Make the test setup refuse production

How to do it

Test setup empties tables and loads fixtures. Pointed at production by a stale env file or a copied command, it deletes customer data in seconds. Give test databases a name the check can see, such as the test_ prefix that Django puts on its test databases. Also compare each host with a list of production hosts. Use only test keys for payment and message providers. See Keep test and live modes apart and Never text or push customers from test systems. Staging follows the same split, as Keep a staging environment with generated data says.

Examples

Python example

# conftest.py: runs before any test touches a database
import os
from urllib.parse import urlparse

PRODUCTION_HOSTS = {"db.example.com", "replica.example.com"}

def pytest_sessionstart(session):
    url = urlparse(os.environ["DATABASE_URL"])
    if url.hostname in PRODUCTION_HOSTS or not url.path.lstrip("/").startswith("test_"):
        raise SystemExit(f"Refusing to run tests against {url.hostname}{url.path}")

JavaScript example

// vitest.global-setup.js: runs once before the suite
const PRODUCTION_HOSTS = new Set(['db.example.com', 'replica.example.com']);

export default function refuseProduction() {
  const url = new URL(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
  if (PRODUCTION_HOSTS.has(url.hostname) || !url.pathname.slice(1).startsWith('test_')) {
    throw new Error(`Refusing to run tests against ${url.hostname}${url.pathname}`);
  }
}

How to check

Run the test command with the database address set to a production host. It exits with an error before it connects, and the production row counts are unchanged.

Sources

• Django: The test database

Related rules

• PAY-5 Keep test and live modes apart in Payments and billing
• NTF-8 Never contact customers from test systems in Notifications
• TST-26 Keep a staging environment with generated data in Testing