Go Integration Testing with Testcontainers

When to Use This Skill

• Writing integration tests that need real infrastructure (databases, caches, message queues)
• Testing data access layers against actual databases instead of mocks
• Verifying message queue or cache integrations
• Testing database migrations and schema changes
• Ensuring tests work against production-like environments in CI/CD

Core Principles

1. Real Infrastructure Over Mocks - Use actual databases/services in containers, not mocks
2. Test Isolation - Each test gets fresh containers or clean data via snapshots
3. Automatic Cleanup - testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr) handles lifecycle
4. Idiomatic Go - Table-driven tests, t.Helper(), t.Cleanup(), subtests
5. Context Propagation - Pass context.Context to all container operations
6. Port Randomization - Containers use random ports to avoid conflicts

Reference Guide

Load detailed guidance based on context:

Topic	Reference	Load When
Advanced Patterns	references/advanced-patterns.md	Multi-container networks, Kafka, snapshots, TestMain, CI/CD

Go Module Setup

go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go
go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/postgres
go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/mysql
go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/redis
go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/rabbitmq
go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/kafka

Why Testcontainers Over Mocks?

// BAD: Mocking a database - doesn't test real SQL behavior
type mockDB struct{}
func (m *mockDB) GetUser(id string) (*User, error) {
    return &User{ID: id, Name: "Alice"}, nil // No real query executed
}

// GOOD: Test against a real database with testcontainers
func TestGetUser(t *testing.T) {
    ctx := context.Background()
    ctr, err := postgres.Run(ctx, "postgres:16-alpine",
        postgres.WithDatabase("testdb"),
        postgres.WithUsername("test"),
        postgres.WithPassword("test"),
        postgres.BasicWaitStrategies(),
    )
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    connStr, err := ctr.ConnectionString(ctx)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    db, err := sql.Open("pgx", connStr)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    defer db.Close()

    // Test real SQL queries, constraints, and behavior
}

Pattern 1: PostgreSQL Integration Tests

package repository_test

import (
    "context"
    "database/sql"
    "testing"

    "github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
    "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
    "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/postgres"
    _ "github.com/jackc/pgx/v5/stdlib"
)

func setupPostgres(t *testing.T) *sql.DB {
    t.Helper()
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := postgres.Run(ctx, "postgres:16-alpine",
        postgres.WithDatabase("testdb"),
        postgres.WithUsername("test"),
        postgres.WithPassword("test"),
        postgres.BasicWaitStrategies(),
    )
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    connStr, err := ctr.ConnectionString(ctx)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    db, err := sql.Open("pgx", connStr)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    t.Cleanup(func() { db.Close() })

    // Run migrations
    _, err = db.ExecContext(ctx, `
        CREATE TABLE users (
            id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
            name TEXT NOT NULL,
            email TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL
        )`)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    return db
}

func TestUserRepository(t *testing.T) {
    db := setupPostgres(t)
    repo := NewUserRepository(db)

    t.Run("Create", func(t *testing.T) {
        err := repo.Create(context.Background(), &User{Name: "Alice", Email: "alice@test.com"})
        require.NoError(t, err)
    })

    t.Run("GetByEmail", func(t *testing.T) {
        user, err := repo.GetByEmail(context.Background(), "alice@test.com")
        require.NoError(t, err)
        require.Equal(t, "Alice", user.Name)
    })
}

Pattern 2: MySQL Integration Tests

func setupMySQL(t *testing.T) *sql.DB {
    t.Helper()
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := mysql.Run(ctx, "mysql:8.0.36",
        mysql.WithDatabase("testdb"),
        mysql.WithUsername("test"),
        mysql.WithPassword("test"),
    )
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    connStr, err := ctr.ConnectionString(ctx)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    db, err := sql.Open("mysql", connStr)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    t.Cleanup(func() { db.Close() })

    return db
}

Pattern 3: Redis Integration Tests

package cache_test

import (
    "context"
    "testing"

    "github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
    "github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
    "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
    tcredis "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/redis"
)

func setupRedis(t *testing.T) *redis.Client {
    t.Helper()
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := tcredis.Run(ctx, "redis:7")
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    endpoint, err := ctr.Endpoint(ctx, "")
    require.NoError(t, err)

    client := redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{Addr: endpoint})
    t.Cleanup(func() { client.Close() })

    return client
}

func TestCacheService(t *testing.T) {
    client := setupRedis(t)
    cache := NewCacheService(client)
    ctx := context.Background()

    t.Run("SetAndGet", func(t *testing.T) {
        err := cache.Set(ctx, "key1", "value1", 0)
        require.NoError(t, err)

        val, err := cache.Get(ctx, "key1")
        require.NoError(t, err)
        require.Equal(t, "value1", val)
    })

    t.Run("GetMiss", func(t *testing.T) {
        _, err := cache.Get(ctx, "nonexistent")
        require.ErrorIs(t, err, ErrCacheMiss)
    })
}

Pattern 4: RabbitMQ Integration Tests

package messaging_test

import (
    "context"
    "testing"

    amqp "github.com/rabbitmq/amqp091-go"
    "github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
    "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go"
    "github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go/modules/rabbitmq"
)

func setupRabbitMQ(t *testing.T) *amqp.Connection {
    t.Helper()
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := rabbitmq.Run(ctx, "rabbitmq:3-management-alpine",
        rabbitmq.WithAdminUsername("guest"),
        rabbitmq.WithAdminPassword("guest"),
    )
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    endpoint, err := ctr.AmqpURL(ctx)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    conn, err := amqp.Dial(endpoint)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    t.Cleanup(func() { conn.Close() })

    return conn
}

func TestPublishAndConsume(t *testing.T) {
    conn := setupRabbitMQ(t)
    ctx := context.Background()

    ch, err := conn.Channel()
    require.NoError(t, err)
    defer ch.Close()

    q, err := ch.QueueDeclare("test-queue", false, true, false, false, nil)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    // Publish
    body := []byte("hello")
    err = ch.PublishWithContext(ctx, "", q.Name, false, false, amqp.Publishing{
        ContentType: "text/plain",
        Body:        body,
    })
    require.NoError(t, err)

    // Consume
    msgs, err := ch.Consume(q.Name, "", true, false, false, false, nil)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    msg := <-msgs
    require.Equal(t, body, msg.Body)
}

Pattern 5: Generic Container

For services without a dedicated module:

func setupMinio(t *testing.T) string {
    t.Helper()
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := testcontainers.Run(ctx, "minio/minio:latest",
        testcontainers.WithExposedPorts("9000/tcp"),
        testcontainers.WithEnv(map[string]string{
            "MINIO_ROOT_USER":     "minioadmin",
            "MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD": "minioadmin",
        }),
        testcontainers.WithCmd("server", "/data"),
        testcontainers.WithWaitStrategy(
            wait.ForListeningPort("9000/tcp"),
        ),
    )
    testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    endpoint, err := ctr.Endpoint(ctx, "")
    require.NoError(t, err)

    return endpoint
}

Pattern 6: Table-Driven Integration Tests

Combine testcontainers with Go's table-driven test pattern:

func TestOrderRepository_Create(t *testing.T) {
    db := setupPostgres(t)
    repo := NewOrderRepository(db)

    tests := []struct {
        name    string
        order   Order
        wantErr bool
    }{
        {
            name:  "valid order",
            order: Order{CustomerID: "CUST1", Total: 99.99},
        },
        {
            name:    "missing customer ID",
            order:   Order{Total: 50.00},
            wantErr: true,
        },
        {
            name:    "negative total",
            order:   Order{CustomerID: "CUST2", Total: -10.00},
            wantErr: true,
        },
    }

    for _, tt := range tests {
        t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
            err := repo.Create(context.Background(), &tt.order)
            if tt.wantErr {
                require.Error(t, err)
                return
            }
            require.NoError(t, err)
            require.NotZero(t, tt.order.ID)
        })
    }
}

Pattern 7: Shared Container with TestMain

Reuse a single container across all tests in a package for speed:

package repository_test

var testDB *sql.DB

func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
    ctx := context.Background()

    ctr, err := postgres.Run(ctx, "postgres:16-alpine",
        postgres.WithDatabase("testdb"),
        postgres.WithUsername("test"),
        postgres.WithPassword("test"),
        postgres.BasicWaitStrategies(),
    )
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    connStr, err := ctr.ConnectionString(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    testDB, err = sql.Open("pgx", connStr)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    // Run migrations
    runMigrations(testDB)

    code := m.Run()

    testDB.Close()
    testcontainers.TerminateContainer(ctr)
    os.Exit(code)
}

func TestWithSharedDB(t *testing.T) {
    // Use testDB directly - container is shared across all tests
    repo := NewUserRepository(testDB)
    // ...
}

Best Practices

1. Use testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr) - Automatic cleanup tied to test lifecycle
2. Use t.Helper() - Mark setup functions as helpers for clean stack traces
3. Use t.Cleanup() - Register deferred cleanup for connections and clients
4. Prefer module APIs - postgres.Run(), tcredis.Run() over generic containers
5. Random ports always - Never bind fixed ports; use Endpoint() or ConnectionString()
6. Share containers with TestMain - One container per package, not per test
7. Table-driven tests - Combine with real infrastructure for comprehensive coverage
8. Context propagation - Pass context.Background() to container operations
9. Race detector - Always run integration tests with go test -race
10. Build tags - Separate integration tests with //go:build integration

Build Tag Separation

//go:build integration

package repository_test

// These tests only run with: go test -tags=integration ./...

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
Container startup timeout	Increase Docker resource limits or use lightweight images (alpine)
Port conflicts	Always use random ports via Endpoint() - never fixed ports
Tests fail in CI	Ensure CI runner has Docker (ubuntu-latest on GitHub Actions)
Slow test suite	Share containers via TestMain instead of per-test containers
Flaky connection	Use module-provided wait strategies (postgres.BasicWaitStrategies())
Leaked containers	Always call testcontainers.CleanupContainer(t, ctr) immediately after Run