Fixture

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

A fixture is like pre-built test furniture. Instead of building a whole fake user every single test, you set up the furniture once (a fake user, a fake database state) and all your tests just sit in the already-furnished room.

Real Talk

A fixture is reusable test data or state that is set up before tests run and potentially torn down afterward. Fixtures can be static data files (JSON, SQL) or setup/teardown functions that create a known starting state for tests.

Show Me The Code

// fixtures/users.json
{
  "adminUser": {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Admin",
    "role": "admin"
  },
  "regularUser": {
    "id": 2,
    "name": "Alice",
    "role": "user"
  }
}

When You'll Hear This

"Load the user fixture so all auth tests start with the same data." / "Fixtures keep test data consistent and version-controlled."