This guide summarizes the testing infrastructure and provides guidance on running different test tiers based on your development needs and available dependencies.
The test suite is organized into tiers for different development workflows:
Fast Unit Tests (~30 seconds, no external dependencies):
make test-fast
uv run -- python -m pytest -m fastEither command works. The make target wraps the pytest command.
Integration Tests (~5 minutes, requires local databases):
make test-integration
uv run -- python -m pytest -m "integration and not live_integration"E2E Tests (validates complete CLI workflows):
uv run -- python -m pytest -m e2e_quick
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/e2e/ -vThe first command runs in dry-run mode and is fast. The second runs full E2E tests with local platforms.
Full Suite (requires all dependencies):
make test-all
uv run -- python -m pytestEither command works.
BenchBox uses pytest-xdist for local development, but local worker counts are not left fully unconstrained on macOS.
- BenchBox caps pytest-xdist to a safe worker count before xdist starts.
- On macOS, the current default cap is 2 workers.
- If you request
-n 4or-n 8, BenchBox may rewrite that request and print a warning explaining the effective cap. - Use
BENCHBOX_MAX_XDIST_WORKERSonly for deliberate local experiments.
This is not an arbitrary slowdown. It prevents a proven machine-lockup mode caused by worker oversubscription plus native-library thread pools.
See Pytest xdist Safety for the root-cause analysis, the validation matrix, and the checklist to follow when editing test infrastructure.
The suite is organized into:
- Unit tests (
tests/unit/): Fast component tests with no external dependencies - Integration tests (
tests/integration/): Database integration and component interaction - E2E tests (
tests/e2e/): Complete CLI workflow validation (125+ tests) - Example tests (
tests/examples/): Validate example scripts work correctly
Run all smoke checks:
make test-smoke
uv run -- python -m pytest -m platform_smokeEither command works.
Run specific platform smoke tests:
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/integration/platforms/test_local_platforms_smoke.py
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/integration/platforms/test_databricks_smoke.py
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/integration/platforms/test_bigquery_smoke.py
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/integration/platforms/test_redshift_smoke.py
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/integration/platforms/test_snowflake_smoke.pyThe first command covers the local adapters (DuckDB and SQLite). The rest cover the cloud adapters with stubbed clients: Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift, and Snowflake, in that order.
Each test file installs lightweight client stubs automatically so you can run the suite without provisioning real services. Failures generally indicate a behavioral regression in the corresponding adapter.
The E2E test suite (tests/e2e/) provides comprehensive validation of CLI workflows:
| Test Module | Coverage |
|---|---|
test_cli_options.py |
CLI option validation (--benchmark, --scale, --phases, etc.) |
test_error_handling.py |
Error messages and exit codes for invalid inputs |
test_result_validation.py |
Result file schema and content validation |
test_local_platforms.py |
Full execution on DuckDB, SQLite, DataFusion |
test_cloud_platforms.py |
Dry-run tests for Snowflake, BigQuery, etc. |
test_dataframe_platforms.py |
DataFrame platforms (Polars, Pandas, Dask) |
Run E2E tests:
uv run -- python -m pytest -m e2e_quick
uv run -- python -m pytest -m e2e_local
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/e2e/ -vThe commands run quick E2E tests (dry-run mode), local platform tests (full execution), and all E2E tests, in that order.
See E2E Testing Guide for detailed documentation.
The CLI tests exercise benchbox run --dry-run across all platforms.
Cloud platform dry-run tests use stubs and require no credentials:
uv run -- python -m pytest tests/e2e/test_cloud_platforms.py -vThe ClickHouse dry-run uses a temporary stub of the chdb package; no manual
installation is required for the smoke test.
Some tests require optional dependencies that are not installed by default. These tests will be automatically skipped with clear messages when dependencies are unavailable.
TPC-H Queries: Some tests require the qgen binary from TPC-H sources.
- Location:
benchbox/_sources/tpc-h/qgen/ - Installation: Download from tpc.org and compile following
docs/development/tpc-compilation-guide.md - Tests affected: Query generation and validation tests
TPC-DS Data Generation: Some tests require dsdgen binary from TPC-DS sources.
- Location:
benchbox/_sources/tpc-ds/tools/ - Installation: Download from tpc.org and compile
- Tests affected: Example tests that generate TPC-DS data (e.g.,
test_duckdb_tpcds_power_runs)
Tests for cloud platforms require their respective SDKs:
- BigQuery:
google-cloud-bigquerypackage - Databricks:
databricks-sql-connectorpackage - Snowflake:
snowflake-connector-pythonpackage - Redshift:
redshift-connectorpackage - ClickHouse:
clickhouse-driverorchdbpackage
Cloud platform tests use stubbed clients for smoke tests but require real credentials for full integration tests.
To run tests that require specific dependencies:
uv pip install -e ".[bigquery,databricks,snowflake]"
make test-live-bigquery
uv run -- python -m pytest -m bigquery
uv run -- python -m pytest --run-optionalThe first command installs the cloud platform extras. The next two run the BigQuery tests, either through the make target or through pytest directly. The last runs all tests, including those that require TPC binaries.
The presorted open table-format integration checks are tagged with
requires_table_formats and depend on deltalake and pyiceberg.
Use this command locally when validating those paths:
uv run -- python -m pytest -q tests/integration/core/data_organization/test_presorted_generation.py -m "requires_table_formats"CI runs this marker in a dedicated required workflow job
integration-table-formats so dependency-gated tests are not silently skipped.
Some tests are skipped when optional dependencies are unavailable. For questions or issues, see the troubleshooting section in docs/development/adding-new-platforms.md.