sar/.agents/skills/bmad-checkpoint-preview/step-04-testing.md

Step 4: Testing

Display: Orientation → Walkthrough → Detail Pass → [Testing]

Follow Global Step Rules in SKILL.md

• This is experiential, not analytical. The detail pass asked "did you think about X?" — this says "you could see X with your own eyes."
• Do not prescribe. The human decides whether observing the behavior is worth their time. Frame suggestions as options, not obligations.
• Do not duplicate CI, test suites, or automated checks. Assume those exist and work. This is about manual observation — the kind of confidence-building no automated test provides.
• If the change has no user-visible behavior, say so explicitly. Do not invent observations.

IDENTIFY OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR

Scan the diff and spec for changes that produce behavior a human could directly observe. Categories to look for:

• UI changes — new screens, modified layouts, changed interactions, error states
• CLI/terminal output — new commands, changed output, new flags or options
• API responses — new endpoints, changed payloads, different status codes
• State changes — database records, file system artifacts, config effects
• Error paths — bad input, missing dependencies, edge conditions

For each observable behavior, determine:

1. What to do — the specific action (command to run, button to click, request to send)
2. What to expect — the observable result that confirms the change works
3. Why bother — one phrase connecting this observation to the change's intent (omit if obvious from context)

Target 2–5 suggestions for a typical change. If more than 5 qualify, prioritize by how much confidence the observation provides relative to effort. A change with zero observable behavior is fine — do not pad with trivial observations.

PRESENT

Output as a single message:

Orientation → Walkthrough → Detail Pass → [Testing]

Then the testing suggestions using this format:

### How to See It Working

**{Brief description}**
Do: {specific action}
Expect: {observable result}

**{Brief description}**
Do: {specific action}
Expect: {observable result}

Include code blocks for commands or requests where helpful.

If the change has no observable behavior, replace the suggestions with:

### How to See It Working

This change is internal — no user-visible behavior to observe. The diff and tests tell the full story.

Closing

End the message with:

---

You've seen the change and how to verify it. When you're ready to make a call, just say so.

NEXT

When the human signals they're ready to make a decision about this {change_type}, read fully and follow ./step-05-wrapup.md