Is the waitFor pattern compatible with my testing framework?

Yes, the condition-based waiting pattern is a generic logic implementation that works with Jest, Mocha, Playwright, Cypress, and other major testing frameworks.

How does this skill improve test execution speed?

By polling the condition frequently (e.g., every 10ms) and continuing immediately once the condition is met, tests finish as fast as the code allows instead of waiting for a full sleep timer to expire.

What is condition-based waiting?

It is a testing technique where the code polls for a specific state or event to occur before proceeding, rather than waiting for a fixed, arbitrary amount of time.

Why are arbitrary timeouts considered bad practice?

Fixed timeouts cause flakiness because they might be too short for slow environments like CI servers, leading to failures, or too long for fast local machines, wasting developer time.

When is it actually appropriate to use a hardcoded sleep?

Arbitrary timeouts are only appropriate when testing specific timing-related behaviors like debounce intervals or throttle limits, and should always be accompanied by a comment explaining the justification.

Condition-Based Waiting for Tests

Name: Condition-Based Waiting for Tests
Author: cipherstash

bycipherstash

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セキュリティとテスト

Eliminates flaky tests and race conditions by replacing arbitrary timeouts with intelligent condition polling.

This skill provides Claude with the patterns and logic needed to stabilize asynchronous tests by replacing unreliable 'sleep' or 'setTimeout' calls with robust polling mechanisms. Instead of guessing how long an operation might take—which often leads to intermittent failures in CI environments—this skill implements a 'waitFor' pattern that monitors for specific state changes, events, or data availability. It helps developers refactor legacy test suites to be faster and more reliable, ensuring that tests only proceed when the system is truly ready, while providing clear error reporting when timeouts do occur.

主な機能

01Enforces documentation requirements for scenarios where hardcoded delays are valid

02Replaces arbitrary sleep and setTimeout calls with smart polling logic

03Implements a generic waitFor utility with configurable intervals and timeouts

04Provides specialized patterns for event counts, state transitions, and file system checks

05Reduces test suite execution time by eliminating unnecessary wait durations

064 GitHub stars

ユースケース

01Refactoring legacy test suites that rely on non-deterministic timing guesses

02Synchronizing complex asynchronous workflows in end-to-end browser automation

03Stabilizing flaky integration tests that fail intermittently under heavy CI load

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add cipherstash/cipherpowers condition-based-waiting

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill