Testing Internal Tools When You Don't Have QA

Published 2026-01-02 by Faraz Rahimi

You will not get a QA team for a count app. Test the writes, the weird inventory rules, and the two phones on one bin.

Testing Internal Tools When You Don't Have QA

Tags: Testing, React, TypeScript, Internal Tools, unlisted

I write tests where money and on-hand move. Views can be ugly. Duplicate receipts cannot.

I keep a fixture warehouse in dev: a handful of SKUs, a lookalike pair, an unknown item. Every time I touch receiving, I run that story by hand too, because some bugs are about thumbs.

Automate the boring, walk the floor for the rest

Unit tests on branded types and pack-qty math. A short checklist on camera permission, offline queue, and a rejected visual match. I do not pretend coverage percent equals safety.

Production is not your test env

A "quick try" on a live bin needs a flag. I have used a dry-run toggle more than I have used a staging build that nobody trusted.

Original post: https://farazrahimi.com/posts/testing-internal-tools-when-you-dont-have-qa