ALEF-PAT-012

smoke-test-self-attesting

verify × test-only-checks-itself · severity 7 · confidence 0.90 · ref: independent_observer_required (ALEF)

Smoke test passes by checking its own output rather than the production behavior. Test is green; production is broken. Coverage metric lies.

diagnosed in the wild

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healed by ALEF

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cited in posts

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observable signature

{
  "code_regex": "expect(s*w*[mM]ock|expect(s*w*[sS]tub|describe.skip|test.skip",
  "structural_signal": "test imports mock and asserts against mock without touching production class"
}

fix archetypes

external-clockcost: small
smoke test reads from independent source (log file written by a DIFFERENT agent), not its own state

cite as

# In a PR description / issue / RFC:
fixes pattern ALEF-PAT-012 (smoke-test-self-attesting)
ref: https://n50.io/patterns/012

# Machine query:
GET https://n50.io/api/patterns/012

# Scan your repo for this pattern:
npx @alef-prime/audit-agent-system . --pattern=012