· 3 min read

Mastering the Testing Pyramid: A Comprehensive Guide for Developers

Delve into the layers of the Testing Pyramid and discover how to implement a balanced testing strategy that enhances software quality and accelerates development cycles.

Delve into the layers of the Testing Pyramid and discover how to implement a balanced testing strategy that enhances software quality and accelerates development cycles.

What is a Test Pyramid and Why is it important?

A good test pyramid ensures that our tests are fast.

Typically, we have 3 main types of tests

  1. Unit: Involves testing only a particular method / class
  2. Integration: Involves multiple components
  3. E2E: Either done API down or UI down

There are some hybrids called slice testing in the middle.

Our aim should be to that the

  • Number of Unit Test > Number of Integration Test > Number of E2E

This is because Unit Tests are the fastest. Integration Tests are a slower and E2E are the slowest.

Ideally, a test suite should complete in under 3-5 minutes to maintain developer focus and agility. Going beyond it, we lose our attention span and things pile up.

An ideal test pyramid looks like this:

▲  End-to-End (E2E) Tests  (~5-10%)
▲▲  Integration Tests      (~30-40%)
▲▲▲  Unit Tests            (~50-60%)

Below, I describe some ways with which I have been ensuring a good test pyramid.

How I ensure a good test pyramid?

The following describes backend approach for ensuring good test pyramid. But similar can be extrapolated for frontend.

Entities -> Unit Tested

Entities are the foundation of your domain logic, and their behaviors should be thoroughly unit tested to ensure correctness and maintainability. Since entities should be self-contained and encapsulate business rules, they do not require integration tests.

  • Ensure Entities Are Non-Anemic → Entities should encapsulate behavior, not just data. Anemic models lead to bloated service layers and weaker domain modeling.
  • No Integration Tests Needed → Entities should not rely on external dependencies like databases or services.
  • Use Test{Entity}Builder for Reusability → A builder pattern simplifies test setup and ensures consistency across multiple test cases.

Service/Handlers

  1. If Repository methods and API Clients are simple
    1. Covers next 30-40% tests
    2. Unit Test: Hashmap-based InMemoryRepositories
      1. Reduces mock usage. Makes writing tests simpler
    3. Mocked API Clients
  2. If Repository methods are complex (customQuery/criteria Api)
    1. Integration Test with DB and actual API call. (5-10% of all tests)

API clients

from another microservice is integration tested

Architecture Testing

Anything architectural is also tested mostly with ArchUnit

#Failure-Driven Testing

Any failures on Staging / Prod will have a new test written

Bonus Tip: Automate Code Review Learnings

Any code review point that is syntactical goes to a knowledge base for future automation

Ending

A well-balanced Testing Pyramid ensures fast feedback, reliable software, and efficient development cycles. Prioritizing unit tests keeps execution times low, while integration and E2E tests catch cross-component issues.

By adopting in-memory repositories, failure-driven testing, and automation, developers can accelerate test execution while maintaining high software quality.

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