outside-in-tdd

Outside-in TDD is a development workflow that starts with end-to-end tests and progressively drills down to unit tests across architectural layers. It guides implementation by cycling through failing tests, writing code to pass them, and refactoring.

You can implement a feature by triggering an automated TDD workflow that plans the feature, writes failing end-to-end tests first, drills down through architectural layers to unit tests, implements the code, and refactors until all tests pass.

Yes, this workflow triggers automatically for new feature implementation requests. It orchestrates the strict outside-in testing methodology to build features by enforcing testing at each appropriate architectural layer, starting from end-to-end down to units.

Outside-in TDD starts from end-to-end tests to define the feature's external behavior, then progressively drills down to unit tests across architectural layers. Traditional unit-first TDD starts with isolated component tests and builds outward, often lacking comprehensive end-to-end coverage from the start.

Yes, the workflow guides the AI through the complete refactoring phase for each architectural layer after the implementation reaches a passing state. It ensures code quality is maintained while keeping all end-to-end and unit tests green.

You should avoid outside-in TDD when building features with unclear or rapidly changing external requirements, as rewriting end-to-end tests repeatedly becomes costly. It suits features where defining the expected external behavior upfront is feasible.