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Testing in Roboticks

Roboticks treats every test as a verification artifact. A test is not just a green or red dot — it is the bottom diagonal of the V-model, the thing that proves a requirement on the left is implemented by the code on the right.
The job is traceability. Roboticks doesn’t replace pytest, gtest, or launch_testing. It records what each test confirms, ties that to a requirement, and packages the result for an auditor.

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The V-model diagonals

The V-model splits product development into two arms: requirements decomposition on the left, integration and verification on the right. The diagonals connecting the two are the only thing a regulator cares about. Roboticks owns the dotted arrows. Every passing test on the right closes a diagonal back to a requirement on the left.

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Supported frameworks

FrameworkLanguageUse for
pytestPythonUnit + integration tests using rclpy assertion helpers, fault injection, MCAP capture
gtestC++Unit + integration tests inside ament_cmake packages with the roboticks_cpp library
launch_testingPythonSystem tests that bring up multiple nodes and assert on their interactions
All three emit JUnit XML extended with @confirms metadata. See Wire contract for the exact shape.

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How a test becomes a traceability link

  1. You import roboticks and decorate a test with @confirms("REQ-014").
  2. The pytest11 plugin (registered automatically by the entry point) intercepts the decoration and writes it into the JUnit XML as a <property name="roboticks.confirms" value="REQ-014"/>.
  3. The runner uploads the JUnit XML to the Roboticks platform.
  4. The traceability engine parses the property, looks up REQ-014, and records: this test, this commit, this result, confirms this requirement.
  5. The matrix UI and the next evidence pack reflect the link.
The same shape works for C++ via ROBOTICKS_CONFIRMS and for launch_testing via the standard pytest mechanism.

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Where tests run

Locally

Run pytest or colcon test as you always have. The SDK still emits @confirms; you can upload the JUnit XML afterwards or trigger a cloud run with the CLI.

Hosted runners

Fargate Spot for headless ROS2; G4dn.xlarge Spot Fleet for Gazebo Harmonic and Webots GPU jobs. Sim-minute metered.

Self-hosted runners

Run the roboticks-runner Go binary on your own hardware. Compute is always free of charge.

Air-gapped

Enterprise mode for regulated networks. Same wire contract, no outbound calls.

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What you get

  • A Check Run on every PR with the requirement-coverage delta.
  • A live traceability matrix at app.roboticks.io for the head of every branch.
  • An evidence pack per release: PDF + ReqIF + ZIP with a tamper-evident hash chain.
  • An LLM triage verdict on each failing test, citing logs, MCAPs, and the confirming requirement.

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Where to start

Quickstart

Install the GitHub App, mark one test, see the matrix update.

Write tests in pytest

@confirms, rclpy assertion helpers, conftest patterns.

Write tests in C++

gtest with the ROBOTICKS_CONFIRMS macro and roboticks_cpp.

Wire contract

The JUnit-with-confirms schema, versioning, and forward-compat rules.