Agent Testing and Validation Methods #

Testing agents requires new approaches beyond traditional software testing. Probabilistic outputs demand different strategies.

Test Categories #

  • Unit tests: Individual component verification
  • Integration tests: Agent interaction validation
  • End-to-end tests: Complete workflow verification
  • Regression tests: Ensure no performance degradation

Validation Techniques #

  • Golden datasets: Known-correct answer sets
  • A/B testing: Compare agent versions
  • Red teaming: Security-focused adversarial testing
  • Stakeholder review: Human evaluation of outcomes

Automated Testing #

bash
# Run agent test suite
agent test run --suite regression --parallel

# Generate test coverage report
agent test coverage --output report.html

Continuous Testing #

  • Test on every code change
  • Automated performance benchmarking
  • Regular security assessments
  • User acceptance testing pipelines