Version 1.0.0 | A curated collection of Go testing framework examples — from built-in unit tests to advanced BDD, property-based, and integration testing.

Go Testing Frameworks Examples is a comprehensive educational repository showcasing 11 popular testing frameworks in the Go ecosystem. Each framework is demonstrated with production-ready, well-documented code examples covering various testing paradigms:

• 🧪 Unit Testing - Native Go testing and Testify
• 🎭 BDD Testing - Ginkgo, GoConvey, Godog, Gauge
• 🎯 Mocking - GoMock for interface mocking
• 🔀 Property-Based - Gopter for generative testing
• 🤖 Model-Based - Rapid for stateful testing
• 🐳 Integration - Testcontainers for Docker-based tests
• 🌐 API Testing - httpexpect for REST endpoints

go golang testing bdd tdd unit-testing integration-testing property-based-testing mocking testify ginkgo gomega goconvey gomock godog cucumber gauge gopter rapid testcontainers httpexpect testing-frameworks go-testing test-examples best-practices tutorial learning education

This repository contains practical, runnable examples for the most popular testing frameworks and tools in the Go ecosystem. Each framework is demonstrated with clean, well-documented code that showcases real-world testing scenarios.

Whether you're new to Go testing or looking to explore advanced testing techniques, this repository provides hands-on examples for:

• Unit testing with built-in testing package
• Assertion libraries and mocking frameworks
• BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) approaches
• Property-based and model-based testing
• Integration testing with real services
• API/HTTP testing

• Go 1.23 or higher
• Docker (required for Testcontainers examples)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/lirany1/go-testing-framework-examples.git

# Navigate to the project directory
cd go-testing-framework-examples

# Download dependencies
go mod tidy

# Run all tests (except Gauge and Testcontainers)
go test ./01_builtin_testing/... ./02_testify/... ./03_ginkgo_gomega/... \
        ./04_goconvey/... ./05_gomock/... ./06_godog/... \
        ./08_gopter/... ./09_rapid/... ./11_httpexpect/...

Note:

• Gauge (07_gauge) requires the Gauge CLI to run tests. See Gauge documentation.
• Testcontainers (10_testcontainers_go) requires Docker to be running for integration tests.

# Built-in testing
go test ./01_builtin_testing/...

# Testify
go test ./02_testify/...

# Ginkgo
go test ./03_ginkgo_gomega/...

# GoConvey
go test ./04_goconvey/...

# And so on...

go-testing-framework-examples/
│
├── 01_builtin_testing/       # Go's native testing package
├── 02_testify/               # Assertions and mocking with Testify
├── 03_ginkgo_gomega/         # BDD testing with Ginkgo and Gomega
├── 04_goconvey/              # BDD with Web UI
├── 05_gomock/                # Mock generation for interfaces
├── 06_godog/                 # Cucumber-style BDD with Gherkin
├── 07_gauge/                 # Acceptance testing with natural language
├── 08_gopter/                # Property-based testing
├── 09_rapid/                 # Model-based testing for stateful systems
├── 10_testcontainers_go/    # Integration testing with Docker containers
├── 11_httpexpect/            # HTTP/API testing
└── .github/workflows/        # CI/CD pipeline

Each directory contains:

• Working code examples
• README with installation and usage instructions
• Comments explaining key concepts

Go's standard testing package - the foundation of all Go testing.

The most popular assertion library with built-in mocking support.

BDD-style testing with descriptive test structure (Describe/Context/It).

BDD framework with a beautiful Web UI for real-time test results.

Automatic mock generation from interfaces (note: deprecated but widely used).

Cucumber implementation for Go - write tests in plain English with Gherkin.

Keyword-driven acceptance testing from ThoughtWorks.

Property-based testing - validate properties with random inputs.

Advanced model-based testing for stateful systems.

Integration testing with real Docker containers (databases, message queues, etc.).

Elegant HTTP API testing with chainable assertions.

go test ./...

go test -v ./...

go test ./01_builtin_testing/...

go test -cover ./...

If you're new to Go testing, we recommend following this order:

1. Start with Built-in testing - Understand Go's native testing approach
2. Add Testify - Learn assertion libraries and mocking
3. Explore Ginkgo - Understand BDD and descriptive test structures
4. Try httpexpect - Learn API testing patterns
5. Experiment with Property-based testing - Explore advanced testing techniques
6. Use Testcontainers - Master integration testing with real services

All 11 frameworks have been successfully implemented with working examples:

$ go test ./01_builtin_testing/... ./02_testify/... ./03_ginkgo_gomega/... \
         ./04_goconvey/... ./05_gomock/... ./06_godog/... \
         ./08_gopter/... ./09_rapid/... ./11_httpexpect/...

✅ All 9 testable frameworks pass (100% success rate)

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Add new framework examples
• Improve existing examples
• Fix bugs or typos
• Enhance documentation

Please ensure:

• Code follows Go conventions (gofmt, golint)
• All examples compile and run successfully
• Each example includes clear documentation

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

If you found this project useful, you can support me here:

Your support helps maintain and expand this educational resource!

• GitHub: @lirany1
• Repository: go-testing-framework-examples

Special thanks to the maintainers and contributors of all the testing frameworks featured in this repository. The Go testing ecosystem is rich and diverse thanks to their efforts.

Made with ❤️ for the Go Testing community