Use PHPUnit with Laravel's testing helpers. Every test file starts with declare(strict_types=1).
tests/Feature/): HTTP requests through the full stack — routes, controllers, middleware, validation, database. Use $this->getJson(), $this->postJson(), etc.tests/Unit/): Isolated logic — services, actions, value objects, helpers. No HTTP, minimal database.Default to feature tests for anything touching routes, controllers, or models. Use unit tests for pure logic and action classes.
\nuse RefreshDatabase trait in every test class that touches the databaseDB::table() insertstest_ prefix: test_user_can_update_own_profileactingAs($user) for auth — use this instead of manually setting sessions or tokenspostJson() / getJson() for API endpoints — sets proper Accept headers and returns JSON assertionsQueue::fake() then act then Queue::assertPushed(...)assertDatabaseHas / assertDatabaseMissing to verify persistence — use these instead of re-queryingresolve() so DI works; use swap() to inject mocks<?php\n\ndeclare(strict_types=1);\n\nnamespace Tests\\Feature;\n\nuse App\\Models\\{User, Post};\nuse Illuminate\\Foundation\\Testing\\RefreshDatabase;\nuse Tests\\TestCase;\n\nfinal class PostTest extends TestCase\n{\n use RefreshDatabase;\n\n public function test_authenticated_user_can_create_post(): void\n {\n $user = User::factory()->create();\n\n $response = $this->actingAs($user)\n ->postJson('/api/posts', ['title' => 'New Post', 'body' => 'Content']);\n\n $response->assertCreated()\n ->assertJson(['data' => ['title' => 'New Post']]);\n\n $this->assertDatabaseHas('posts', [\n 'title' => 'New Post',\n 'user_id' => $user->id,\n ]);\n }\n}\nData providers for boundary/validation testing:
\n#[DataProvider('titleLengthProvider')]\npublic function test_validates_title_length(string $title, bool $valid): void\n{\n $user = User::factory()->create();\n $response = $this->actingAs($user)\n ->postJson('/api/posts', ['title' => $title, 'body' => 'Content']);\n\n $valid ? $response->assertCreated() : $response->assertUnprocessable();\n}\n\npublic static function titleLengthProvider(): array\n{\n return [\n 'too short' => ['AB', false],\n 'minimum valid' => ['ABC', true],\n 'maximum valid' => [str_repeat('A', 255), true],\n 'too long' => [str_repeat('A', 256), false],\n ];\n}\nSee feature testing patterns for auth, validation, API, console, and DB assertions.
\nSee mocking and faking for facade fakes (Queue, Event, Notification, Mail, Storage, Http), action mocking with swap(), and Mockery.
See factories for states, relationships, sequences, and afterCreating hooks.
\nFor large test suites, call PHPUnit directly to avoid artisan's memory overhead:
\n./vendor/bin/phpunit # all tests (direct, lower memory)\n./vendor/bin/phpunit --filter=PostTest # by name\n./vendor/bin/phpunit --processes=auto # parallel (PHPUnit 11+)\n./vendor/bin/phpunit --coverage-text --min=80 # with coverage threshold\n\nphp artisan test # small suites or quick runs\nphp -d memory_limit=1G artisan test # if artisan needed on large suites\n