PR Test Plan

Generate a manual test plan for the changes in the current branch. The plan should give a reviewer everything they need to verify the PR -- copy-paste commands, clear pass/fail criteria, and logical grouping by change area.

Instructions

Step 1: Detect base branch

Try these methods in order:

BASE_BRANCH=$(gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q '.defaultBranchRef.name' 2>/dev/null)

BASE_BRANCH=$(git remote show origin 2>/dev/null | grep "HEAD branch" | cut -d: -f2 | xargs)

If both fail, ask the user.

Step 2: Gather change context

Run all of these and capture the results:

git diff $BASE_BRANCH...HEAD --name-only
git diff $BASE_BRANCH...HEAD --stat
git log $BASE_BRANCH..HEAD --oneline

Step 3: Detect project tooling

Check what's available in the project so you can reference real commands (not generic guesses):

Makefile targets: make help 2>/dev/null || grep -E '^[a-z_-]+:.*##' Makefile makefiles/*.mk 2>/dev/null
Package manager: Look for pyproject.toml (uv/pip), package.json (npm/pnpm), Cargo.toml (cargo), go.mod (go)
Test runners: Look for pytest.ini, pyproject.toml [tool.pytest], jest.config.*, .mocharc.*
Project docs: Read AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, or README.md for project-specific test/build instructions
CI config: Check .github/workflows/, Makefile, or Taskfile.yml for existing test commands

Prefer project Makefile targets and documented commands over raw tool invocations. If the project has make test_unit, use that instead of uv run pytest tests/unit/.

Step 4: Categorize changes and confirm with user

Group changed files into categories. Common categories (adapt based on actual changes):

Feature code -- new commands, API routes, services, UI components
Configuration / docs -- config files, markdown, schemas, manifests
Tests -- new or modified test files
Build / deploy -- Makefiles, CI, Dockerfiles, scripts
Deletions -- removed files or deprecated code

Present the detected categories to the user with a summary of what changed in each. Ask them to confirm or adjust before generating the full plan.

Example confirmation format:

I found 3 change areas in this branch:

1. CLI agent mode -- new --agent flag on setup command (cli/commands/setup.py, cli/cli.py)
2. Skills restructuring -- SKILL.md rewrite, new reference docs, deleted shell scripts
3. Test fixes -- E2E test stability improvements (4 test files)

Should I generate the test plan for all 3, or would you like to adjust?

Step 5: Generate the test plan

For each confirmed category, generate a test section following these rules:

Formatting rules

Numbered sections with separator lines (---) between them
Numbered sub-steps within each section (1a, 1b, 1c...)
Each sub-step has a bold title describing what to test
Each sub-step has a copy-paste command in a fenced code block
Each sub-step has a "Verify:" line stating what success looks like
One command per code block -- never stack multiple commands in one block with comments between them
Use Makefile targets when available instead of raw tool commands
For commands requiring env vars, put them inline: GROVE_API_URL=http://localhost:8000 make test_e2e_suite

What to include per category

Feature code:

Happy path: the main thing the feature does, verified end-to-end
Edge cases: invalid inputs, missing arguments, boundary values
Help text / discoverability: --help output shows new flags/options
Error messages: meaningful output on failure, correct exit codes

Configuration / docs:

Validate file format (JSON parse, YAML lint, markdown render)
Verify expected files exist and unexpected files are gone
If publishable: serve locally and fetch to verify

Tests:

Run the relevant test suite(s) with the project's standard commands
Call out expected pass counts if known from prior runs
List individual test commands for spot-checking specific fixes

Build / deploy:

Dry-run build or deploy commands
Verify targets still work after changes

Deletions:

Confirm removed files are actually gone
Verify nothing references the deleted files (grep for imports/includes)

Quick smoke test section

Always end with a "Quick Smoke Test" section -- the 2-3 commands a reviewer would run if they only have 60 seconds.

Step 6: Write output

Write the plan to TEST_PLAN.md in the repo root
Print a summary to the terminal showing the section count and a one-liner per section

Terminal summary format:

Wrote TEST_PLAN.md with 4 sections:

  1. CLI Agent Mode -- 7 test steps (happy path, errors, help text)
  2. Skills Restructuring -- 6 test steps (validation, file checks, local serve)
  3. Automated Tests -- 4 test steps (unit, CLI, SDK, E2E suite)
  4. Quick Smoke Test -- 3 commands

Run `cat TEST_PLAN.md` to view the full plan.

Style Reference

Follow the same style used in cmd-pr-description:

Bold the what, plain text the how
No fluff -- every step must verify something
Copy-paste ready -- a reviewer should never need to edit a command
Separate code blocks -- one command per block, bold header above it

cmd-pr-test-plan