Tests by default

Most AI tools will happily write a function and move on. tsforge won’t. Out of the box, a logic file the agent changes without a test fails the gate. Quality and strictness are the default, not a flag you have to remember.

What triggers it

When the agent creates or edits a file that exports a function or class and there’s no test for it, the gate fails with a clear message, the same way a type error fails it. The agent then writes the test and continues until it’s green.

A test counts if it’s either co-located (total.test.ts next to total.ts) or mirrored (tests/total.test.ts alongside src/total.ts). The co-located form works in any layout; the mirrored form assumes a top-level src/ ↔ tests/ convention. Type-only modules (*.types.ts), barrels (index.ts), and declaration files are exempt, since they have no logic to test.

It won’t block on your legacy code

This is the important part. Enforcement is scoped to the files the agent touches this session, computed from git. It holds the agent to testing the code it writes. It does not fail because some pre-existing file in your repo lacks a test. Open a repo with thousands of untested files and nothing happens until the agent changes one.

In a non-git directory there’s no change signal, so enforcement is a no-op.

Test-first guidance

Alongside the gate rule, the agent is told to work test-first: write the failing test, watch it fail for the right reason, then implement until it passes. The gate makes that the floor; the guidance makes it the habit.

Opting out

It’s on by default. Turn TDD enforcement off in /config and the test requirement drops back to a non-blocking nudge. Most projects should leave it on. It’s the cheapest way to keep an agent honest.

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