# Deleted, skipped, focused (`.only`), exited (`sys.exit(0)`) or force-passed tests

*Tests and verification*: one of the ways AI coding agents bloat software, from lessloc's [pattern catalog](https://lessloc.org/patterns/index.md). lessloc catches it as [`weakened-tests`](https://lessloc.org/guide/reference.md#tier-0).

## What makes deleted, skipped or force-passed tests a bad practice?

The standards that call it a bad practice: Clean Code T4 (an ignored test is a question); GitHub's AGENTS.md guidance: never remove a failing test.

## What does lessloc do about deleted, skipped or force-passed tests?

lessloc catches it as [`weakened-tests`](https://lessloc.org/guide/reference.md#tier-0). Skips that depend on the environment are allowed.

- `weakened-tests` (tier 0): Test assertions or tests removed, or tests newly skipped, focused or forced to pass. Tier 0 in a session; `check`, where a person may remove a test on purpose, reports it at tier 1.

## Examples

Caught as `weakened-tests`:

```python [tests/test_aj.py]
import pytest


def test_pay():
    pytest.skip("flaky")
    assert pay(2) == 2
```

Written well:

```python [tests/test_aj.py]
def test_pay():
    assert pay(2) == 2
```

## Related patterns

The other patterns in [Tests and verification](https://lessloc.org/patterns/index.md#tests-and-verification):

- [Behavior added with no test changed in the same change](https://lessloc.org/patterns/untested.md): lessloc gives every session the rule: new behavior gets one focused test.
- [Tests that assert nothing, or assert a constant](https://lessloc.org/patterns/empty-test.md): lessloc catches it as `empty-test`.
- [Test-only branches in production code](https://lessloc.org/patterns/test-logic.md): lessloc catches it as `test-logic`.
- [Tests that mock the code they test](https://lessloc.org/patterns/mocked-subject.md): lessloc catches it as `empty-test`.
- [Production code that branches on a value from the tests](https://lessloc.org/patterns/test-shaped.md): lessloc catches it as `test-logic`.
- [Stopping short: a requested function never written](https://lessloc.org/patterns/unaddressed.md): lessloc catches it as `unaddressed`: names a request asks to exist ("add a `--status` flag", "implement `export_csv()`") are looked for in the final repository; one that appears nowhere holds the turn.
- [Stopping short: part of the problem left failing](https://lessloc.org/patterns/unfinished.md): lessloc catches it as `unfinished`: in a turn that changed code, the agent's last reply is read sentence by sentence, with headings and lead-ins speaking for what is under them.
- [Saying "done" without a passing run on the final state](https://lessloc.org/patterns/index.md#unverified): lessloc catches it as `tests-failed` and `unverified`: the agent's own test runs, as its host reported them, are the evidence for the exact tree; a run that fails on the final state, or a change to how the tests run, holds the turn once, and a final state no run verified is written to the record; `lessloc test`, `verify` and `ci` record evidence too.
- [A refactor that changes existing tests](https://lessloc.org/patterns/refactor-tests.md): lessloc catches it as `refactor-tests`.