with minimal I/O.
  • RapidCheck: property-based tests to validate invariants.

Minimal libFuzzer harness (pseudocode: replace ParseConfig):

cpp
#include <cstddef>
#include <cstdint>
#include <string>

extern "C" int LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput(const uint8_t *data, size_t size) {
    std::string input(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(data), size);
    // ParseConfig(input); // project function
    return 0;
}

Alternatives to GoogleTest

  • Catch2: header-only, expressive matchers
  • doctest: lightweight, minimal compile overhead

© affaan-m, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/cpp-testing of affaan-m/ECC.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit ef648e0

Used in 4 other repositories

We found 10 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 4 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in affaan-m/ECC, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Cpp Testing next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Cpp Testing compared with similar skills
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Cpp Testing this skillaffaan-m/ECC274k4 repos~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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Fory Performance Optimizationapache/fory4.6k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
MCP Debuggerdebugmcp/mcp-debugger171—~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Dbgtheodo-group/debug-that158—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Cpp Testing

What does Cpp Testing do?

Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers. Cpp Testing is an agent skill from affaan-m/ECC. Use only when writing/updating/fixing C++ tests, configuring GoogleTest/CTest, diagnosing failing or flaky tests, or adding coverage/sanitizers.

When should I use Cpp Testing?

Cpp Testing fits situations like: tasks that involve Failing and flaky tests.

How do I install Cpp Testing in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill cpp-testing -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/cpp-testing in affaan-m/ECC) into .claude/skills/cpp-testing in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Cpp Testing in Codex?

Run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill cpp-testing -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/cpp-testing in affaan-m/ECC) into .agents/skills/cpp-testing in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Cpp Testing in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill cpp-testing -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cpp-testing, .gemini/skills/cpp-testing, .github/skills/cpp-testing and .opencode/skills/cpp-testing in your project.

What does Cpp Testing need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Cpp Testing needs the command-line tools its instructions call (cmake).

Does Cpp Testing access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: github.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Cpp Testing safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Cpp Testing use?

Cpp Testing is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Cpp Testing use?

About 2.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Cpp Testing?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cpp Testing: PlotJuggler Ship Check (PlotJuggler/PlotJuggler, 6.2k stars), Failure Oriented Instrumentation (ArabelaTso/Skills-4-SE, 253 stars), Fory Performance Optimization (apache/fory, 4.6k stars) and MCP Debugger (debugmcp/mcp-debugger, 171 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Cpp Testing?

affaan-m (a GitHub user) maintains it in affaan-m/ECC, which has 274,360 GitHub stars. The repository holds 657 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.

Source: affaan-m/ECC on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.