Shell Testing

Testing bash and CLI tools with BATS and the Test Anything Protocol.

4 articles by Paul Scarrone.

• Testing Shell Scripts: BATS, TAP, and Treating Bash as a Runtime August 8, 2026A working guide to testing bash: what BATS is, why TAP is a reporting protocol rather than a test framework, and how shell function resolution order gives you mocking without a mocking library.
• BATS - Testing Bash Like You Mean It February 8, 2026Stop treating bash scripts like second-class citizens. BATS brings real testing rigor to CLI tools—from basic assertions to background processes and state machine validation.
• The Magic of Stubbing sh October 9, 2025Testing sh is as easy as anything else, if testing is about side-effects its easy
• TAPS - Not just a reporting protocol January 28, 2025Exploring the Test Anything Protocol (TAP) and using BATS to effectively test Bash scripts with practical examples and mocking techniques

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