Comprehensive Unit Testing Requirements for Core Functionality

[coderabbitai]

Overview

This issue tracks comprehensive unit testing requirements identified during PR #979 review. The current codebase has significant testing gaps in core functionality that need to be addressed to ensure reliability and prevent regressions.

Testing Categories

1. Model Process Testing ()

• Add unit tests for process lifecycle management
• Test process state transitions and error handling
• Validate process completion and cleanup logic

2. Modal and Notification System Tests

Following the channel-to-tea.Cmd refactor in PR #979:

• Modal State Transitions: Test complete flow from notification creation → user interaction → modal closure
• Quit Confirmation Flow: Verify quitConfirmationInitiated → quitConfirmationReceived → quitDone transitions
• File Operation Validation: Test all validatePasteOperation scenarios (paste into source directory, paste directory into itself/subdirectory)
• Command Chaining: Ensure key handlers properly return and execute tea.Cmd functions
• Notify Model Integration: Test notify.New() usage patterns and modal rendering

3. Cross-Platform File Operations

Critical file operations that need comprehensive testing across Linux/macOS/Windows:

• Delete Operations:
  • Trash vs permanent delete behavior
  • Platform-specific trash implementations
  • Permission handling and error cases
• File Creation: New file creation with various name patterns and permissions
• Rename Operations:
  • Conflict detection and resolution
  • Cross-directory renames
  • Special character handling
• Panel Management:
  • Create new panels
  • Panel focus switching and state preservation
  • Multi-panel file operations

4. Additional Critical Missing Tests

• Key Handling Architecture: Test all key binding scenarios and command returns
• File Panel Navigation: Directory traversal, selection state, and view updates
• Configuration Loading: Theme, hotkey, and setting initialization
• Error Recovery: Invalid paths, permission errors, and corrupted files
• Concurrent Operations: Multiple file operations and UI state consistency
• Memory Management: Resource cleanup and leak prevention

Implementation Strategy

1. Priority Order: Start with modal/notification tests (Category 2) as they're most critical post-refactor
2. Platform Testing: Use build tags or test environments for cross-platform validation
3. Integration vs Unit: Balance between isolated unit tests and integration test coverage
4. Test Utilities: Create helper functions for common test scenarios and mock objects

Context

• Related PR: feat: Remove channel for notification models #979 - "Remove channel for notification models"
• Review Comments: feat: Remove channel for notification models #979 (comment)
• Architecture Change: Migration from channel-based messaging to Bubble Tea command pattern

Success Criteria

• Core file operations have comprehensive test coverage across all supported platforms
• Modal and notification workflows are fully tested with edge cases
• CI pipeline catches regressions in key user workflows
• Test suite runs efficiently without flaky tests

---

This issue was created following comprehensive PR review to track testing requirements separately from the main refactoring work.