This page summarizes various approaches to testing with CTL.
Plutip is a tool that allows to manage temporary cardano-node clusters. CTL has a test engine that controls these clusters and runs users' Contracts in their disposable environment. No setup is needed.
"E2E test engine", in our terminology, is a set of APIs we provide to faciliate running tests in real browsers in headless mode. The test engine handles browser startup, interaction with the page, and, most importantly, it clicks through the wallet UI when there is a need to confirm transactions.
Key wallet is a special kind of wallet that simply wraps a private key.
See Contract.Wallet.Key and Contract.Wallet.KeyFile for its interface.
It is possible to test Contracts that explicitly use wallet connections in NodeJS environment. But actual wallet calls will be replaced by mock methods.
See Contract.Test.Cip30Mock module.
We also provide abilities to test Contracts in a headless browser using query layer of a temporary Plutip cluster as backend and CIP-30 mock instead of a wallet. This method provides stronger guarantees than just CIP-30 mocking in NodeJS, while retaining the ability to be used in Nix builds (by not depending on a real light wallet extension).
Assertion utilities in PureScript can be used in any testing environment, because they work in Contract monad. It is possible to define dynamic properties, like asset gains or script execution budgets.