Event Tests

Event tests should prove publication, subscription, payload shape, and side effects without pretending events are durable job transport.

Local Driver

Use the in-process driver for local event tests:

EVENTS_DRIVER=inproc
EVENTS_SUPPORTED_DRIVERS=inproc

Use distributed event driver tests only when transport behavior matters.

Publish and Subscribe

bus, err := events.NewBus(context.Background())
if err != nil {
	t.Fatalf("new bus: %v", err)
}
defer bus.Close(context.Background())

received := make(chan UserRegisteredEvent, 1)
sub, err := bus.Subscribe(func(ctx context.Context, event UserRegisteredEvent) error {
	received <- event
	return nil
})
if err != nil {
	t.Fatalf("subscribe: %v", err)
}
defer sub.Close()

if err := bus.Publish(UserRegisteredEvent{UserID: "user_123"}); err != nil {
	t.Fatalf("publish: %v", err)
}

Subscriber Tests

Test subscriber behavior directly when it delegates to a service or dispatches a job.

If the subscriber does durable work, prefer asserting that it dispatches the right job rather than treating the event bus as the retry system.

Common Mistakes

Common mistakes

• Do not assume in-process events cross process boundaries.
• Do not rely on subscriber errors as durable retries unless the driver guarantees that behavior.
• Do not hide critical workflows only in event subscribers.
• Do not test event transport when the target is service behavior.

Next Steps

• Events explains event design.
• Event Subscribers explains handler boundaries.
• Jobs explains durable work.