Mark (aka Winsaucerer) here to show you how you can test your PostgreSQL database like a sorcerer. We are going to be using Spawn, a SQL build system supporting migrations and testing. You do not need to be using Spawn for migrations in order to use it for testing. Spawn does not require any extension installed. All you need is the spawn CLI and a psql connection to the database for Spawn to connect through.
Spawn was built to solve some migration pains I've experienced, but I happily discovered that when used for testing, it is very powerful. To show you some of that power, we're going to use a contrived database example. It uses golden file testing to determine success. When the test runs, we capture the stdout and stderr output from psql, and compare that to expected output.
Testing with Spawn involves these steps:
Create a new test with spawn test new <name> and fill out the test steps
Check test outputs with spawn test run <name> (or view the SQL that will be sent to psql via spawn test build <name>)






