When a lane reset fails to rewrite the recreated collection, the recovery path
re-adds the preserved rows. It read the embeddings with
`preserved.get("embeddings") or []` and gated the loop with
`if ids and docs and old_embeddings:`. chromadb returns embeddings as a numpy
ndarray, whose truth value is ambiguous, so both expressions raise ValueError
inside the except block — the restore is abandoned and every preserved row is
lost (the collection was already deleted), exactly when the code is trying to
avoid data loss.
Use an explicit `is None` check and `len(...)`, and convert ndarray batches to
lists before re-adding.
Adds tests/test_embedding_lane_ndarray_restore.py (preserved embeddings come
back as np.ndarray); existing test_embedding_lanes.py still passes.
This file documents the shared test helpers and the review expectations that go
with them. The suite is being refactored incrementally, so this is a working
reference for that effort - not a claim that the suite is already fully
organized. Read it before adding a new helper or before reviewing a PR that
touches tests/helpers/.
For the broader rules - test taxonomy, determinism/isolation rules, the
behavioral-vs-source-text policy, and helper/factory extraction rules - see
TESTING_STANDARD.md. This file is the concrete helper
reference; that file is the standard the refactor works toward.
Running focused subsets (taxonomy markers)
tests/conftest.py tags every test at collection time with two markers derived
from its filename by tests/_taxonomy.py: an area_* marker (e.g.
area_security) and a finer sub_* marker (e.g. sub_owner_scope). This adds
markers only - it moves no files and changes no test behavior. Use them to run a
focused slice:
Areas are security, routes, services, cli, js, helpers, unit, and
uncategorized. Classification is conservative and token-based: a file that
matches no area keyword falls back to area_uncategorized with its filename as
the sub-area. The area_* names are registered in pyproject.toml; the dynamic
sub_* names are registered before collection by pytest_configure in
tests/conftest.py, so unknown-mark warnings still flag genuine typos.
Core principles
Keep PRs small and homogeneous: one kind of change per PR.
Prefer explicit local setup over hidden global fixtures.
Avoid expanding the root conftest.py unless absolutely necessary.
Do not mix file moves with logic changes in the same PR.
Do not weaken tests with skip/xfail just to make CI pass.
Validate the focused files you changed, plus any neighboring or
order-sensitive groups they interact with.
Helper conventions
The helpers below live under tests/helpers/. They exist to remove repeated
boilerplate that already appeared across multiple tests. Reach for one only when
your test matches its intended use; do not stretch a helper to cover a new case.
tests.helpers.cli_loader.load_script
Use when a test needs to import a script under scripts/ without repeating
SourceFileLoader / importlib.util boilerplate.
Intended for script/CLI tests that load a single file from scripts/.
Not for arbitrary package imports - use a normal import for those.
When migrating an existing test to it, keep the existing stubs and assertions
unchanged. Any sys.modules stubs the script needs at import time must still
be injected (e.g. via monkeypatch) before calling load_script.
tests.helpers.import_state.clear_module
Use when a test must drop one cached module and its parent-package attribute
before a fresh import.
Clears sys.modules[name].
Clears the parent-package attribute when present.
Good replacement for local sys.modules.pop(...) + delattr(parent, child)
blocks.
tests.helpers.import_state.preserve_import_state
Use when a test temporarily installs stubs into sys.modules and needs
deterministic cleanup afterward.
Context manager: restores both sys.modules entries and parent-package
attributes on exit (normal or exception).
Useful around module-level stubs or temporary imports.
Prefer narrow, explicit module names over broad ones.
Mazen Tamer Salah
3c4ec8828b