WG – Spring-Style Testing Compatibility for Quarkus

[cescoffier]

Objective

Enable Spring developers to migrate to Quarkus with minimal friction by exploring and providing compatibility layers for the most common Spring testing patterns. So they don’t need to rewrite their existing tests.

Problem Statement

• Spring developers rely heavily on testing constructs like @SpringBootTest, MockMvc, TestRestTemplate, and slice-based testing.
• Quarkus, while offering its own solid testing ecosystem (e.g., @QuarkusTest, RestAssured, and Continuous Testing), doesn’t align with Spring-style testing by default.
• This mismatch forces developers to rewrite or adapt tests when switching to Quarkus.
• Reducing this friction aligns with Quarkus’s goal of enabling Spring developers to migrate without starting from scratch.

Proposed Solution

1. Survey and identify the Spring testing APIs and techniques most widely used, across unit, controller (HTTP), and integration tests.
2. Map these to their closest equivalents in Quarkus testing infrastructure (e.g., @QuarkusTest, @QuarkusIntegrationTest, RestAssured).
3. Prototype mechanisms that allow Spring-style tests to run with minimal or no modifications in Quarkus (e.g., helper annotations, compatibility layer, quarkiverse library, tooling adaptation).
4. Define a realistic scope—supporting the most used constructs only (not all of Spring’s testing API).

Definition of Done

The WG will be considered complete when the following are delivered:

• A prioritized list of Spring testing patterns (usage-informed).
• A mapping document detailing how each pattern corresponds to Quarkus approaches.
• A working prototype or POC illustrating compatibility (e.g., a mini-project demonstrating Spring tests running in Quarkus).
• PRs to Quarkus implementing support or helper utilities.
• A migration-style guide/documentation (“How to run your Spring tests in Quarkus”).
• A community-facing artifact (e.g., blog post, talk, or demo).

Scope

In Scope

• Inventory & prioritization of widely-used Spring testing APIs (unit, HTTP controller, integration).
• Feasibility analysis and prototyping for compatibility.
• Documentation drafting and an example project.
• Coordination and communication (issues, discussion threads, milestones).

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Out of Scope

• Full support for the entire Spring testing API surface; treating edge cases is not critical.
• Deep re-architecting of Quarkus’s testing engine.
• UI-level or highly niche Spring testing scenarios.

Organization & Workflow

• Coordination channels: GitHub Discussions for design, Issues for tracking, GitHub Projects for progress management.
• Workgroup communication: Zulip and/or Quarkus mailing lists.
• Points of Contact: @aureamunoz and @edeandrea

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[edeandrea]

I scheduled a kickoff meeting for Wednesday September 17 10:30am - 11:30am EDT.

I'll use https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lyZnSBrBpAgW8TEhGXMvWMK9NxMvHRhXJK2ueb3ULJA/edit?usp=sharing to track meeting notes, but will post a comment back here after the meeting.