# Testing

Concept · [Technical basics](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical)

Also called: QA, quality assurance, tests, test, automated tests

Checking that software does what it should, before your users find the problems for you.

**For example:** Before each [deployment](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/deployment), someone walks through signup, booking and payment to confirm each still works. Many teams also write code that runs these [checks](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/automated-check) automatically.

## Connects to (22)

- [Bug](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/bug): A mistake in software that makes it behave in a way nobody intended.
- [Beta](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/beta): A version of the product released to a limited group of people so you can find problems before the full launch.
- [Production](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/production): The live version of your app that real customers use.
- [CI/CD](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ci-cd): Continuous integration and continuous delivery: automation that runs the tests on every change pushed to the repository and, when they…
- [Environment](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/environment): A separate copy of a system used for one purpose.
- [Evals](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/evals): Tests that check whether the outputs of a model or an AI product meet the criteria its builders set.
- [Benchmark](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/benchmark): A shared, public test used to score different models on the same tasks so they can be compared.
- [Vibe coding vs software engineering](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/vibe-coding-vs-software-engineering): Two ways to build software with AI.
- [Automated check](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/automated-check): A test or rule a computer runs to catch problems without a person looking, such as tests, type checkers and style checkers.
- [Feature flag](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/feature-flag): A switch in the code that turns a feature on or off without shipping new code.
- [Red-green-refactor](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/red-green-refactor): A way of writing code in three steps: write a test that fails (red), write just enough code to make it pass (green), then clean up the…
- [Makefile](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/makefile): A file that lists named shortcuts for a project's routine commands, run with a tool called make.
- [Probabilistic vs deterministic](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/probabilistic-vs-deterministic): Deterministic software gives the same output for the same input every time.
- [Web browser](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/web-browser): The app people use to open websites and web apps, such as Chrome or Safari.
- [promptfoo](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/promptfoo): An open-source tool for testing prompts and AI apps.
- [Braintrust](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/braintrust): A platform for evaluating and monitoring AI products.
- [TypeScript](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/typescript): JavaScript with types added.
- [xcbeautify](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/xcbeautify): A small open-source command-line tool that makes the long build output of Xcode easier to read.
- [GitHub Actions](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/github-actions): GitHub's service for running automatic jobs when code changes, such as running tests and deploying the app.
- [Playwright](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/playwright): An open-source tool from Microsoft that controls web browsers automatically, used to test that a website works by clicking through it like…
- [Google Chrome](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/chrome): Google's web browser, the most widely used one.
- [Safari](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/safari): Apple's web browser, built into iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/testing