# What the tests really prove

Prompt · Testing and security · T06

Asks what each test really proves, then adds one check that would catch a real break.

## Prompt

```text
Choose critical features and ask what the existing tests truly prove. Identify mocks that bypass important integration behavior, assertions that cannot fail meaningfully, and tests that reproduce the implementation's assumptions. Produce the smallest independent check that catches a real regression.
```

**What it returns:** For each feature, the claim the tests make, what they actually exercise, and a new check that fails when the feature is broken.

**Skip it when:** Features with an existing start-to-finish check that has caught a real bug.

**Tools:** Repository and test runner.

**Changes:** Adds a test that shows it

**Sessions:** One session

## Skills

- [tdd](https://www.atlasscope.dev/skills/tdd): Test-driven development.

## Related

- [Tests that can't fail](https://www.atlasscope.dev/prompts/tests-that-cant-fail): Finds tests that pass no matter what.
- [Unit tests that give false comfort](https://www.atlasscope.dev/prompts/unit-tests-that-give-false-comfort): Finds features whose automated checks all pass and that still break for real people.
- [Check it independently](https://www.atlasscope.dev/prompts/check-it-independently)

Source: https://www.atlasscope.dev/prompts/what-the-tests-really-prove