Definition

Integration Testing

Integration testing is a level of software testing where individual modules, services, or components are combined and tested together to verify that they interact correctly and data flows properly between them.

Understanding Integration Testing

Individual components of an application can each work perfectly in isolation yet fail when combined. Integration testing specifically targets these connection points. For example, a frontend form might correctly collect user input, and a backend API might correctly process data, but the integration between them could fail due to mismatched data formats, incorrect API endpoints, or authentication issues.

In vibecoded applications, integration failures are particularly common. When different parts of an application are generated by separate AI prompts, each piece may make different assumptions about data structures, naming conventions, or communication protocols. The AI does not always maintain perfect consistency across multiple generation sessions.

Human QA testing naturally covers many integration points because testers interact with the application as a whole. When a DidItWork tester submits a form, they are implicitly testing the integration between the frontend, the API, the database, and any email or notification services. If any link in that chain is broken, the tester discovers it through the resulting behavior.

Example usage

“Each component worked fine on its own, but integration testing revealed that the checkout page was sending prices in cents while the payment API expected dollars.”

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Unit Testing

Unit testing is a level of software testing where individual functions, methods, or components are tested in isolation to verify that each unit of code produces the correct output for given inputs.

End-to-End Testing

End-to-end testing is a methodology that validates complete user workflows through an application from start to finish, testing the entire system including the user interface, APIs, databases, and third-party integrations as a unified whole.

API

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of defined rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other, enabling them to request and exchange data or trigger actions.

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