---
summary: "Testing utilities and patterns for OpenClaw plugins"
title: "Plugin testing"
sidebarTitle: "Testing"
read_when:
  - You are writing tests for a plugin
  - You need test utilities from the plugin SDK
  - You want to understand contract tests for bundled plugins
---

Reference for test utilities, patterns, and lint enforcement for OpenClaw
plugins.

<Tip>
  **Looking for test examples?** The how-to guides include worked test examples:
  [Channel plugin tests](/plugins/sdk-channel-plugins#step-6-test) and
  [Provider plugin tests](/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins#step-6-test).
</Tip>

## Test utilities

**Import:** `openclaw/plugin-sdk/testing`

The testing subpath exports a narrow set of helpers for plugin authors:

```typescript
import {
  installCommonResolveTargetErrorCases,
  shouldAckReaction,
  removeAckReactionAfterReply,
} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/testing";
```

### Available exports

| Export                                 | Purpose                                                |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `installCommonResolveTargetErrorCases` | Shared test cases for target resolution error handling |
| `shouldAckReaction`                    | Check whether a channel should add an ack reaction     |
| `removeAckReactionAfterReply`          | Remove ack reaction after reply delivery               |

### Types

The testing subpath also re-exports types useful in test files:

```typescript
import type {
  ChannelAccountSnapshot,
  ChannelGatewayContext,
  OpenClawConfig,
  PluginRuntime,
  RuntimeEnv,
  MockFn,
} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/testing";
```

## Testing target resolution

Use `installCommonResolveTargetErrorCases` to add standard error cases for
channel target resolution:

```typescript
import { describe } from "vitest";
import { installCommonResolveTargetErrorCases } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/testing";

describe("my-channel target resolution", () => {
  installCommonResolveTargetErrorCases({
    resolveTarget: ({ to, mode, allowFrom }) => {
      // Your channel's target resolution logic
      return myChannelResolveTarget({ to, mode, allowFrom });
    },
    implicitAllowFrom: ["user1", "user2"],
  });

  // Add channel-specific test cases
  it("should resolve @username targets", () => {
    // ...
  });
});
```

## Testing patterns

### Testing registration contracts

Unit tests that pass a hand-written `api` mock to `register(api)` do not exercise
OpenClaw's loader acceptance gates. Add at least one loader-backed smoke test
for each registration surface your plugin depends on, especially hooks and
exclusive capabilities such as memory.

The real loader fails plugin registration when required metadata is missing or a
plugin calls a capability API it does not own. For example,
`api.registerHook(...)` requires a hook name, and
`api.registerMemoryCapability(...)` requires the plugin manifest or exported
entry to declare `kind: "memory"`.

### Testing runtime config access

Prefer the shared plugin runtime mock from the repo test helpers when testing
bundled plugins. Its deprecated `runtime.config.loadConfig()` and
`runtime.config.writeConfigFile(...)` mocks throw by default so tests catch new
usage of compatibility APIs. Override those mocks only when the test is
explicitly covering legacy compatibility behavior.

### Unit testing a channel plugin

```typescript
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";

describe("my-channel plugin", () => {
  it("should resolve account from config", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: {
        "my-channel": {
          token: "test-token",
          allowFrom: ["user1"],
        },
      },
    };

    const account = myPlugin.setup.resolveAccount(cfg, undefined);
    expect(account.token).toBe("test-token");
  });

  it("should inspect account without materializing secrets", () => {
    const cfg = {
      channels: {
        "my-channel": { token: "test-token" },
      },
    };

    const inspection = myPlugin.setup.inspectAccount(cfg, undefined);
    expect(inspection.configured).toBe(true);
    expect(inspection.tokenStatus).toBe("available");
    // No token value exposed
    expect(inspection).not.toHaveProperty("token");
  });
});
```

### Unit testing a provider plugin

```typescript
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";

describe("my-provider plugin", () => {
  it("should resolve dynamic models", () => {
    const model = myProvider.resolveDynamicModel({
      modelId: "custom-model-v2",
      // ... context
    });

    expect(model.id).toBe("custom-model-v2");
    expect(model.provider).toBe("my-provider");
    expect(model.api).toBe("openai-completions");
  });

  it("should return catalog when API key is available", async () => {
    const result = await myProvider.catalog.run({
      resolveProviderApiKey: () => ({ apiKey: "test-key" }),
      // ... context
    });

    expect(result?.provider?.models).toHaveLength(2);
  });
});
```

### Mocking the plugin runtime

For code that uses `createPluginRuntimeStore`, mock the runtime in tests:

```typescript
import { createPluginRuntimeStore } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/runtime-store";
import type { PluginRuntime } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/runtime-store";

const store = createPluginRuntimeStore<PluginRuntime>({
  pluginId: "test-plugin",
  errorMessage: "test runtime not set",
});

// In test setup
const mockRuntime = {
  agent: {
    resolveAgentDir: vi.fn().mockReturnValue("/tmp/agent"),
    // ... other mocks
  },
  config: {
    current: vi.fn(() => ({}) as const),
    mutateConfigFile: vi.fn(),
    replaceConfigFile: vi.fn(),
  },
  // ... other namespaces
} as unknown as PluginRuntime;

store.setRuntime(mockRuntime);

// After tests
store.clearRuntime();
```

### Testing with per-instance stubs

Prefer per-instance stubs over prototype mutation:

```typescript
// Preferred: per-instance stub
const client = new MyChannelClient();
client.sendMessage = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ id: "msg-1" });

// Avoid: prototype mutation
// MyChannelClient.prototype.sendMessage = vi.fn();
```

## Contract tests (in-repo plugins)

Bundled plugins have contract tests that verify registration ownership:

```bash
pnpm test -- src/plugins/contracts/
```

These tests assert:

- Which plugins register which providers
- Which plugins register which speech providers
- Registration shape correctness
- Runtime contract compliance

### Running scoped tests

For a specific plugin:

```bash
pnpm test -- <bundled-plugin-root>/my-channel/
```

For contract tests only:

```bash
pnpm test -- src/plugins/contracts/shape.contract.test.ts
pnpm test -- src/plugins/contracts/auth.contract.test.ts
pnpm test -- src/plugins/contracts/runtime.contract.test.ts
```

## Lint enforcement (in-repo plugins)

Three rules are enforced by `pnpm check` for in-repo plugins:

1. **No monolithic root imports** -- `openclaw/plugin-sdk` root barrel is rejected
2. **No direct `src/` imports** -- plugins cannot import `../../src/` directly
3. **No self-imports** -- plugins cannot import their own `plugin-sdk/<name>` subpath

External plugins are not subject to these lint rules, but following the same
patterns is recommended.

## Test configuration

OpenClaw uses Vitest with V8 coverage thresholds. For plugin tests:

```bash
# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run specific plugin tests
pnpm test -- <bundled-plugin-root>/my-channel/src/channel.test.ts

# Run with a specific test name filter
pnpm test -- <bundled-plugin-root>/my-channel/ -t "resolves account"

# Run with coverage
pnpm test:coverage
```

If local runs cause memory pressure:

```bash
OPENCLAW_VITEST_MAX_WORKERS=1 pnpm test
```

## Related

- [SDK Overview](/plugins/sdk-overview) -- import conventions
- [SDK Channel Plugins](/plugins/sdk-channel-plugins) -- channel plugin interface
- [SDK Provider Plugins](/plugins/sdk-provider-plugins) -- provider plugin hooks
- [Building Plugins](/plugins/building-plugins) -- getting started guide